Microseismic monitoring for reliable CO2 injection and storage — Geophysical modeling challenges and opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 418-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Verliac ◽  
Joel Le Calvez
Keyword(s):  
Network Architecture ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Microseismic Monitoring ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Time Data ◽  
And Storage

Recently, the oil and gas industry started to experience a major evolution that could impact the geophysical community for decades. The effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more renewable energy and less fossil fuel consumption. In parallel, the carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) business is expected to develop rapidly. However, reliably injecting massive amounts of CO2 underground is more challenging than producing hydrocarbons from a known reservoir. Site integrity monitoring and CO2 leak detection are among the biggest challenges. Capabilities to address these challenges will be requested by regulators and the public for acceptance. This surveillance requires technologies such as microseismic monitoring either from the surface or borehole. Each CCUS project will need a preinjection feasibility study in order to design the best sensor network architecture and to set performance expectancies. Acquisition will be performed over long periods of time. Data harvesting and processing will be performed permanently in automated workflows. For these objectives, site operators must demonstrate their expertise through permanent benchmarks based on a common modeling and simulating platform. Microseismic monitoring is not fully mature and presents additional unsolved challenges for large-scale projects such as CCUS. Using a common and public geologic model to generate synthetic data is a solution to gain more credibility. Limitations can be mitigated after analyzing and quantifying gaps such as localization uncertainties. The model is complex due to the nature of CO2 injection and will evolve over time. A public consortium, such as the SEG Advanced Modeling (SEAM) Corporation, that gathers expertise to generate a common model and synthetic data sets will give the credibility and openness necessary to progress in scientific knowledge. It will also provide the necessary transparency for regulatory approval and public acceptance. A new common CCUS modeling platform offers opportunities to work more efficiently within different disciplines.

Carbon capture and storage in the oil and gas industry: 40 years on

2017 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 413
Author(s):  
Christopher Consoli ◽  
Alex Zapantis ◽  
Peter Grubnic ◽  
Lawrence Irlam
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
And Storage

In 1972, carbon dioxide (CO2) began to be captured from natural gas processing plants in West Texas and transported via pipeline for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to oil fields also in Texas. This marked the beginning of carbon capture and storage (CCS) using anthropogenic CO2. Today, there are 22 such large-scale CCS facilities in operation or under construction around the world. These 22 facilities span a wide range of capture technologies and source feedstock as well as a variety of geologic formations and terrains. Seventeen of the facilities capture CO2 primarily for EOR. However, there are also several significant-scale CCS projects using dedicated geological storage options. This paper presents a collation and summary of these projects. Moving forward, if international climate targets and aspirations are to be achieved, CCS will increasingly need to be applied to all high emission industries. In addition to climate change objectives, the fundamentals of energy demand and fossil fuel supply strongly suggests that CCS deployment will need to be rapid and global. The oil and gas sector would be expected to be part of this deployment. Indeed, the oil and gas industry has led the deployment of CCS and this paper explores the future of CCS in this industry.

Moomba carbon capture and storage case study: material emissions reduction at Moomba plant

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 402
Author(s):  
Nick Harley
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
New Business ◽  
Hydrocarbon Fields ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
And Storage

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential for meeting the Paris agreement global emissions targets – all identified pathways to net zero 2050 emissions require large scale deployment of CCS. The Moomba CCS project is an example of the type of projects that the oil and gas industry can undertake in Australia and globally to reduce emissions and create new business opportunities. The project is a CO2 capture, transport and storage project in the Cooper Basin with the aim of delivering material emissions reduction of 1.7 mtpa CO2-e. The project utilises existing and new infrastructure as well as depleted hydrocarbon fields to capture, compress, dehydrate and store CO2 that is currently vented. This study will provide an overview of this project including the technical challenges that were overcome to enable project success.

