3D Pressure‐limited approach to model and estimate CO2 injection and storage capacity: saline Mount Simon Formation

Abstract

To estimate the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection and storage capacity of saline formations, we used Tough2‐ECO2N simulation software to develop a pressure‐limited (dynamic) simulation approach based on applying three‐dimensional (3D) numerical simulation only on the effective injection area (A eff ) surrounding each injection well. A statistical analysis was performed to account for existing reservoir heterogeneity and property variations. The accuracy of the model simulation results (such as CO 2 plume extension and induced injection well bottomhole pressure values) were tested and verified against the data obtained from the Decatur CO 2 injection study of the Mount Simon Formation. Next, we designed a full‐field CO 2 injection pattern by populating the core sections of this formation with a series of the simulated effective injection areas such that each simulated A eff acts as a closed domain. The results of this analysis were used to estimate the optimum number and location of the required CO 2 injection wells, along with the dynamic annual CO 2 injection rate and overall pressure‐limited storage capacity of this formation. This approach enabled us to model separate CO 2 injection activities independently at different sections of the same saline formation and to model and simulate faults and natural barriers by considering them as boundary conditions for each simulated A eff without constructing full‐field models. Using this approach, a series of modeled A eff with relevant properties may be redesigned to model any other saline formation with a similar structure.