Simulating the impact of coal seam gas water production on aquifers
Julian Strand A , Reem Freij-Ayoub A and Shakil Ahmed ACSIRO
The APPEA Journal 52(1) 545-552 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ11042
Published: 2014
Abstract
Derived from a larger scale project, which studied geomechanical issues associated with coal seam gas (CSG) production, this paper investigates a hypothetical case study based on the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland Basin, Victoria. The paper focuses on examining aquifer water management associated with CSG production-related water extraction. As such, the paper limits itself to determining the volume of water production from a hypothetical case study area in the Latrobe Valley. A simplistic property model and methane production strategy has been used. The impact of extraction of this water on the hydraulic head in aquifers underlying the produced seams is quantified.
The Latrobe Valley Depression contains 129,000 million tonnes of coal resources and is one of the world’s largest, and lowest cost, energy sources. Most of Victoria’s electricity is generated using coal from the Loy Yang, Morwell and Yallourn mines. In addition to these massive operations, significant additional coal resources are available and unallocated at this time. Opportunities exist for the continued usage of these resources for electricity production, gasification, liquefaction and other coal conversion processes, as well as solid fuel for industrial, domestic and other uses. The existence of data from the Victorian Department of Primary Industries 2003 coal resource model was the main reason for the selection of the case study, and their data was used to form a model of the stratigraphy of the Latrobe Valley. Aquifer models were simulated in MODFLOW, based on extraction figures modelled in the CSG simulator COMET3.
Julian Strand is a senior research scientist at CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering, primarily working on structural geology and issues related to incorporating structural geology into reservoir and basin models. Julian has been based in Perth since 2005 and was part of the Fault Analysis Group for nine years at the University of Liverpool and latterly UCD in Ireland. He attended the University of Liverpool and Imperial College, London. Member: AAGP and EAGE. Julian.Strand@csiro.au |
Reem Freij-Ayoub is the principal research engineer at CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering’s Petroleum and Geothermal Portfolio. She has worked at CSIRO for 15 years. She received her Bachelor of Engineering with Honours after studying civil engineering at Kuwait University. Reem received her Master of Engineering in geomechanics from UWA’s Civil Engineering Department for her thesis titled ‘Computer modelling of the accumulation and interaction of microcracks’. Reem then completed her doctoral studies at UWA’s Civil Engineering Department and was awarded a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1997 for her thesis called ‘Numerical modelling of material damage due to the accumulation of interacting microcracks’. She served as a distinguished SPE lecturer in 2007–2008 speaking on wellbore stability issues in shales or hydrate bearing sediments. Member: SPE. Board member: JOPSAE. Reem.Freij-Ayoub@csiro.au |
Shakil Ahmed completed his undergraduate degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Dhaka, in 1998. He subsequently lectured in the same department. Shakil completed a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2001 and subsequently enrolled as a PhD student at the Swinburne University of Technology in 2001. His PhD program was funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Clean Power from Lignite (Victoria). In July 2005, he started working at CSIRO Material Science and Engineering as a postdoctoral fellow. After finishing his postdoctoral program, he joined CSIRO Earth Science and Resource Engineering as a research scientist and works on subsea separation, fracture-wellbore intersection coal seam gas, and multi-phase flow in micro pore spaces obtained from CT scans. He has participated in many workshops, and has published and presented his works in more than 35 international journals and conferences. Shakil.Ahmed@csiro.au |