COMMERCIAL AND TECHNICAL ISSUES FOR LARGE-SCALE CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE PROJECTS—A GIPPSLAND BASIN STUDY

2006 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 435
Author(s):  
B. Hooper ◽  
B. Koppe ◽  
L. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Brown Coal ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Gippsland Basin ◽  
And Storage

The Latrobe Valley in Victoria’s Gippsland Basin is the location of one of Australia’s most important energy resources—extremely thick, shallow brown coal seams constituting total useable reserves of more than 50,000 million tonnes. Brown coal has a higher moisture content than black coal and generates more CO2 emissions per unit of useful energy when combusted. Consequently, while the Latrobe Valley’s power stations provide Australia’s lowest- cost bulk electricity, they are also responsible for over 60 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year—over half of the Victorian total. In an increasingly carbon constrained world the ongoing development of the Latrobe Valley brown coal resource is likely to require a drastic reduction in the CO2 emissions from new coal use projects—and carbon capture and storage (CCS) has the potential to meet such deep cuts. The offshore Gippsland Basin, the site of major producing oil and gas fields, has the essential geological characteristics to provide a high-volume, low-cost site for CCS. The importance of this potential to assist the continuing use of the nation’s lowest-cost energy source prompted the Australian Government to fund the Latrobe Valley CO2 Storage Assessment (LVCSA).The LVCSA proposal was initiated by Monash Energy (formerly APEL, and now a 100% subsidiary of Anglo American)—the proponent of a major brown coal-to-liquids plant in the Latrobe Valley. Monash Energy’s plans for the 60,000 BBL per day plant include CCS to store about 13 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The LVCSA, undertaken for Monash Energy by the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), provides a medium to high-level technical and economic characterisation of the volume and cost potential for secure geosequestration of CO2 produced by the use of Latrobe Valley brown coal (Hooper et al, 2005a). The assessment’s scope includes consideration of the interaction between CO2 injection and oil and gas production, and its findings have been publicly released for use by CCS proponents, oil and gas producers and all other interested parties as an executive summary, (Hooper et al, 2005b), a fact sheet (Hooper et al, 2005c) and a presentation (Hooper et al, 2005d)).The LVCSA identifies the key issues and challenges for implementing CCS in the Latrobe Valley and provides a reference framework for the engagement of stakeholders. In effect the LVCSA constitutes a pre-feasibility study for the implementation of geosequestration in support of the continuing development of Victoria’s brown coal resources.The LVCSA findings indicate that the Gippsland Basin has sufficient capacity to safely and securely store large volumes of CO2 and may provide a viable means of substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants and other projects using brown coal in the Latrobe Valley. The assessment also indicates that CO2 injection could well be designed to avoid any adverse impact on adjacent oil and gas production, so that CO2 injection can begin near fields that have not yet come to the end of their productive lives. However, CCS proposals involving adjacent injection and production will require more detailed risk management strategies and continuing cooperation between prospective injectors and existing producers.

What comes next: responding to recommendations from the task force on climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD)

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiva Tyagi
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Low Carbon Economy

The task force on climate-related financial disclosures (TCFD) published its recommendations for disclosing climate-related risks in June 2017. The TCFD report represents a framework for companies to disclose climate-related information consistently in their mainstream financial filings. Reporting financial activity using the lens of climate-related risk would, according to the TCFD, help more appropriately price risks and allocate capital in the context of climate change. The initiative, while voluntary, would help speed the transition to a low-carbon economy, and help shift the corporate perspective beyond immediate concerns. The oil and gas industry can play a leading role in the transition to a low carbon economy through: carbon capture and storage, use of natural gas as a transition fuel and the implementation of large-scale renewable energy projects. Given the oil and gas industry’s global leadership in petroleum geology, resource extraction and pipeline transmission, the industry has a vital role in testing the feasibility of large-scale carbon capture and storage. Fossil fuels and renewable energy technologies have obvious complementary synergies and fossil fuels like natural gas are necessary for the reliable, affordable and low-cost transition to a low carbon transition pathway. The oil and gas industry may be the only sector with the requisite expertise and global scale of operations to test and implement large-scale renewable technology initiatives within a public-private partnership framework. Moreover, oil and gas companies are well positioned to be leaders in the effort to adapt and strengthen resilience to the effects and risks of climate change and reduce impacts.

