Update of Carbon Storage
Field Projects
Susan D. Hovorka
Bureau of Economic Geology
Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
Presentation to Underground Injection Control (UIC) Educational Track
2007 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Trade Fair & Conference
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Status of Knowledge About CCS*
*Carbon Capture and Storage
•
•
•
•
•
Well Known
Trapping mechanisms
Monitoring strategies to image
and quantify plume evolution
Validity of modeling
approaches – modification of
existing simulators
Major leakage risks
Volume of storage US,
Australia, Japan, Europe
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poorly Known
Modeling/monitoring in low
permeability rocks
Monitoring to detect low rates
of leakage over long time
frames
Performance of non-matrix
systems (coal, basalt)
Risks resulting from very large
scale-up
Volume of storage in
developing nations
Performance of faults, wells
Sources of Knowledge
• IPCC Special Report on Geologic Storage
– Rapidly evolving field, IPCC report used only peer
reviewed literature
• US and international networks
–
–
–
–
NETL updates www.netl.doe.gov/publications/carbon_seq/
CO2 GeoNet www.co2geonet.com/
CCP www.co2captureproject.org
IEA Greenhouse http://www.co2captureandstorage.info
• Large number of meetings
– examples: GHGT, NETL annual CCS meeting, EPA
working groups, IEA GHG R&D Networks
Contributions to Knowledge From Selected
Field Projects
US DOE RCSP projects
Otway
Trapping Mechanisms: Structural Traps
Observed performance of siltstones
in retarding CO2 migration, Utsira FM,
Sliepner field, North Sea
Well known performance of
shale seals in trapping oil and gas,
Texas Gulf Coast
Successful use of 4-D seismic
for monitoring CO2 plume
Shale seals
In white
Bright injected CO2
in sand
Light siltstone
baffles
Top seal
Sandstones
Cornelius Reservoir Markham No. Bay City No. field
Tyler and Ambrose (1986)
http://www.bgs.ac.uk/science/co2/Sleipner_figs_02.html
Trapping: Regional Setting of Utsira
Source: SACS Best Practices Manual
http://www.co2store.org/TEK/FOT/SVG03178.nsf/Attachments/SACSBestPractiseManual.pdf/$FILE/SACSBestPractise
Manual.pdf
Injection
interval
Fresh water (USDW) zone
protected by surface casing
Injection zones:
First experiment
2004: Frio “C”
Second experiment
2006 Frio “Blue”
Oil production
Frio Brine Pilot Site
two test intervals
• Injection intervals:
mineralogically complex
Oligocene fluvial and
reworked fluvial sandstones,
porosity 24%, permeability
4.4 to 2.5 Darcys
• Steeply dipping 11 to 16
degrees
• Seals  numerous thick
shales, small fault block
• Depth 1,500 and 1657 m
• Brine-rock system, no
hydrocarbons
• 150 and 165 bar, 53 -60
degrees C, supercritical CO2
Trapping Mechanism:
Frio Site ReservoirFault
Model
planes
Porosity
Observation well
Injection well
In context of the
plume, injection
was in an open
aquifer
Monitoring
injection and
monitoring
Knox, Fouad, Yeh, BEG
Two-Phase Residual Gas Trapping
Imbibition
Drainage
Injection of CO2
Phase-trapped
CO2
Grains
Brine – filled pores
Representative realistic imbibition and
drainage curves for two-phase flow
CO2 Trapping as a Residual Phase
Residual gas saturation of 5%
• Plume in open aquifer
spreads quickly updip
Observation well
Injection well
Residual gas saturation of 30%
• Plume in an open
aquifer is trapped
before it moves very
far
TOUGH2 simulations
C. Doughty LBNL
Monitoring Using Oil-field Type Technologies
