Subsurface engineering of CCUS in Australia (case studies)
Mohammad B. Bagheri A B and Matthias Raab AA CO2CRC limited, 11–15 Argyle Place South, Carlton, Vic. 3053, Australia.
B Corresponding author. Email: Mohammad.bagheri@co2crc.com.au
The APPEA Journal 59(2) 762-766 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ18125
Accepted: 16 April 2019 Published: 17 June 2019
Abstract
Carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) is a rapidly emerging field in the Australian oil and gas industry to address carbon emissions while securing reliable energy. Although there are similarities with many aspects of the oil and gas industry, subsurface CO2 storage has some unique geology and geophysics, and reservoir engineering considerations, for which we have developed specific workflows. This paper explores the challenges and risks that a reservoir engineer might face during a field-scale CO2 injection project, and how to address them. We first explain some of the main concepts of reservoir engineering in CCUS and their synergy with oil and gas projects, followed by the required inputs for subsurface studies. We will subsequently discuss the importance of uncertainty analysis and how to de-risk a CCUS project from the subsurface point of view. Finally, two different case studies will be presented, showing how the CCUS industry should use reservoir engineering analysis, dynamic modelling and uncertainty analysis results, based on our experience in the Otway Basin. The first case study provides a summary of CO2CRC storage research injection results and how we used the dynamic models to history match the results and understand CO2 plume behaviour in the reservoir. The second case study shows how we used uncertainty analysis to improve confidence on the CO2 plume behaviour and to address regulatory requirements. An innovative workflow was developed for this purpose in CO2CRC to understand the influence of each uncertainty parameter on the objective functions and generate probabilistic results.
Keywords: dynamic modelling, reservoir engineering, uncertainty analysis.
Dr Mohammad Bagheri holds a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. For the past 15 years he has worked as a Reservoir Engineer in the oil and gas industry in the Middle East, North Sea and Australia. He is now working as subsurface manager with CO2CRC Ltd in Melbourne. |
Dr Matthias Raab is an experienced manager with international credentials in successful, high profile and complex projects in industry and academia. He has 23 years of experience in commercial and R&D environments with major sector clients. At CO2CRC Ltd, Dr Raab manages large project portfolios with teams of up to 70 people and annual budgets of up to $20M. As COO, Dr Raab has strategic and operational responsibility for CO2CRC’s research facilities, research programs and the delivery of major research and infrastructure projects. Dr Raab manages a group of Senior Program, Project and Operations Managers and provides leadership to CO2CRC’s strategic planning and implements new strategic initiatives. Dr Raab’s overall portfolio includes the $45M research program in Carbon Capture and Geological Carbon Storage, the CO2CRC Otway Field Facility, the Stage 3 Expansion of the Otway Project and the $51.6M infrastructure grant awarded to CO2CRC under the Education Investment Fund. In previous roles, Dr Raab managed Australia’s largest 2D marine seismic survey in Bass Strait, led the Victorian CCS initiative exploring for industrial-scale CO2 storage in the Gippsland Basin and was a Project Manager building and documenting the border between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen. |
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