Modelling CO2 storage in oil and gas reservoirs in the Gippsland Basin
Jianlin Wang A * , Dan Gillam A , Soubhagya Das A , Tom Boyle A and Melanie Ryan AA
Jianlin Wang has BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Tianjin University, China and a PhD degree in Geomechanics from the University of Minnesota. He has been with ExxonMobil for ~17 years and has held a variety of technical and leadership positions globally in Reservoir Engineering. Jianlin’s experiences include enhanced oil recovery, reservoir simulation, production optimisation, carbon storage, and development of conventional, unconventional, heavy oil, and deep-water resources. He has had over 30 publications and 17 granted patents in his fields. Jianlin joined ExxonMobil Australia in 2022 as the Production Subsurface Supervisor, and prior to that he was the Reservoir Supervisor for Guyana development projects. |
Dan Gillam attained a PhD from Adelaide University in 2005, and a Bachelor of Applied Science (hons) from Queensland University of Technology in 1999. Dan joined Esso in Melbourne in 2017 and is currently the subsurface lead for the Southeast Australia Carbon Capture and Storage hub (SEA CCS). Previously working PNG exploration designing fold belt seismic programs and maturing high impact prospects. Prior to Esso, Dan worked for InterOil in Singapore from 2014 to 2017 on the appraisal and certification of the giant Elk Antelope discovery. From 2010 to 2014 Dan worked for Chevron in Perth on the appraisal of deep water discoveries and on the Gorgon CO2 project. From 2005 to 2010 he worked for Woodside Petroleum in a variety of roles across the E&P lifecycle on projects in Australia and Africa. Dan has also worked for Santos on a variety of unconventional projects before and during his PhD. |
Soubhagya Das has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Petroleum Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. He has been with ExxonMobil for the past 1 year and is working as a Reservoir Engineer in the Production Subsurface Group & CCS Project team. Soubhagya’s experiences include field development planning with reservoir simulation, production optimisation, carbon storage, and reservoir surveillance management of conventional and deep-water resources including clastics and carbonate oil and gas fields. He has had two publications in Uncertainty assessment and field development planning. Prior to joining ExxonMobil at Melbourne, Soubhagya has had about 30 years of experience in various oil and gas fields reservoir engineering in India, Middle East, Norway and in Western Australia and South Australia. |
Tom Boyle graduated from Curtin University in 2020 with a BSc (Hons) in Petroleum Geophysics. Thomas joined Esso Australia in 2020 working in exploration, focussing on the North West Shelf and Indonesia. Currently, Thomas is working as a Geoscientist for the South East Australia Carbon Capture and Storage Project and Gippsland Production team. Thomas’ interests include seismic interpretation, quantitative interpretation and reservoir characterisation. |
Melanie Ryan graduated from the University of Adelaide with a BSc (Hons) in Geology. She joined Esso Australia in 2001 and has worked in various development and production roles across Gippsland Basin, Malay Basin, North West Shelf and Papua New Guinea. Melanie is currently working as the supervisor for the Gippsland Basin Geoscience team. |
Abstract
The Gippsland Basin has world class geology for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and a long history of oil and gas production. Depleted oil and gas fields within the Gippsland Basin that are candidates for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage are in close proximity to existing infrastructure that could be repurposed as part of a CCS project. Modelling of CO2 storage in the depleted Bream oil and gas reservoir is being progressed. Bream reservoir properties are very well understood due to extensive geological and geophysical data sets available from wells and seismic data. Additionally, the field has been through three key phases of development during its production history; oil production and gas re-injection in 1988, gas cap blowdown started in 2002, and seasonal gas storage and withdrawal started in 2012 through to field shut-in in 2020. This provides a wealth of dynamic data that is used to calibrate the reservoir models to improve our confidence in the CO2 plume prediction. However, there are also challenges in modelling CO2 storage in depleted fields. Unlike saline aquifers, CO2 can be injected into a three-phase depleted reservoir that contains residual oil and gas saturation. The key aspects of our workflow to evaluate the plume behaviour are presented in this paper.
Keywords: Bream, CCS, CO2 injection, CO2 plume prediction, decarbonisation, depleted reservoir, Gippsland, residual oil and gas.
Jianlin Wang has BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Tianjin University, China and a PhD degree in Geomechanics from the University of Minnesota. He has been with ExxonMobil for ~17 years and has held a variety of technical and leadership positions globally in Reservoir Engineering. Jianlin’s experiences include enhanced oil recovery, reservoir simulation, production optimisation, carbon storage, and development of conventional, unconventional, heavy oil, and deep-water resources. He has had over 30 publications and 17 granted patents in his fields. Jianlin joined ExxonMobil Australia in 2022 as the Production Subsurface Supervisor, and prior to that he was the Reservoir Supervisor for Guyana development projects. |
Dan Gillam attained a PhD from Adelaide University in 2005, and a Bachelor of Applied Science (hons) from Queensland University of Technology in 1999. Dan joined Esso in Melbourne in 2017 and is currently the subsurface lead for the Southeast Australia Carbon Capture and Storage hub (SEA CCS). Previously working PNG exploration designing fold belt seismic programs and maturing high impact prospects. Prior to Esso, Dan worked for InterOil in Singapore from 2014 to 2017 on the appraisal and certification of the giant Elk Antelope discovery. From 2010 to 2014 Dan worked for Chevron in Perth on the appraisal of deep water discoveries and on the Gorgon CO2 project. From 2005 to 2010 he worked for Woodside Petroleum in a variety of roles across the E&P lifecycle on projects in Australia and Africa. Dan has also worked for Santos on a variety of unconventional projects before and during his PhD. |
Soubhagya Das has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Petroleum Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhanbad, India. He has been with ExxonMobil for the past 1 year and is working as a Reservoir Engineer in the Production Subsurface Group & CCS Project team. Soubhagya’s experiences include field development planning with reservoir simulation, production optimisation, carbon storage, and reservoir surveillance management of conventional and deep-water resources including clastics and carbonate oil and gas fields. He has had two publications in Uncertainty assessment and field development planning. Prior to joining ExxonMobil at Melbourne, Soubhagya has had about 30 years of experience in various oil and gas fields reservoir engineering in India, Middle East, Norway and in Western Australia and South Australia. |
Tom Boyle graduated from Curtin University in 2020 with a BSc (Hons) in Petroleum Geophysics. Thomas joined Esso Australia in 2020 working in exploration, focussing on the North West Shelf and Indonesia. Currently, Thomas is working as a Geoscientist for the South East Australia Carbon Capture and Storage Project and Gippsland Production team. Thomas’ interests include seismic interpretation, quantitative interpretation and reservoir characterisation. |
Melanie Ryan graduated from the University of Adelaide with a BSc (Hons) in Geology. She joined Esso Australia in 2001 and has worked in various development and production roles across Gippsland Basin, Malay Basin, North West Shelf and Papua New Guinea. Melanie is currently working as the supervisor for the Gippsland Basin Geoscience team. |
References
Michael K, Varma S, Bekele E, Campi M, O’Brien G (2013) Basin-scale impacts of industrial-scale CO2 injection on petroleum and groundwater resources in the Gippsland Basin Australia. Energy Procedia 37, 2570-2578.
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