is Successful in Tracking CO2
Gas
wells
Aquifer wells (4)
Access tubes, gas sampling
Frio Brine Pilot: Determine the
subsurface distribution of
injected CO2 using diverse
monitoring technologies
Downhole
P&T
Wireline
logging
Tracers
Downhole sampling
U-tube
Gas lift
Radial VSP
Cross well
Seismic,
EM
Monitoring Design Frio 2
Injection Well
Observation Well
U-tubes
50 m
Packers
Downhole P and T
RST logs
Tubing hung
seismic source
and hydrophones
Injection well
Observation well
Real-time Downhole Pressure
and Temperature Monitoring
CO2 breakthrough
Measurement of Perminace
Sigma (Sg = 20%)
DEPTH
FEET
Lithology
Wellbore sketch
35
BH Sal. - 4
0
0
0
Eff. porosity
V/V
0.5 0
Seismic source
5450
Packer
Perfs
PPM
CU
CU
BH Sal. - 2
Sigma - 2
PPM
CU
400000 35
BH Sal. - 1
Sigma - 1
PPM
CU
400000 35
CU
Sigma (Sg = 40%)
15 35
Sigma (Sg = 60%)
400000 35
Sigma (Sg = 20%)
15 35
Sigma (Sg = 40%)
400000 35
BH Sal. - 3
0
5500
PPM
CU
CU
Sigma (Sg = 60%)
15 35
CU
Sigma (Sg = 20%)
15 35
CU
CU
CU
Temp. - 4
15 125
15 35
CU
15 125
Sigma - 4
15 35
CU
CU
DEGF
Temp. - 2
15 125
Sigma - 1
15 35
DEGF
Temp. - 3
Sigma (Sg = 60%)
Sigma - 1
15 35
15
Sigma (Sg = 40%)
15 35
Sigma - 3
15 35
CU
DEGF
Temp. - 1
15 125
DEGF
Pressure - 4
145 2340
PSI
Pressure - 3
145 2340
PSI
Pressure - 2
145 2340
PSI
Pressure - 1
145 2340
PSI
West Pearl Queen
• Injection interval 7 m
arkosic sandstone, oil
reservoir, Permian Queen
Formation
• 18% porosity, 5 -30 md
• Structural dome trap carbonate/evaporite seals
• Depth - 1350 m
• 96 bar
• CO2 trapped by residual
saturation + dissolution in
water and oil
Representative of the
Permian Basin
%
– 62% retained under
production
Bill Cary
Los Alamos National
Laboratory
Trapping Dissolution of CO2 into Brine
1yr
40 yr
930 yr
5 yr
130 yr
1330 yr
30 yr
330 yr
2330 yr
Jonathan
Ennis-King,
CO2CRC
Jonathan
Ennis-King,
CSIRO Australia
Trapping: Frio Tracer Breakthough Curves
Show Significant Dissolution of CO2 into
Tracer Breakthrough Curves
Brine
SF6 C/Cmax
Krypton C/Cmax
PFT C/Cmax
1
0.8
2nd Tracer Breakthrough
C/Cmax
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
3rd Tracer Breakthrough
-0.2
10/10/2004
10/11/2004
10/12/2004
10/13/2004
Barry Friefeld, LBNL; Tommy Phelps ORNL
Setting the Standard for Monitoring:
IEA Weyburn project
• Devonian Midale
carbonate
• Successful semiquantitative monitoring
of CO2 plume
migration using 4-D
seismic: 20% P-wave
difference post
injection
IEA Weyburn CO2 Storage and Monitoring Project
Combining CO2 storage research
with oil production
• Large, high technology,
well-supported
research Phase I , $21
M, numerous
international partners
• Complex environment
containing oil,
production, field
operations
Petroleum Technology
Research Centre
(PTRC)
Encana, governments
University, Provincial,
private
No Suitable Method for Detecting
Slow Leakage
• Current
monitoring: noise
is large, precision
is moderate
• If flux is low, .01 to
1 % of stored
volume/year
• Cumulative impact
to atmosphere
would be
unacceptable
Weyburn Soil Gas Survey
Monitoring Techniques at Nagaoka site:
injection into a heterogeneous rock volume
• Pleistocene Haizume Fm:
12 m thick mineralogically
immature submarine
sandstone
• 10’s mD core analysis, <10
mD hydrologic test, about
20% porosity
• 15 degree dip on flank of
anticline
• 10,400 tones CO2
Research Institute of Innovative
Technology for the Earth (RITE)
and collaborators
http://uregina.ca/ghgt7/PDF/papers/nonpeer
/273.pdf
Monitoring using cross well-seismic
at Nagaoka site
• Logging though non-metallic
