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15 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2009

CO2 storage resources, reserves, and reserve growth: Toward a methodology for integrated assessment of the storage capacity of oil and gas reservoirs and saline formations

Geologically based methodologies to assess the possible volumes of subsurface CO 2 storage must apply clear and uniform definitions of resource and reserve concepts to each assessment unit (AU). Application of the current state of knowledge of geologic, hydrologic, geochemical, and geophysical parameters (contingencies) that control storage volume and injectivity allows definition of the contingent resource (CR) of storage. The parameters known with the greatest certainty are based on observations on known traps (KTs) within the AU that produced oil, gas, and water. The aggregate volume of KTs within an AU defines the most conservation volume of contingent resource. Application of the concept of reserve growth to CR volume provides a logical path for subsequent reevaluation of the total resource as knowledge of CO 2 storage processes increases during implementation of storage projects. Increased knowledge of storage performance over time will probably allow the volume of the contingent resource of storage to grow over time, although negative growth is possible.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2011

Applying monitoring, verification, and accounting techniques to a real-world, enhanced oil recovery operational CO2 leak

The use of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is being tested for oil fields in the Illinois Basin, USA. While this technology has shown promise for improving oil production, it has raised some issues about the safety of CO 2 injection and storage. The Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium (MGSC) organized a Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting (MVA) team to develop and deploy monitoring programs at three EOR sites in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, USA. MVA goals include establishing baseline conditions to evaluate potential impacts from CO 2 injection, demonstrating that project activities are protective of human health and the environment, and providing an accurate accounting of stored CO 2 . This paper focuses on the use of MVA techniques in monitoring a small CO 2 leak from a supply line at an EOR facility under real-world conditions. The ability of shallow monitoring techniques to detect and quantify a CO 2 leak under real-world conditions has been largely unproven. In July of 2009, a leak in the pipe supplying pressurized CO 2 to an injection well was observed at an MGSC EOR site located in west-central Kentucky. Carbon dioxide was escaping from the supply pipe located approximately 1 m underground. The leak was discovered visually by site personnel and injection was halted immediately. At its largest extent, the hole created by the leak was approximately 1.9 m long by 1.7 m wide and 0.7 m deep in the land surface. This circumstance provided an excellent opportunity to evaluate the performance of several monitoring techniques including soil CO 2 flux measurements, portable infrared gas analysis, thermal infrared imagery, and aerial hyperspectral imagery. Valuable experience was gained during this effort. Lessons learned included determining (1) hyperspectral imagery was not effective in detecting this relatively small, short-term CO 2 leak, (2) even though injection was halted, the leak remained dynamic and presented a safety risk concern during monitoring activities and, (3) the atmospheric and soil monitoring techniques used were relatively cost-effective, easily and rapidly deployable, and required minimal manpower to set up and maintain for short-term assessments. However, characterization of CO 2 distribution near the land surface resulting from a dynamic leak with widely variable concentrations and fluxes was challenging.

Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky↗
USGS2011

Application of the CO2-PENS risk analysis tool to the Rock Springs Uplift, Wyoming

We describe preliminary application of the CO 2 -PENS performance and risk analysis tool to a planned geologic CO 2 sequestration demonstration project in the Rock Springs Uplift (RSU), located in south western Wyoming. We use data from the RSU to populate CO 2 -PENS, an evolving system-level modeling tool developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This tool has been designed to generate performance and risk assessment calculations for the geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide. Our approach follows Systems Analysis logic and includes estimates of uncertainty in model parameters and Monte-Carlo simulations that lead to probabilistic results. Probabilistic results provide decision makers with a range in the likelihood of different outcomes. Herein we present results from a newly implemented approach in CO 2 -PENS that captures site-specific spatially coherent details such as topography on the reservoir/cap-rock interface, changes in saturation and pressure during injection, and dip on overlying aquifers that may be impacted by leakage upward through wellbores and faults. We present simulations of CO 2 injection under different uncertainty distributions for hypothetical leaking wells and faults. Although results are preliminary and to be used only for demonstration of the approach, future results of the risk analysis will form the basis for a discussion on methods to reduce uncertainty in the risk calculations. Additionally, we present ideas on using the model to help locate monitoring equipment to detect potential leaks. By maintaining site-specific details in the CO 2 -PENS analysis we provide a tool that allows more logical presentations to stakeholders in the region.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2011

The key to commercial-scale geological CO2 sequestration: Displaced fluid management

