The Wabamun Area Sequestration Project (WASP): A multidisciplinary study of gigaton scale CO2 storage in a deep saline carbonate aquifer

Eisinger, Chris; Lavoie, Rob; Keith, David W.

doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2011.02.444

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Anthropogenic greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), have dramatically increased because of fuel combustion and are believed to be a major source for global warming. Geological reservoirs that act as natural resources to extract natural gas and oil are believed to have great potential for storage of anthropogenic CO 2 . − Also, injection of CO 2 into some geologic reservoirs could result in enhanced oil recovery or enhanced gas production. , Geologic formations, such as brine aquifers, have great potential to sequester substantial amounts of CO 2 for permanent subsurface storage. − Several worldwide projects are underway involving saline aquifers, and limited data on these projects are available in published literature. − Some of the major large-scale CO 2 sequestration projects include the In Salah project in Algeria, ,, the Sleipner project in the North Sea, , the Gorgon project in Australia, , and the Snøhvit project in Norway . Estimated storage capacities exceeding 10 Mt have been reported in some geologic repositories planned for CO 2 sequestration. ,, A few modeling studies and site characterization works have been reported at field scale and basin scale to investigate the plume behavior of CO 2 . ,, …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled Flow and Deformation Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Migration in the Presence of a Caprock Fracture during Injection

2013

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Understanding the transport of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) during long-term CO 2 injection into a typical geologic reservoir, such as a saline aquifer, could be complicated because of changes in geochemical, hydrogeological, and hydromechanical behavior. While the caprock layer overlying the target aquifer is intended to provide a tight, impermeable seal in securing injected CO 2 , the presence of geologic uncertainties, such as a caprock fracture or fault, may provide a channel for CO 2 leakage. There could also be a possibility of the activation of a new or existing dormant fault or fracture, which could act as a leakage pathway. Such a leakage event during CO 2 injection may lead to a different pressure and ground response over a period of time. In the present study, multiphase fluid flow simulations in porous media coupled with geomechanics were used to investigate the overburden geologic response and plume behavior during CO 2 injection in the presence of a hypothetical permeable fractured zone in a caprock, existing or activated. Both single-phase and multiphase fluid flow simulations were performed. The CO 2 migration through an existing fractured zone leads to changes in the fluid pressure in the overburden geologic layers and could have a significant impact on ground deformation behavior. Results of the study show that pressure signatures and displacement patterns are significantly different in the presence of a fractured zone in the caprock layer. The variation in pressure and displacement signatures because of the presence of a fractured zone in the caprock at different locations may be useful in identifying the presence of a fault/fractured zone in the caprock. The pressure signatures can also serve as a mechanism to identify the activation of leakage pathways through the caprock during CO 2 injection. Pressure response and ground deformation behavior from sequestration modeling could be useful in the development of smart technologies to monitor safe CO 2 storage and understand CO 2 transport, with limited field instrumentation.

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