Block Energy plc announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JSC Rustavi Azot, to develop the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) opportunity identified within Block's Patardzeuli-Samgori Middle Eocene reservoir. The MoU is non-exclusive, and has a duration of 1 year from 7 May 2024, extendable by mutual agreement. Block and Rustavi Azot will form joint technical and commercial teams to begin defining a pilot CO2 injection project and will share commercial and economic information to determine an optimal monetisation scheme.

The work will build on the initial study by Oilfield Production Consultants Ltd. (OPC) which, as announced on 16 January 2024, estimates a CO2 storage capacity ranking - at both reservoir and basin scales - amongst the highest in Europe. The reservoir scale storage is estimated at 256 million metric tonnes, equivalent to offsetting the annual emissions of 55 million cars, and the basin scale at up to 8.7 gigatonnes, equivalent to offsetting emissions from Turkey for 20 years. The study, led by Professor Eric Oelkers, a leading expert in the field of water-rock interactions, concluded that the Patardzeuli-Samgori Middle Eocene is suitable for the application of similar sequestration technology currently being used by Carbfix in Iceland, in which dissolved CO2 is mineralised into naturally reactive minerals within volcanic reservoir sequences.

This technique, which Professor Oelkers helped develop as co-founder of CarbFix, has the advantage of rapid and permanent sequestration with minimal risk of leakage.