The Wyoming State Geological Survey has completed a thorough inventory and prioritization of all Wyoming stratigraphic units and geologic sites capable of sequestering commercial quantities of CO 2 (5–15 Mt CO 2 /year). This multi-year study identified the Paleozoic Tensleep/Weber Sandstone and Madison Limestone (and stratigraphic equivalent units) as the leading clastic and carbonate reservoir candidates for commercial-scale geological CO 2 sequestration in Wyoming. This conclusion was based on unit thickness, overlying low permeability lithofacies, reservoir storage and continuity properties, regional distribution patterns, formation fluid chemistry characteristics, and preliminary fluid-flow modeling. This study also identified the Rock Springs Uplift in southwestern Wyoming as the most promising geological CO 2 sequestration site in Wyoming and probably in any Rocky Mountain basin. The results of the WSGS CO 2 geological sequestration inventory led the agency and colleagues at the UW School of Energy Resources Carbon Management Institute (CMI) to collect available geologic, petrophysical, geochemical, and geophysical data on the Rock Springs Uplift, and to build a regional 3-D geologic framework model of the Uplift. From the results of these tasks and using the FutureGen protocol, the WSGS showed that on the Rock Springs Uplift, the Weber Sandstone has sufficient pore space to sequester 18 billion tons (Gt) of CO 2 , and the Madison Limestone has sufficient pore space to sequester 8 Gt of CO 2 .

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2011

Experimental and simulation studies of iron oxides for geochemical fixation of CO2-SO2 gas mixtures

Iron-bearing minerals are reactive phases of the subsurface environment and could potentially trap CO 2 –SO 2 gas mixtures derived from fossil fuel combustion processes by their conversion to siderite (FeCO 3 ) and dissolved sulfate. Changes in fluid and mineral compositions resulting from reactions, involving the co-injection of SO 2 with CO 2 were observed both theoretically and experimentally. Experiments were conducted with a natural hematite (α-Fe 2 O 3 ) sample. A high pressure-high temperature apparatus was used to simulate conditions in geologic formations deeper than 800 m, where CO 2 is in the supercritical state. Solid samples were allowed to react with a NaCl–NaOH brine and SO 2 -bearing CO 2 -dominated gas mixtures. The predicted equilibrium mineral assemblage at 100 °C and 250 bar became hematite, dawsonite (NaAl(OH) 2 CO 3 ), siderite (FeCO 3 ) and quartz (SiO 2 ). Experimentally, siderite and dawsonite, derived from the presence of kaolinite (Al 2 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 ) in the parent material, were present in residual solids at longer reaction time intervals, which agreed well with results from the modelling work.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2011

Real-time monitoring of CO2 storage sites: Application to Illinois Basin-Decatur Project

Optimization of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage operations for efficiency and safety requires use of monitoring techniques and implementation of control protocols. The monitoring techniques consist of permanent sensors and tools deployed for measurement campaigns. Large amounts of data are thus generated. These data must be managed and integrated for interpretation at different time scales. A fast interpretation loop involves combining continuous measurements from permanent sensors as they are collected to enable a rapid response to detected events; a slower loop requires combining large datasets gathered over longer operational periods from all techniques. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it presents an analysis of the monitoring objectives to be performed in the slow and fast interpretation loops. Second, it describes the implementation of the fast interpretation loop with a real-time monitoring system at the Illinois Basin–Decatur Project (IBDP) in Illinois, USA.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2011

Dual-track CCS stakeholder engagement: Lessons learned from FutureGen in Illinois

FutureGen, as originally planned, was to be the world’s first coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant with fully integrated, 90% carbon capture and storage (CCS). From conception through siting and design, it enjoyed strong support from multiple stakeholder groups, which benefited the overall project. Understanding the stakeholder engagement process for this project provides valuable insights into the design of stakeholder programs for future CCS projects. FutureGen is one of few projects worldwide that used open competition for siting both the power plant and storage reservoir. Most site proposals were coordinated by State governments. It was unique in this and other respects relative to the site selection method used on other DOE-supported projects. At the time of site selection, FutureGen was the largest proposed facility designed to combine an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal-fueled power plant with a CCS system. Stakeholder engagement by states and the industry consortium responsible for siting, designing, building, and operating the facility took place simultaneously and on parallel tracks. On one track were states spearheading state-wide site assessments to identify candidate sites that they wanted to propose for consideration. On the other track was a public-private partnership between an industry consortium of thirteen coal companies and electric utilities that comprised the FutureGen Alliance (Alliance) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The partnership was based on a cooperative agreement signed by both parties, which assigned the lead for siting to the Alliance. This paper describes the stakeholder engagement strategies used on both of these tracks and provides examples from the engagement process using the Illinois semi-finalist sites.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2011

Road-testing the outreach best practices manual: Applicability for implementation of the development phase projects by the regional carbon sequestration partnerships

Geologic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage verification tests by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) seven Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) provided the experience base for the Public Outreach and Education for Carbon Storage Projects, a best practices manual, published in December 2009. This paper summarizes these outreach best practices; discusses their application in Aquistore, a greenfield CO 2 storage project under way in western Canada; and reviews the implications for applying the best practices to new projects during the Development Phase of the DOE’s RCSP Program.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2014

