The application of hydrodynamic analysis in the assessment of regional aquifers for carbon geostorage: preliminary results for the Surat Basin, Queensland
Jonathan Hodgkinson A , Allison Hortle B and Michael McKillop AA Geological Survey of Queensland
B CSIRO Petroleum Resources
The APPEA Journal 50(1) 445-462 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ09027
Published: 2010
Abstract
It is widely acknowledged that the very large carbon geostorage capacity required by commercial-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) operations can only be satisfied by sequestration into aquifers. The depths required for storage of CO2 in the supercritical phase are generally much greater than groundwater bores used for municipal supply and irrigation. Large regions of groundwater systems are data-poor, but formation pressure tests conducted in petroleum wells provide insight into the flow regimes in the deeper regions of some aquifers. Conceptual groundwater flow models for the Surat Basin in Queensland have been constructed by combining formation pressure data with potentiometric head measurements in sub-artesian and artesian groundwater bores. The formation pressure test results were evaluated using the CSIRO PressureQC™ methodology. The model considers the groundwater system as a series of stacked reservoir/seal or aquifer/aquitard pairs with limited vertical hydraulic communication. Pressure-depth plot analysis is used to assess the vertical relationships, and basic flow net interpolations are employed to predict flow vectors.
The conceptual models provide the basis for CO2 injection simulations that endeavour to establish the impact of carbon geostorage on the existing groundwater flow regime. The model also serves to identify key areas that require new data that is to be collected during a drilling program to provide precompetitive geoscience data to prospective carbon geostorage exploration companies.
Jonathan Hodgkinson joined the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) in 2007 as a member of the Energy Geosciences group. He has a BSc in Geology from the Birkbeck University of London and a PhD in geology from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. Jonathan spent over 20 years in the merchant banking industry, primarily as a commercial project manager, before switching to geoscience. He now focuses on understanding the processes of subsurface fluid flow and the geochemical interactions in water-rock systems. He is the program manager for the Queensland Carbon Geostorage Initiative. Jonathan.Hodgkinson@deedi.qld.gov.au |
Allison Hortle is a research scientist at CSIRO with experience and expertise in petroleum hydrogeology, coalbed methane, aquifer depletion and CO2 geological storage. Allison is part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) and is focused on the application and development of hydrodynamic techniques to the long term storage of injected CO2 and understanding the impact of dynamic formation water flow systems. She has worked extensively in this area and been involved in most of the major projects evaluating sequestration potential for Australian Basins. This includes the Bowen Basin in Queensland, the onshore North Perth Basin, the offshore Barrow Sub-basin and the offshore Gippsland Basin. Allison is involved in the CO2CRC Otway Project, the first Australian project to demonstrate geosequestration in a depleted gas reservoir, both in the hydrodynamic assessment of the target reservoir and in the assurance monitoring program. Allison.Hortle@csiro.au |
Michael McKillop first joined the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) in 1982, where he worked as a technical officer. He completed his applied science degree with honours in 2002 and was appointed as a geoscientist with GSQ in 2003. Michael has been involved in a number of basin study projects and has worked on the Cooper-Eromanga Basins, Surat-Bowen Basin projects and he also conducted a major stratigraphic review of the Adavale Basin. In 2008 he joined the Carbon Geostorage Initiative as a project manager assisting in the pre-competitive assessment of Queensland basins for CO2 storage. Mike.McKillop@deedi.qld.gov.au |
