Mr. Dave Hassan at the Environment and Sustainable Development Committee

Yes, CO₂ dissolves in water. In fact, many of us have a favourite carbonated beverage that contains CO₂ dissolved in water, and when you open the cap on the bottle, those bubbles of CO₂ come out. At the IEA Weyburn project the researchers concluded that the pressure from the CO₂ that's injected into an oil and gas reservoir will dissipate within about 100 years--the excess injection pressure that's required to push the CO₂ in there. The CO₂ will dissolve in oil and in water, and some of it will actually carbonate and turn into minerals. So that enhances the security of the storage. You don't just have a big bubble of gas sitting underground.