Developing a monitoring and verification plan with referenceto the Australian Otway CO2 pilot project

Abstract

IntroductionThe Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) is currently injecting 100,000 tons of CO 2 in a large scale test of storage technology in a pilot project in South Eastern Australia called the CO2CRC Otway Basin Project (Otway). The Otway Basin with its natural CO 2 accumulations and many depleted gas fields, offers an appropriate site for such a pilot project. An 80% CO 2 stream is produced from a well (Buttress) near to the depleted gas reservoir (Naylor) used for storage. The goal of this pilot project is to demonstrate that CO 2 can be safely transported , stored underground and its behaviour tracked and monitored. The monitoring and verification framework has been developed to monitor for the presence and behaviour of CO 2 in the sub-surface reservoir, near surface and atmosphere. This monitoring framework has been selected to address the areas identified by a rigorous process of risk assessment and subsequently verify conformance to clearly identifiable performance criteria. These criteria have been agreed with the regulatory authorities to manage the project through all phases addressing responsibilities, liabilities and to provide assurance of safe storage to the satisfaction of the public at large.

CO2SINK—From site characterisation and risk assessment to monitoring and verification: One year of operational experience with the field laboratory for CO2 storage at Ketzin, Germany

“…Gaseous and water soluble tracers were applied to better follow the migration of CO 2 within the reservoir. A gas membrane sensor (GMS) was used to monitor changes in the reservoir gas composition in the observation wells in near real time, as a low cost, high resolution alternative to U-tube sampling performed in Frio and Otway , Dodds et al, 2009.…”

The CO₂SINK Boreholes for Geological Storage Testing

“…In this regard, CO 2 SINK differs from other scientific projects of CO 2 test storage, such as the Frio experiment in Texas (Hovorka et al, 2006), the Nagaoka experiment in Japan (Kikuta et al, 2004), the field test in the West Pearl Queen Reservoir in New Mexico (Pawar et al, 2006), and the Otway Basin pilot project in Australia (Dodds et al, 2006).…”

Progress in monitoring strategies for risk reduction in geologic CO2 storage

“…the limitations) of each monitoring method. For some storage sites reducing risk may require improvement in monitoring technologies (Dodds et al, 2009;DOE, 2012). Field tests of monitoring technologies are needed to assess uncertainty and drive improvements.…”