How Digital Transformation Improves Perceptions of Oil and Gas Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 33-33
Author(s):  
Chris Carpenter
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Production Optimization ◽  
Petroleum Engineering ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
The Impact

The final afternoon of the 2020 ATCE saw a wide-ranging virtual special session that covered an important but often overlooked facet of the unfolding digitalization revolution. While the rising wave of digital technology usually has been associated with production optimization and cost savings, panelists emphasized that it can also positively influence the global perception of the industry and enhance the lives of its employees. Chaired by Weatherford’s Dimitrios Pirovolou and moderated by John Clegg, J.M. Clegg Ltd., the session, “The Impact of Digital Technologies on Upstream Operations To Improve Stakeholder Perception, Business Models, and Work-Life Balance,” highlighted expertise taken from professionals across the industry. Panelists included petroleum engineering professor Linda Battalora and graduate research assistant Kirt McKenna, both from the Colorado School of Mines; former SPE President Darcy Spady of Carbon Connect International; and Dirk McDermott of Altira Group, an industry-centered venture-capital company. Battalora described the complex ways in which digital technology and the goal of sustainability might interact, highlighting recent SPE and other industry initiatives such as the GAIA Sustainability Program and reviewing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). McKenna, representing the perspective of the Millennial generation, described the importance of “agile development,” in which the industry uses new techniques not only to improve production but also to manage its employees in a way that heightens engagement while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Addressing the fact that greater commitment will be required to remove the “tougher two-thirds” of the world’s hydrocarbons that remain unexploited, Spady explained that digital sophistication will allow heightened productivity for professionals without a sacrifice in quality of life. Finally, McDermott stressed the importance of acknowledging that the industry often has not rewarded shareholders adequately, but pointed to growing digital components of oil and gas portfolios as an encouraging sign. After the initial presentations, Clegg moderated a discussion of questions sourced from the virtual audience. While the questions spanned a range of concerns, three central themes included the pursuit of sustainability, with an emphasis on carbon capture; the shape that future work environments might take; and how digital technologies power industry innovation and thus affect public perception. In addressing the first of these, Battalora identified major projects involving society-wide stakeholder involvement in pursuit of a regenerative “circular economy” model, such as Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan, while McKenna cited the positives of CO2-injection approaches, which he said would involve “partnering with the world” to achieve both economic and sustainability goals. While recognizing the importance of the UN SDGs in providing a global template for sustainability, McDermott said that the industry must address the fact that many investors fear rigid guidelines, which to them can represent limitations for growth or worse.

A Laboratory Investigation of the Effect of Ethanol-Treated Carbon Dioxide Injection on Oil Recovery and Carbon Dioxide Storage

SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Saira ◽  
Emmanuel Ajoma ◽  
Furqan Le-Hussain
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Molar Fraction ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Injection ◽  
Treated Carbon ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
And Storage ◽  
Experimental Runs

Summary Carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery is the most economical technique for carbon capture, usage, and storage. In depleted reservoirs, full or near-miscibility of injected CO2 with oil is difficult to achieve, and immiscible CO2 injection leaves a large volume of oil behind and limits available pore volume (PV) for storing CO2. In this paper, we present an experimental study to delineate the effect of ethanol-treated CO2 injection on oil recovery, net CO2 stored, and amount of ethanol left in the reservoir. We inject CO2 and ethanol-treated CO2 into Bentheimer Sandstone cores representing reservoirs. The oil phase consists of a mixture of 0.65 hexane and 0.35 decane (C6-C10 mixture) by molar fraction in one set of experimental runs, and pure decane (C10) in the other set of experimental runs. All experimental runs are conducted at constant temperature 70°C and various pressures to exhibit immiscibility (9.0 MPa for the C6-C10 mixture and 9.6 MPa for pure C10) or near-miscibility (11.7 MPa for the C6-C10 mixture and 12.1 MPa for pure C10). Pressure differences across the core, oil recovery, and compositions and rates of the produced fluids are recorded during the experimental runs. Ultimate oil recovery under immiscibility is found to be 9 to 15% greater using ethanol-treated CO2 injection than that using pure CO2 injection. Net CO2 stored for pure C10 under immiscibility is found to be 0.134 PV greater during ethanol-treated CO2 injection than during pure CO2 injection. For the C6-C10 mixture under immiscibility, both ethanol-treated CO2 injection and CO2 injection yield the same net CO2 stored. However, for the C6-C10 mixture under near-miscibility,ethanol-treated CO2 injection is found to yield 0.161 PV less net CO2 stored than does pure CO2 injection. These results suggest potential improvement in oil recovery and net CO2 stored using ethanol-treated CO2 injection instead of pure CO2 injection. If economically viable, ethanol-treated CO2 injection could be used as a carbon capture, usage, and storage method in low-pressure reservoirs, for which pure CO2 injection would be infeasible.

