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Concurrent 21. Presentation for: Ground surface monitoring for CO2 injection and storage

Abbas Movassagh A *
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A Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Clayton, Vic., Australia.

* Correspondence to: abbas.movassagh@csiro.au

The APPEA Journal 62 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21373
Published: 3 June 2022

Abstract

Presented on Thursday 19 May: Session 21

Tracking the migration of injected CO2 is critical to understanding the performance of subsurface intervals selected for CO2 sequestration. Subsurface CO2 injection may cause a deformation at the surface of the earth. Measuring and analysing the shape and magnitude of this surface deformation provides confidence that sequestered CO2 will remain in the target formations and can alert operators to the existence of hidden faults or fractures which may necessitate redesign of the injection schedule or remediation of the geological hazards. Surface deformation information for onshore injection operations can be obtained via Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) satellite imagery or an array of high-precision tiltmeters installed in 10–15 m deep boreholes. However, in the case of offshore injection operations, InSAR data is not available. Due to the lack of tilt data at In Salah field at Krechba, Algeria, synthetic tilt data has been produced using a 3D forward model. The synthetic tilt time-series data at ten locations around each injection well has been used in inverse analysis. Results show that the shape and direction of the CO2 plume in the subsurface can be accurately determined through inverse analysis of the tilt time-series data.

To access the presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

Keywords: carbon dioxide storage, CCS, CO2 injection, ground surface monitoring, InSAR, inverse analysis, tiltmeters, underground storage.

Abbas Movassagh is a Research Scientist with CSIRO at Energy Business Unit. His research focuses on environmental and uncertainty analysis including reservoir geomechanics, hydraulic fracturing experiments and modelling. Abbas acquired his PhD from the University of Adelaide and has more than 12 years’ experience in reservoir engineering and geomechanics.