Illuminating the geology: Post-injection reservoir characterisation of the CO2CRC Otway site

Dance, Tess; LaForce, Tara; Glubokovskikh, Stanislav; Ennis‐King, Jonathan; Pevzner, Roman

doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.05.004

Cited by 35 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The characterization and upscaling methodology herein provides a method for tractably simulating large‐scale flows at low capillary number, including the impacts of small‐scale heterogeneities. This is particularly important in uncertainty analysis, allowing different geological realizations to be run quickly to see potential impacts of different interpretations, and when new information comes through from field operations (Dance et al, 2019). The ability of numerical models to conform to observed plume migration is vital for demonstrating compliance with regulators, that is, within a specified area of review (Court et al, 2012; Pawar et al, 2017), and key in the scale up of CO 2 injection from an individual site (i.e., megatonnes), to the gigatonne scales required for large‐scale climate change mitigation.…”

Section: Field‐scale Implications and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO₂ Storage

Jackson

Krevor

2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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Unpredicted, rapid plume elongation has been observed at subsurface CO 2 storage projects worldwide, exemplified by the Sleipner project. We show that conventionally ignored centimeter-meter scale heterogeneity in capillary pressure characteristics can manifest as rapid field-scale, decameter-kilometer, plume migration. We analyze the effect in the Goldeneye field, UK, a proposed storage site with a unique combination of sample/data accessibility and generality as an archetype sandstone reservoir. We overcome previous barriers by characterizing in greater detail over larger scales-the 65 m reservoir height at cm-m resolution-and through use of an upscaling scheme which resolves small-scale heterogeneity impacts in field-scale simulations. These models reveal that significant early time retardation of buoyantly rising CO 2 plumes is followed by rapid migration under the caprock in the presence of anisotropic, layered heterogeneities. Lateral migration speeds can be enhanced by 200%, placing first-order controls on fluid flow and providing a mechanistic explanation for field observations. Plain Language Summary Geological carbon storage is a promising technique to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Captured carbon dioxide is generally injected into a subsurface reservoir over 1,000 m underground, displacing resident brine and eventually becoming trapped underneath a low-permeability caprock seal. However, at several industrial-scale storage sites around the world, the carbon dioxide has migrated laterally away from the injection well much quicker than anticipated and followed pathways that are not predicted by models. It is crucial that these models can predict the migration and demonstrate safe storage to owners and policy makers. In this work, we show that one source of the discrepancy is the omission of the impacts of small-scale rock heterogeneities in these models. We experimentally characterize rock cores from a North Sea reservoir at high resolution, and through rigorous multiscale modeling show that centimeter-meter-scale heterogeneities in the rock structure, for example, small mudstone layers in sandstone, can cause rapid migration at larger, meter-kilometer scales. Carbon dioxide can migrate up to 200% faster in the presence of layered heterogeneities. These heterogeneities are ubiquitous in nature and provide an explanation for the behavior seen at storage sites worldwide. Our modeling approach incorporates this behavior, improving the predictability and control of storage operations.

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Section: Field‐scale Implications and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO₂ Storage

Jackson

Krevor

2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…The characterisation and upscaling methodology herein provides a method for tractably simulating large scale flows at low capillary number, including the impacts of small-scale heterogeneities. This is particularly important in uncertainty analysis, allowing different geological realizations to be run quickly to see potential impacts of different interpretations, and when new information comes through from field operations (Dance et al, 2019). The ability of numerical models to conform to observed plume migration is vital for demonstrating compliance with regulators, i.e.…”

Section: Field-scale Implications and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(a) Footprints of CO2 plumes observed at injection projects with unexpected migration pathways. Arrows show the direction of the unexpected and difficult to model migration paths (Cowton et al, 2016;Ringrose et al, 2009;Dance et al, 2019;Hosseini et al, 2013). (b) Field-scale capillary numbers associated with a highly permeable aquifer (i.e.…”

Section: Scaling Analysis For Small-scale Heterogeneitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This includes Sleipner, North Sea, Norway (Chadwick et al, 2009;G. Williams & Chadwick, 2012); In Salah, Algeria (Ringrose et al, 2013); Frio stage I and II projects, Texas, USA (Hovorka et al, 2006;Daley et al, 2011); Cranfield, Mississippi, USA (Hosseini et al, 2013); and the Otway stage 2 project, Otway, Victoria, Australia (Dance et al, 2019). In all of these examples, the seismically imaged CO 2 plume has extended laterally away from injection points along pathways and at rates neither predicted nor easily matched by conventional approaches to reservoir simulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain the unexpected behaviour. Most frequently studies invoke the existence of a high permeability channel or fracture, aligned with the flow direction (G. Williams et al, 2018;Cowton et al, 2018;Ringrose et al, 2013;Dance et al, 2019). When combined with varying caprock topography, this can place a leading order control on the migration pathway (Gasda et al, 2013;Nilsen et al, 2017;Cowton et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Small-scale capillary heterogeneity linked to rapid plume migration during CO2 storage

Jackson¹,

Krevor²

2020

Preprint

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Measurements of the relative permeability to CO₂‐and‐brine multiphase fluid of Paaratte formation at near‐reservoir conditions

et al. 2021

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CO 2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers is a promising method to reduce atmospheric CO 2 . The on-going CO 2 CRC Otway project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of large-scale CO 2 storage in deep saline formations and to develop new monitoring technologies in Australia. The relative permeability curves are essential for predicting the movements of CO 2 and estimate residual trapping in the aquifer during and after injection through numerical simulations. However, studies of relative permeability curves for the Paaratte sandstone at the in situ conditions are limited. In addition, different rock types in the Paaratte formation can behave differently when CO 2 displaces brine. This work reports four relative permeability experiments of CO 2 /brine systems using the unsteady-state core flooding method for different types of rock collected from various depths of Paaratte formations at near-reservoir conditions. The relative permeability results calculated from the analytical Johnson, Bossler, and Naumann (JBN) method and the numerical history matching method are compared. The JBN method does not calculate the relative permeability accurately for CO 2 /brine systems due to the assumptions of incompressible flow, since the CO 2 relative permeability results calculated from the JBN method are similar for all the cases. The history matching results show that the brine (water) relative permeability of the core samples with a high fraction of macropores is similar to the measurements for Paaratte formation reported in the literature over a large range of brine (water) saturation. In contrast, the brine relative permeability of the core samples with a high fraction of micropores is considerably higher than that of the core samples with macropores, suggesting better connectivity for the samples with a high fraction of micropores. The new findings will be useful in reservoir-scale numerical modelings of the Paaratte formation to more accurately predict the movement of CO 2 during and after the injection.

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Illuminating the geology: Post-injection reservoir characterisation of the CO2CRC Otway site

Cited by 35 publications

References 16 publications

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO₂ Storage

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO₂ Storage

Small-scale capillary heterogeneity linked to rapid plume migration during CO2 storage

Measurements of the relative permeability to CO₂‐and‐brine multiphase fluid of Paaratte formation at near‐reservoir conditions

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Illuminating the geology: Post-injection reservoir characterisation of the CO2CRC Otway site

Cited by 35 publications

References 16 publications

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO2 Storage

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO2 Storage

Small-scale capillary heterogeneity linked to rapid plume migration during CO2 storage

Measurements of the relative permeability to CO2‐and‐brine multiphase fluid of Paaratte formation at near‐reservoir conditions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO₂ Storage

Small‐Scale Capillary Heterogeneity Linked to Rapid Plume Migration During CO₂ Storage

Measurements of the relative permeability to CO₂‐and‐brine multiphase fluid of Paaratte formation at near‐reservoir conditions