Multiscale Assessment of Caprock Integrity for Geologic Carbon Storage in the Pennsylvanian Farnsworth Unit, Texas, USA

The assessment of caprock integrity for underground storage of CO2 and/or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) systems is a multiscale endeavor. Caprock sealing behavior depends on coupled processes that operate over a broad range of length and time scales including nanoscale heterogeneity in capillary and wettability properties to depositional heterogeneity that is basin wide. Larger-scale sedimentary architecture, fractures, and faults can govern properties of potential “seal-bypass” systems that may be difficult to assess. We present a multiscale investigation of geologic sealing integrity of the caprock system that overlies the Morrow B sandstone reservoir, Farnsworth Unit, Texas, USA. The Morrow B sandstone is the target geologic unit for an on-going combined CO2 storage–EOR project by the Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP). Methods and/or data encompass small-to-large scales, including: petrography using electron and optical microscopy; mercury porosimetry; core examinations of sedimentary architecture and fractures; well logs; a suite of geomechanical testing; and a noble gas profile through sealing lithologies into the reservoir, as preserved from fresh core. The combined data set allows a comprehensive examination of sealing quality by scale, by primary features that control sealing behavior, and an assessment of sealing behavior over geologic time.

Reviews

Geophysics and Geosequestration, edited by Thomas L. Davis, Martin Landr⊘, and Malcolm Wilson, ISBN 978-1-107-13749-3, 2019, Cambridge University Press, 388 p. Geological Carbon Storage: Subsurface Seals and Caprock Integrity, edited by Stéphanie Vialle, Jonathan Ajo-Franklin, and J. William Carey, ISBN 978-1-119-11864-0, 2018, American Geophysical Union and Wiley, 364 p. Introduction to Deep Learning, by Eugene Charniak, ISBN 978-0-262-03951-2, 2019, MIT Press, 192 p. Foundations of Machine Learning, second edition, by Mehryar Mohri, Afshin Rostamizadeh, and Ameet Talwalkar, ISBN 978-0-262-03940-6, 2018, MIT Press, 504 p. Seismic Ambient Noise, edited by Nori Nakata, Lucia Gualtieri, and Andreas Fichtner, ISBN 978-1-108-41708-2, 2019, Cambridge University Press, 370 p.