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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

Enhanced gas recovery, CO2 storage and implications from the CO2CRC Otway Project*

P. Cook A , Y. Cinar A , G. Allinson A , C. Jenkins A , S. Sharma A , M. Soroka A and J. Tan A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

CO2CRC.

The APPEA Journal 51(2) 684-684 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ10064
Published: 2011

Abstract

Successful completion of the first stage of the CO2CRC Otway Project demonstrated safe and effective CO2 storage in the Naylor depleted gas field and confirmed our ability to model and monitor subsurface behaviour of CO2. It also provided information of potential relevance to CO2 enhanced gas recovery (EGR) and to opportunities for CO2 storage in depleted gas fields. Given the high CO2 concentration of many gas fields in the region, it is important to consider opportunities for integrating gas production, CO2 storage in depleted gas fields, and CO2-EGR optimisation within a production schedule.

The use of CO2-EGR may provide benefits through the recovery of additional gas resources and a financial offset to the cost of geological storage of CO2 from gas processing or other anthropogenic sources, given a future price on carbon. Globally, proven conventional gas reserves are 185 trillion m3 (BP Statistical Review, 2009). Using these figures and Otway results, a replacement efficiency of 60 % (% of pore space available for CO2 storage following gas production) indicates a global potential storage capacity—in already depleted plus reserves—of approximately 750 Gigatonnes of CO2.

While much of this may not be accessible for technical or economic reasons, it is equivalent to more than 60 years of total global stationary emissions. This suggests that not only gas—as a lower carbon fuel—but also depleted gas fields, have a major role to play in decreasing CO2 emissions worldwide.

Dr Cook is the chief executive of the Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC). He has been a researcher, a senior executive, a consultant and an academic in Australia, UK, USA and France. Dr Cook was a co-ordinating lead author of the IPCC. He has written more than 130 publications on resource, energy, environmental and sustainability issues. Dr Cook is a fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and has been awarded the CBE, the John Coke Medal, the Centennial Medal, the APPEA Lewis G. Weeks Medal, the Order of Merit of France and the Leopold van Buch Medal.

Yildiray Cinar is a senior lecturer in the School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a researcher with the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC). He held various research positions at Stanford, Clausthal Technical and Istanbul Technical universities. He holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from Istanbul Technical University and a PhD from Clausthal Technical University—all in petroleum engineering. His teaching and research areas of interest cover core analysis for multiphase flow properties of porous materials, disposal of carbon dioxide in subsurface geological structures, performance of enhanced oil and gas recovery, and analysis of well test data.

Guy Allinson is a researcher with the CO2CRC specialising in CCS economics. He is also a senior lecturer at the School of Petroleum Engineering, UNSW Australia. Guy has more 30 years of experience in the international oil and gas industry. He has held positions as the commercial manager, Cairn Energy Asia Ltd (1997–8), vice president, Petroconsultants (1988–97), senior petroleum industry analyst, Schroders (1986–8) and manager, ERC/Robertson Australia (1982–6).

He has a BSc from the University of Leeds, UK, and a Diploma in Social Science (Economics) from the University of Birmingham, UK. He has experience in carbon capture and storage economics, upstream petroleum economics, oil and gas industry asset and company valuations, petroleum fiscal regimes worldwide, economics research for the upstream petroleum industry, economic modelling and training in petroleum economics. Member: SPEA NSW (past president).

Charles Jenkins is the project leader for projects 1.2 and 1.8, which contain many of the monitoring and verification activities of the Otway Project. Charles holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is employed by CSIRO, after recent spells with Schlumberger, ANU, and CO2CRC. His research interest is the development of M&V techniques for CCS.

Sandeep Sharma was until recently the program manager—pilot and demonstration program—with CO2CRC, Australia, managing the Otway Basin Pilot Geo-sequestration Program. He was on secondment to the CO2CRC from Schlumberger starting January 2005. At Schlumberger since 1981, he has worked around the world and held a wide variety of senior positions in operations management, marketing and new product development. He is an adviser to the CO2CRC and also the regional manager, Australasia for Schlumberger Carbon Services. He has a bachelor's in electrical Engineering (India), a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management (UK), and a master's in sustainability management (Australia). He was a visiting fellow of the Sloan School, MIT (USA).

Having graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering and from the University of Adelaide with a master's in petroleum engineering, Michael began his career as a researcher with CO2CRC. He will soon be re-entering academia as he prepares to pursue a doctorate in reservoir engineering.

Jo Ann Tan is a CO2CRC postgraduate research student in the School of Petroleum Engineering, UNSW. Jo Ann has a Bachelor of Engineering (chemical engineering) from the University of Melbourne. Her research looks at co-optimising CO2 storage with enhanced gas recovery through CO2 flooding in dry gas and gas condensate reservoirs. The research will demonstrate what engineering and economic conditions are likely to make simultaneous CO2 storage and enhanced gas recovery commercially viable.


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