Baseline characterisation and monitoring protocols for development of shale and tight gas resources, northern Perth Basin
Allison Hortle A C , Praveen Kumar Rachakonda A , Suman George B , Matt Myers A and Cameron White AA CSIRO Energy, PO Box 1130, Bentley WA 6102.
B School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009.
C Corresponding author. Email: Allison.Hortle@csiro.au
The APPEA Journal 57(1) 64-78 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ16171
Accepted: 17 March 2017 Published: 29 May 2017
Abstract
CSIRO, in collaboration with Latent Petroleum, AWE Limited, Origin Energy, Norwest Energy and the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) have established a research program into methods of calculating baseline values of environmental indicators and monitoring techniques during development of tight gas resources in the northern Perth Basin. As part of the project, a desktop review of available groundwater monitoring data around the sponsors’ permit areas was conducted, along with measurements of ambient methane (CH4) concentrations.
The groundwater study indicated a lack of monitoring wells within the permit areas, apart from those being monitored by explorers, and provides a valuable update to the regional groundwater models built by the WA Department of Water (DoW). The mobile CH4 survey measured ambient levels of CH4 across the basin, and CH4 concentrations were close to those measured at the Cape Grim atmospheric research station (Tasmania). The soil-gas flux survey measured very low or negative CH4 flux, closely associated with carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, indicating the flux rate was controlled by microbial action.
The outcomes of the project are intended to assist operators to address community assurance, adhere to or surpass regulatory requirements and establish industry best practice standards.
Keywords: groundwater, methane concentration, northern Perth Basin, passive seismic, soil-gas flux.
Allison Hortle is a Senior Researcher with CSIRO Energy since 1993 and leads the Reservoir Dynamics Group in the Oil Gas and Fuels Program. Allison is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Western Australia. Allison’s most recent research addresses the need to couple large-scale deep reservoir processes (such as CO2 injection and unconventional gas production) to near-surface techniques for determining environmental baselines and long-term monitoring and verification practises. |
Praveen Kumar Rachakonda is a Research Engineer at CSIRO Energy with a background in groundwater modelling and hydrogeology. He has worked as a hydrogeologist for Hydrosolutions Pty Ltd and University of South Australia. Praveen Kumar graduated with a Master (IIT Delhi, India) degree in 2004, and a PhD (IIT Madras, India) in 2008. He is a member of Engineers Australia and the International Association of Hydrogeologists. |
Suman George is a Soil Scientist at The University of Western Australia (UWA) involved with soil-gas research in the area of near-surface monitoring from carbon capture storage and shale gas facilities. He was part of a major review looking into environmental monitoring and verification technology from carbon capture storage. He has been involved with the soil-gas stream in the environmental monitoring programme of the National Geosequestration Laboratory (a joint CSIRO, UWA and Curtin University venture) and a collaborator in the Geoscience Australia’s Ginniderra shallow CO2 and CH4 release experiments. His research also involves understanding soil carbon sequestration. He has an MSc and PhD (UWA) in Soil Science. |
Matthew Myers obtained his BS in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2003 and his PhD in organic chemistry and materials science with Prof. Colin Nuckolls at the Columbia University (New York) in 2008, for work on curved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their applications in organic electronics. He is currently interested in nanomaterials, polymers, chemical sensor and chemical tracers and their applications in environmental monitoring and CO2 geo-sequestration. |
Cameron White joined CSIRO in Feb 2011 as a chemist, furthering his studies into a Masters in Chemical Engineering. He was involved in hydrocarbon detection using quartz crystal microbalance systems, developing CSIRO’s capability in core flooding and supercritical systems at high temperatures and pressures, as well as imaging rock core changes under real time single and co current flow conditions. Additional hydrocarbon detection work he has been involved in over the last couple of years has been concerned with the real time detection and quantification of gas seeps over large geographical areas, which is of importance to the local gas industry. Cameron is a member of Engineers Australia. |
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