Constraining the reservoir model of an injected CO2 plume with crosswell CASSM at the Frio-II brine pilot

Abstract

Crosswell CASSM (continuous active-source seismic monitoring) data was acquired as part of the Frio-II brine pilot CO 2 injection experiment. To gain insight into the CO 2 plume evolution, we have integrated the 3D multiphase flow modeling code TOUGH2 with seismic simulation codes via a petrophysical model that predicts seismic velocity for a given CO 2 saturation. Results of forward seismic modeling based on the CO 2 saturation distribution produced by an initial TOUGH2 model compare poorly with the CASSM data, indicating that the initial flow model did not capture the actual CO 2 plume dynamics. Updates to the TOUGH2 model required to better match the CASSM field data indicate vertical flow near the injection well, with increased horizontal plume growth occurring at the top of the reservoir sand. The CASSM continuous delay time data are ideal for constraining the modeled spatiotemporal evolution of the CO 2 plume and allow improvement in reservoir model and estimation of CO 2 plume properties.

Laboratory seismic monitoring of supercritical CO2 flooding in sandstone cores using the Split Hopkinson Resonant Bar technique with concurrent x‐ray Computed Tomography imaging

“…The resonant bar test can be conducted concurrently with x‐ray CT imaging within an x‐ray transparent pressure vessel, as previously done by Cadoret, Marion and Zinszner (1995), providing the knowledge of sc‐CO 2 distribution within a core. Although our measurement frequencies are still higher than typical field seismic surveys, they are close to the frequencies used by recent cross‐hole seismic tomography measurements conducted at Frio (Texas, USA) (Daley, Ajo‐Franklin and Doughty 2011) and Cranfield (Mississippi, USA) (Ajo‐Franklin et al ., in preparation) CO 2 injection sites. Such time‐lapse cross‐hole tomographic measurements are currently the best field‐scale estimates of sc‐CO 2 induced seismic velocity change that could potentially be converted to CO 2 saturation with laboratory calibration measurements.…”

Reservoir characterization based upon the onset of time-lapse amplitude changes

“…Also, permanently cemented shallow seismic sensors are being tested for frequent monitoring of the injection of carbon dioxide (Bakulin et al, 2012). Continuous active-source monitoring is being developed in a variety of settings, including crosswell and vertical seismic profiling configurations, for the monitoring of fluid movement within the subsurface (AjoFranklin et al, 2011;Daley et al, 2011). The monitoring of deformation induced by fluid injection and migration has a long history that includes many techniques with short sampling intervals such as tilt, the global positioning system, and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR).…”

Time domain viscoelastic full waveform inversion

“…In this section, we present one possible application: the time-lapse monitoring of CO 2 sequestration by crosswell seismic tomography. Numerous studies show that crosswell seismic monitoring can detect changes in seismic velocities caused by CO 2 injection (Spetzler et al 2008;Onishi et al 2009;Daley et al 2011;Zhang et al 2012;Ajo-Franklin et al 2013). Furthermore, CO 2 concentrations can affect substantially seismic attenuation (Carcione et al 2006;Lei & Xue 2009;Müller et al 2010).…”