Assurance monitoring in the CO2CRC Otway Project to demonstrate geological storage of CO₂: Review of the environmental monitoring systems and results prior to the injection of CO₂

Allison Hennig graduated from the James Cook University of North Queensland in 1992 with a BSc (Hons). in inorganic chemistry and took up a research position at CSIRO Petroleum in 1993. Allison’s current research is focussed on the relationship between hydrodynamic aquifers and CO₂ geosequestration. She has worked extensively in this area and been involved in most of the major projects evaluating sequestration potential for Australian Basins. Allison is now involved in the CO2CRC Otway Project, the first Australian project to demonstrate geosequestration in a depleted gas reservoir.

allison.hennig@csiro.au

David Etheridge is a principal research scientist with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research in atmospheric composition and climate. His work has quantified the long term changes in greenhouse gases, ozone-depleting compounds, aerosols and radioisotopes in the atmosphere. He is a contributing author to a number of international environmental research bodies including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and WMO Ozone Assessments. He has led five field programs on the Antarctic ice sheet, drilling and analysing ice cores for evidence of atmospheric composition change, climate change, and ice sheet dynamics. Recently David and his group investigated the possible impact on the atmosphere of new energy technologies, such as hydrogen and geological storage of CO₂.

Patrice de Caritat obtained his university degrees in geology (geochemistry and mineralogy) from Belgium (Hons) and Australia (PhD), was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Australian National University and the University of Calgary, then a senior research scientist at the Geological Survey of Norway. He is a principal research scientist at Geoscience Australia. Patrice’s main interests are regolith and groundwater geochemistry, particularly water-mineral interaction processes, isotope geochemistry and continental-scale geochemical mapping.

Max Watson is a senior research fellow at the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide. Max is the Discipline Leader for Risk Assessment in the CO2CRC and has over seven years experience in CO₂ geosequestration research. His research interests are in CO₂-related diagenesis and geochemistry, and CO₂-related risk assessment.

Dr Ray Leuning has made significant and original contributions to science. He has an international scientific reputation, having published four refereed book chapters and 91 papers in international journals that have attracted > 4100 lifetime citations at an average of 48 citations per paper and an h-index of 31 (ISI Web of Science). Leuning is applying his expertise in micrometeorology to monitor potential emissions of CO₂ and CH₄ from geological storage.

Chris Boreham is a principal research scientist at Geoscience Australia. He obtained his PhD in bio-inorganic Chemistry from the Australian National University, Canberra, Shortly afterwards, Chris joined Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geoscience Australia’s predecessor as an organic geochemist. His research interests are in the application of biomarker, isotopic and kinetic tools in petroleum geochemistry and the biosphere-geosphere interface as it relates to alteration of petroleum and CO₂. He now splits his time between projects related to the geological storage of CO₂ and the Australian Government’s New Energy Initiative involved in understanding the petroleum potential in frontier areas of Australia.

Don De Vries is the Managing Director of CanSyd Australia, a SME industry participant in the Australian Cooperative Research Centre in Greenhouse Gas Technologies. CanSyd Australia is an Australian owned development and consulting business providing automated environmental monitoring instrumentation solutions for the emerging carbon capture and storage industry.

Don Sherlock is principal research scientist with the Geophysics Group at CSIRO Petroleum Resources in Perth, Western Australia. He is developing analog reservoir modelling (ARM) in collaboration with reservoir engineers and geophysicists from Curtin University of Technology, Perth. This research addresses uncertainty in reservoir simulation of complex reservoirs and their seismic expression. He is also researching geophysical monitoring of CO₂ sequestration and the development of synthetic sandstones for rock physics research. Synthetic sandstones provide the experimental capability necessary to validate theoretical and numerical modelling predictions of geophysical and geomechanical properties.

Sandeep Sharma holds Bachelors in Electrical Engineering (India), Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (UK), Fellows Program (Sloan School, MIT). He is pursuing a Masters in Sustainability Management. Sandeep is managing the Otway Geosequestration Project for the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC). He has been on secondment to the CO2CRC from Schlumberger, an oilfield services company, since January 2005. Working at Schlumberger since 1981, Sandeep has held a wide variety of positions in operations management, marketing and new product development around the globe. Most recently he was General Manager for Schlumberger Wireline in Asia and Project Director for a full field re-development project based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Member: SPE and SPWLA.