Demonstrating geosequestration in Australia: the CO2CRC Otway Project
Sandeep Sharma A , Peter Cook B and Charles Jenkins BA CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies - Schlumberger Carbon Services 26 Dick Perry Avenue Kensington WA 6151
B CRC for Greenhouse Gas Technologies NFF House, 14-16 Brisbane Avenue Barton ACT 2600
The APPEA Journal 49(2) 601-601 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ08074
Published: 2009
Abstract
The CO2CRC has a demonstration storage project underway in the Otway Basin of southwest Victoria. The aim of the project is to demonstrate that carbon capture and storage (CCS) can be performed under Australian conditions.
The project involves extracting CO2 rich gas from an existing field and injecting it into a nearby depleted natural gas field for long-term storage. Injection commenced in April 2008, and approximately 100,000 tonnes of CO2 are planned to be injected through a new injection well drilled in 2007. A multi-disciplinary monitoring and verification (M&V) program has been in place from late 2005 and a baseline state of the subsurface, near surface and atmospheric conditions has been comprehensively defined prior to the commencement of injection. The project has also been instrumental in unravelling the legislative overlaps between jurisdictions and has helped shape the regulatory regime being developed by the Victorian Government.
At the present time over 35,000 tonnes of CO2 has been injected and a variety of monitoring data collected. This paper aims to provide an update on the holistic project and how some of the findings may lead to expediting commercial uptake of CCS in Australia.
keywords: CCS, storage, geosequestration, Otway Basin, CCS regulation, CCS policy, community
Sandeep Sharma is the program manager for the Pilot and Demonstration Program, with the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), Australia, managing the Otway Basin Pilot Geosequestration Program. He is on partial secondment to the CO2CRC from Schlumberger starting January 2005. With Schlumberger since 1981, he has worked across the globe and held a wide variety of senior positions in operations management, marketing and new product development. Mr Sharma has a BEng in electrical engineering (India), a postgraduate Diploma in Business Management (UK), a Masters in Sustainability Management (Australia) and has been a Visiting Fellow of the Sloan School, MIT (USA). sharma2@slb.com |
Dr. Cook is Chief Executive of the Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) and related companies. Positions he has previously occupied include: Executive Director of the Petroleum CRC, Director of the British Geological Survey, President of EuroGeoSurveys, Associate Director of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, and Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University. Dr. Cook is a leading international expert in geosequestration, a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and has been recognized for his work for science and industry through the award of the CBE, and the APPEA Lewis G Weeks Medal. pjcook@co2crc.com.au |
Charles Jenkins obtained a PhD in astrophysics from Cambridge University, Project Scientist for a number of major UK astronomical projects, including instrumentation for the William Herschel and Gemini telescopes; Principal Research Scientist at Schlumberger’s research lab in Cambridge, U.K.; Senior Fellow at the Australian National University; Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics; recipient of the Kelvin Medal for science outreach in 2007. Currently managing the science programme at the carbon storage site in the Otway Basin, Victoria, run by the CO2CRC. cjenkins@co2crc.com.au |
References
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