Research on Geologic CO2 Storage

Ian Duncan

Gulf Coast Carbon Center

University of Texas at Austin,

Bureau of Economic Geology

Acknowledgements • Gulf Coast Carbon Center researchers: Susan Hovorka, Tip Meckel,

Jiemin Lu, JP Nicot, Katherine Romanak, Changbing Yang, David Carr,

Becky Smyth, Jong-Won Choi

• BEG Associate Director: Michael Young

• BEG Director: Scott Tinker

• Funding organizations: The Department of Energy National Energy

Technology Laboratory, Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration

GCCC sponsors

(1) Will geologic sequestration work? (2) Is it safe, secure, long-term storage? (3) How do risks of brine sequestration compare to CO2 EOR?

Research Questions

Natural gas reservoirs have kept gas in the subsurface for tens of millions of years Natural CO2 reservoirs have retained CO2

Why we believe that CO2 Sequestration will work

The 37 year plus record of CO2 injection into depleted oil fields (CO2-EOR) ~ 600 million tons of CO2 transported in pipelines in the US ~ 1,200 million tons of CO2 injected

Why we believe that CO2 Sequestration will work

No known significant environmental issues Excellent safety record

Why we believe that CO2 Sequestration will work

Bureau of Economic Geology’s DOE funded Field Projects: Frio I Frio II SACROC Cranfield Phase II Cranfield Phase III

Why we believe that CO2 Sequestration will work

GCCC Field Monitoring Programs

Cranfield SECARB

Phase II&II

Denbury

Frio Test 1&2 Texas American

Resources

SACROC Southwest

Partnership

KinderMorgan

NM Tech

Hastings Denbury-AP-LLC

NRG

Frio I Brine Pilot:

Funded by

DOE NETL

Frio Brine Pilot

Site

Injection

interval

Injection Well

Observation Well

CO2 Saturation Observed with Cross-

well Seismic Tomography vs. Modeled

Tom Daley and Christine Doughty LBNL

Frio 1 2004-2006

• 1600 tones CO2-A

• 1500 m deep sandstone -

saline

Funded by NETL

Lead: Hovorka/Geo-SEQ

Host: Texas American

Resources

First highly instrumented brine injection Showed … computer simulation fate of CO2 work well and available technologies can monitor CO2

Frio I Pilot Injection Project 2005 -2006

Second highly instrumented brine injection Showed … Capillary trapping of CO2 will be a significant factor is assuring long term secure storage

Frio II Pilot Injection Project 2007 -2008

Modeled evolution of phases of

CO2

First monitoring for leakage in Permian Basin CO2 EOR site Largest (over 80 million tons of CO2 injected over last 37 years) SW Carbon Sequestration Partnership Project hosted by Kinder Morgan (EOR Operator)

SACROC Project 2006 -2010

SACROC Access to Private Water Wells

Showed …. No evidence of leakage of CO2 into groundwater

SACROC Project

May 6th, 2010

Washington DC

Cranfield Injection Projects

Cranfield Field Test Collaboration

SECARB Partnership Project

Managed by SSEB

Denbury Onshore LLC

Schlumberger Carbon

Services

LBNL

LLBL

USGS

ORNL

NETL

QEA

U Mississippi

Miss State

UTPGE

UT DoG

University Tennessee

BP

Princeton

Stanford

University Edinburgh

Gulf Coast Carbon

Center Staff Susan Hovorka

Ramon Trevino

Tip Meckel

Changbing Yang

Jiemin Liu

Katherine Romanak

Rebecca Smyth

Sigrid Clift

Masoumeh Kordi

Stuart Coleman

Yihua Cai

Hamid Lashgari

BEG staff Tongwei Zhang

Jeff Paine

Bob Reedy

Robert Reed

Kitty Millikan

Sandia Technologies

Million ton injection of CO2 into and oil field SECARB Sequestration Partnership Project hosted by Denbury (EOR Operator)

Cranfield Phase II Project 2008 -2010

Cranfield Phase II (EOR) 2008-

continuing

• 1 Million tones CO2-N

• 3000 m deep fluvial sandstone

• SECARB Partnership (SSEB)