Noble gas geochemistry investigation of high CO2 natural gas at the LaBarge Platform, Wyoming, USA

A regional sampling of gases from thermal springs near the LaBarge Field, Wyoming, USA to determine the extent of the total carbon dioxide system (TCDS) indicates that the system may extend up to 70 km to the northwest of the field. Geochemical evidence from noble gas isotopes, stable element isotopes, and gas composition provide the foundation for these conclusions. Samples from Soda Springs to the west and Grand Teton National Park to the north do not exhibit the potentially diagnostic LaBarge gas chemistry and represent an absolute maximum potential extent of the system. Additional sampling to the south and east as well as in-fill sampling in regions previously sampled are necessary to refine these preliminary TCDS boundaries.

Wyoming↗
USGS2014

The U. S. Geological Survey carbon dioxide storage efficiency value methodology: Results and observations

In order to complete the 2013 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage resources , a methodology was needed to determine the CO 2 storage efficiency of individual rock strata . The method that was used involved a storage efficiency approximation by MacMinn et al. , combined with a brine viscosity model by Mao and Duan, and thermal and pressure data from petroleum fields across basins . The resulting efficiencies indicated that both salinity of the pore fluid and the thermal gradient have a strong effect on the amount of CO 2 that strata could store.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2014

Significance of carbon dioxide density estimates for basin-scale storage resource assessments

The geologic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage resource size is a function of the density of CO 2 in the subsurface. The pressure and temperature of the storage reservoir at depth affect the CO 2 density. Therefore, knowing these subsurface conditions allows for improved resource estimates of potential geologic CO 2 storage capacity. In 2012, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of geologic CO 2 storage resources for large sedimentary basins in onshore and State waters areas of the U.S. Evaluating the subsurface conditions and CO 2 density in these basins was integral to the assessment. To better understand these conditions, investigations of pressure and temperature gradients, typically derived from borehole data and analog studies, were assembled at the basin scale. Based on the USGS assessment results and findings here, changes in subsurface pressure and temperature may yield density changes up to 40 percent, which may translate into significant changes in storage resource estimates.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2014

U.S. Geological Survey carbon sequestration: Geologic research and assessments

In 2007, the U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act authorized the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to conduct a national assessment of geologic storage resources for anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and to evaluate the national technically recoverable hydrocarbon resources resulting from CO 2 injection and storage through CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery (CO 2 -EOR). In addition, the USGS is addressing several other areas of carbon sequestration research that include study of natural CO 2 and helium reservoirs as analogues for anthropogenic CO 2 storage, the economics of CO 2 storage and CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery, and induced seismicity associated with CO 2 geologic storage.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2017

A database and probabilistic assessment methodology for carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery and associated carbon dioxide retention in the United States

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed an assessment methodology for estimating the potential incremental technically recoverable oil resources resulting from carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery (CO 2 -EOR) in reservoirs with appropriate depth, pressure, and oil composition. The methodology also includes a procedure for estimating the CO 2 that remains in the reservoir after the CO 2 -EOR process is complete. The methodology relies on a reservoir-level database that incorporates commercially available geologic and engineering data. The mathematical calculations of this assessment methodology were tested and produced realistic results for the Permian Basin Horseshoe Atoll, Upper Pennsylvanian-Wolfcampian Play (Texas, USA). The USGS plans to use the new methodology to conduct an assessment of technically recoverable hydrocarbons and associated CO 2 sequestration resulting from CO 2 -EOR in the United States.

Energy Procedia↗
USGS2013

The energy-water nexus: Potential groundwater-quality degradation associated with production of shale gas

Oil and natural gas have been the main sources of primary energy in the USA, providing 63% of the total energy consumption in 2011. Petroleum production, drilling operations, and improperly sealed abandoned wells have caused significant local groundwater contamination in many states, including at the USGS OSPER sites in Oklahoma. The potential for groundwater contamination is higher when producing natural gas and oil from unconventional sources of energy, including shale and tight sandstones. These reservoirs require horizontally-completed wells and massive hydraulic fracturing that injects large volumes (up to 50,000 m3/well) of high-pressured water with added proppant, and toxic organic and inorganic chemicals. Recent results show that flow back and produced waters from Haynesville (Texas) and Marcellus (Pennsylvania) Shale have high salinities (≥200,000 mg/L TDS) and high NORMs (up to 10,000 picocuries/L) concentrations. A major research effort is needed worldwide to minimize all potential environmental impacts, especially groundwater contamination and induced seismicity, when producing these extremely important new sources of energy.

Procedia Earth and Planetary Science↗