Nanoemulsions: A Versatile Technology for Oil and Gas Applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nouf AlJabri ◽  
Nan Shi
Keyword(s):  
Droplet Size ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Small Droplet ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Nanoemulsions (NEs) are kinetically stable emulsions with droplet size on the order of 100 nm. Many unique properties of NEs, such as stability and rheology, have attracted considerable attention in the oil industry. Here, we review applications and studies of NEs for major upstream operations, highlighting useful properties of NEs, synthesis to render these properties, and techniques to characterize them. We identify specific challenges associated with large-scale applications of NEs and directions for future studies. We first summarize useful and unique properties of NEs, mostly arising from the small droplet size. Then, we compare different methods to prepare NEs based on the magnitude of input energy, i.e., low-energy and high-energy methods. In addition, we review techniques to characterize properties of NEs, such as droplet size, volume fraction of the dispersed phase, and viscosity. Furthermore, we discuss specific applications of NEs in four areas of upstream operations, i.e., enhanced oil recovery, drilling/completion, flow assurance, and stimulation. Finally, we identify challenges to economically tailor NEs with desired properties for large-scale upstream applications and propose possible solutions to some of these challenges. NEs are kinetically stable due to their small droplet size (submicron to 100 nm). Within this size range, the rate of major destabilizing mechanisms, such as coalescence, flocculation, and Ostwald ripening, is considerably slowed down. In addition, small droplet size yields large surface-to-volume ratio, optical transparency, high diffusivity, and controllable rheology. Similar to applications in other fields (food industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, etc.), the oil and gas industry can also benefit from these useful properties of NEs. Proposed functions of NEs include delivering chemicals, conditioning wellbore/reservoir conditions, and improve chemical compatibility. Therefore, we envision NEs as a versatile technology that can be applied in a variety of upstream operations. Upstream operations often target a wide range of physical and chemical conditions and are operated at different time scales. More importantly, these operations typically consume a large amount of materials. These facts not only suggest efforts to rationally engineer properties of NEs in upstream applications, but also manifest the importance to economically optimize such efforts for large-scale operations. We summarize studies and applications of NEs in upstream operations in the oil and gas industry. We review useful properties of NEs that benefit upstream applications as well as techniques to synthesize and characterize NEs. More importantly, we identify challenges and opportunities in engineering NEs for large-scale operations in different upstream applications. This work not only focuses on scientific aspects of synthesizing NEs with desired properties but also emphasizes engineering and economic consideration that is important in the oil industry.

Photoacoustic Nanotracers for Subsurface Applications: Opportunities and Challenges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesus Manuel Felix Servin ◽  
Hala A. Al-Sadeg ◽  
Amr Abdel-Fattah
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Waves ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Continuous Wave ◽  
Tracer Tests ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Sound Waves ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Gas Industry

Abstract Tracers are practical tools to gather information about the subsurface fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs. Typical interwell tracer tests involve injecting and producing tracers from multiple wells to evaluate important parameters such as connectivity, flow paths, fluid-fluid and fluid-rock interactions, and reservoir heterogeneity, among others. The upcoming of nanotechnology enables the development of novel nanoparticle-based tracers to overcome many of the challenges faced by conventional tracers. Among the advantages of nanoparticle-based tracers is the capability to functionalize their surface to yield stability and transportability through the subsurface. In addition, nanoparticles can be engineered to respond to a wide variety of stimuli, including light. The photoacoustic effect is the formation of sound waves following light absorption in a material sample. The medical community has successfully employed photoacoustic nanotracers as contrast agents for photoacoustic tomography imaging. We propose that properly engineered photoacoustic nanoparticles can be used as tracers in oil reservoirs. Our analysis begins by investigating the parameters controlling the conversion of light to acoustic waves, and strategies to optimize such parameters. Next, we analyze different kind of nanoparticles that we deem potential candidates for our subsurface operations. Then, we briefly discuss the excitation sources and make a comparison between continuous wave and pulsed sources. We finish by discussing the research gaps and challenges that must be addressed to incorporate these agents into our operations. At the time of this writing, no other study investigating the feasibility of using photoacoustic nanoparticles for tracer applications was found. Our work paves the way for a new class of passive tracers for oil reservoirs. Photoacoustic nanotracers are easy to detect and quantify and are therefore suitable for continuous in-line monitoring, contributing to the ongoing real-time data efforts in the oil and gas industry.

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