Lead: Hovorka, Meckel

Host: Denbury Onshore LLC

Key results: • Develop above zone pressure

monitoring interval (AZMI) show

vertical isolation

Injection well

Monitoring well

Jul.03 Jul.04 Jul.05 Jul.06 Jul.07 Jul.08 Jul.09 Jul.10 Jul.11 Jul.12 Jul.13 Jul.14 Jul.15 Jul.16 Jul.17 Jul.18 Jul.19 Jul.20 Jul.21 Jul.22 Jul.23 Jul.24 Jul.25-10

-5

0

Tubin

g P

ressure

(psig

)

Date

Tubing data

50

100

150

Tubin

g T

em

pera

ture

(F

)

Satellite

transmission

Fluvial Depositional Environment

Stratal slicing seismic interpretation

Channel

erosion

Channel

erosion Channel

erosion

Point bar Point bar

Channel

erosion

Hongliu Zeng, BEG

Average

H: 283 md

V: 47 md

Average

H: 20.5 %

V: 20.7 %

Dedicated observation well

Injection wells

Fault

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

7/1/2008 8/20/2008 10/9/2008 11/28/2008 1/17/2009 3/8/2009 4/27/2009 6/16/2009

Date

CO

2 i

nje

cti

on

ra

te (

Ms

cfd

)

CFU 29-10 CFU 29-12

CFU 26-1 CFU 25-2

CFU 24-2 CFU 29-2

CFU 28-1 CFU 27-1

CFU 29-4 CFU 48-1

CFU 29-7

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

6/1/2008 7/21/2008 9/9/2008 10/29/2008 12/18/2008 2/6/2009 3/28/2009 5/17/2009 7/6/2009

Date

CO

2 i

nje

cti

on

ra

te (

Ms

cfd

)

CFU 29-10 CFU 29-12

CFU 26-1 CFU 25-2

CFU 24-2 CFU 29-2

CFU 28-1 CFU 27-1

CFU 29-4 CFU 48-1

CFU 29-7

Flow Modeling

Modeled CO2 injection rate

Simplified CO2 injection rate

Actual Injection Rates

??

Simplified CO2 injection rate

BEG Observation well

4000

4500

5000

5500

6000

2/22/2008 11/18/2010 8/14/2013 5/10/2016 2/4/2019

Date

Pre

ss

ure

(p

si)

Measurement

Calculated

Pressure match at continuous monitoring well

Showed …. Digital pressure gauges in reservoir and at well head are sensitive to relatively small leaks

Cranfield Phase II Project 2008 -2010

First highly monitored million ton a year injection rate into brine

Cranfield Phase III Project 2009 -2010

Cranfield Phase III (stacked) 2009-

continuing

3 Million tones CO2-N

3000 m deep fluvial

sandstone (brine)

SECARB Partnership (SSEB)

Lead Hovorka, Meckel, Trevino

Host: Denbury Onshore LLC

Key results:

Time and space evolution

of saturation

ERT for CCS

NEW PROJECTS

Air-Products & Leucadia Lake Charles

Hastings 2011-2015

Planned 5 Million tones CO2- A + 8

Million tons CO2 N

2000 m deep fluvial sandstone (EOR)

Lead: Nunez, Hovorka

Host: Denbury Onshore LLC

Key results:

Test best commercial technologies for confirming

storage permanence in EOR context

Assessment of faults

NRG JW Parrish Plant 2012-2017

Planned 0.25 ? Million tones CO2- A

from coal-fired capture

2000 m deep

bar sandstones (EOR)

Lead: Smyth

Host: To be announced soon

Key GCCC results:

Test best commercial

technologies for confirming

storage permanence in EOR

context

IS CO2 SEQUESTRATION SAFE?

IS CO2 SEQUESTRATION SAFE?

Risks associated with CO2 sequestration Capture plant CO2 Pipelines Well blowouts Leakage of CO2 into groundwater Leakage of CO2 into oil and gas reservoirs

CONCLUSIONS ABOUT RISKS • Most risks associated with CCS

can be quantified and are similar to other analogous industrial activities

• Risks for well characterized, carefully selected sites are manageable and bounded

• Risk assessment ultimately is site specific

CONCLUSIONS

CO2 sequestration is ready for projects at true commercial scale

Thanks!

For more information: www.beg.utexas.edu