Translating Petroleum Engineering Science to Underground Carbon and Hydrogen Storage: A Comprehensive Review

Growing global commitments to decarbonization and large-scale energy storage have shifted subsurface engineering from hydrocarbon extraction towards secure carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and hydrogen (H 2 ) storage. Although these technologies are still emerging, petroleum engineering offers more than seven decades of mature science and field experience in reservoir characterization, fluid flow, geomechanics, well integrity, and dynamic reservoir management. This review examines how established petroleum engineering principles can be systematically translated to underground CO 2 and H 2 storage and identifies where new scientific developments are required. We examine the applicability of petrophysical analysis, multiphase flow theory, PVT modelling, compositional simulation, caprock integrity assessment, and advanced monitoring technologies originally developed for hydrocarbon reservoirs. Key differences arising from CO 2 reactivity, phase behaviour near the critical point, hydrogen diffusivity and slip-flow effects, cyclic injection–withdrawal, and storage-specific wellbore degradation are evaluated. A practical translation framework is proposed that classifies petroleum engineering methods into three categories: directly transferable tools, tools requiring modification, and methods requiring new hydrogen or CO 2 -specific development. The framework can support engineers in screening storage sites, selecting appropriate modelling workflows, prioritizing laboratory data acquisition, and identifying key technical risks during project design. The analysis indicates that most conventional reservoir characterization, simulation, and geomechanics workflows can be adapted for CO 2 storage with targeted modifications, whereas hydrogen storage requires substantially new datasets for relative permeability, diffusion, cyclic loading response, and well-integrity assessment. These limitations introduce significant uncertainty in storage performance prediction, indicating that underground hydrogen storage currently faces a larger technical readiness gap than CO 2 storage in porous media.