casing using induction,
neutron, sonic detected
breakthough after injection
4000 tones 40 m away
• Cross well tomography
imaged plume but failed to
detect breakthough
• 4-D seismic suggests
strongly anisotropic CO2
movement
http://www.rite.or.jp/English/about/plng_survy/to
daye/todaytre/RTtr_co2seq.pdf
Subsurface Monitoring Above Injection Zones – a
Proposed Solution to Complexity
• Close to
perturbation
• Quiescent relative to
the surface
• High signal to noise
ratio
Atmosphere
Biosphere
Vadose zone & soil
Aquifer and USDW
Seal
Monitoring Zone
Seal
CO2 plume
Cross-Well Seismic Tomogram
100 ft
Adequacy of Modeling: CO2 Saturation
Observed with Cross-well Seismic Tomography
vs. Modeled: Frio example
Observation
well
Injection well
(B)
X-well is a cross
section of the plume
Tom Daley and Christine Doughty LBNL
Complex geology
No inventory
attempted
Adequate US Storage Volume:
Preliminary “Fairways” Map
Low Permeability is Typical:
more studies needed in tight rocks
Hydraulic conductivity
m/day
<.0.01
.010.1
0.1 -1
1 – 10
>10
Mixed data types – core, well tests, and models
Successful Use of Horizontal Well
Technology in Low Permeability Sandstones
– BP In Salah Project, Algeria
• Inject 1 million tones/year
of CO2 from gas
processing facility
• Injection into water leg of
same reservoir
• 800 m-ling horizontals
Ian Wright, BP
• 5-10 mD Pennsylvanian
sandstone
• Injection underway
• Large monitoring project
mobilized – 4-D seismic,
soil gas, microseismic
array
http://ior.rml.co.uk/issue11/events/past/spe/
Example of the Global Question of
Capacity: Deccan Traps, India
PNNL and Geothermal Energy
India.
Layered Basalt – Role for
Geochemical Trapping?
• Thick section – > 2000 m,
large volume
• Layered lower and higher
permeability
• Seal performance is
uncertain
• High reactivity with CO2 formation of minerals
• So could CO2 be retained
long enough to be trapped
by mineral reactions?
Fill and Spill with reaction with Basalt
An example of need for assessment of quality and quantity of geologic storage
outside of the US
Otway Basin Project -Australia
• Planned injection of
100,000 tones of
natural CO2 into
Cretaceous Warre
sandstone depleted
gas reservoir
• Large volume
injection
• Fault seal – will test
fault stability under
injection
• Test monitoring in
the presence of
gas
Well Understood Risk:
Substitute
underground Unexpected Results of Injection
injection for air
release
Escape to
groundwater,
surface water,
or air via long
flowpath
Water table
Underground source of drinking water
Earthquake
Escape of CO2
or brine to
groundwater,
surface water
or air through
flaws in the seal
Failure of well cement or
casing resulting in leakage
Risk in Terms of Exceeding
Capacity
• Spill from structure
• Exceed fracture
pressure of seal
• Far-field effects –
leakage of brine from
injection interval
Very large scale-up
Reservoir
Large scale-up
Status of Knowledge About CCS
•
•
•
•
•
Well Known
Trapping mechanisms
Monitoring strategies to image
and quantify plume evolution
Validity of modeling
approaches – modification of
existing simulators
Major leakage risks
Volume of storage US,
Australia, Japan, Europe
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poorly Known
Modeling/monitoring in low
permeability rocks
Monitoring to detect low rates
of leakage over long time
frames
Performance of non-matrix
systems (coal, basalt)
Risks resulting from very large
scale-up
Volume of storage in
developing nations
Performance of faults, wells