Completion of Five Years of Safe CO2 Injection and Transition to the Post-closure Phase at the Ketzin Pilot Site

The Ketzin pilot site for geological storage of CO2 in the German Federal State of Brandenburg about 25 km west of Berlin was the first European pilot site for onshore storage of CO2 in saline aquifers. A total amount of 67 kt of CO2 was injected without any safety issues between June 2008 and August 2013 when injection ceased and the site entered the post-closure phase. Research and activities on site will continue in order to address and finally close the entire life cycle of the storage site. Within the post-closure phase the multidisciplinary monitoring program will further be applied and a stepwise abandonment of the five wells is foreseen which has already started with the partial plugging of one observation well in fall 2013.