Reducing the risk of CO2 storage projects through cost effective reservoir characterisation: application of digital core analysis to a CO2 injection reservoir
Mohammad Bagheri A D , Mark Knackstedt B , Tess Dance C and Matthias Raab AA CO2CRC Ltd, 11–15 Argyle Place South, Carlton, Vic. 3053, Australia.
B Department of Applied Mathematics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
C CSIRO, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, WA 6155, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: mohammad.bagheri@co2crc.com.au
The APPEA Journal 61(1) 146-162 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ20174
Submitted: 27 January 2021 Accepted: 4 March 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
This paper outlines the influence of reservoir characterisation on the reliability of predicting injected CO2 in the subsurface. Although reservoir characterisation is a key factor in any subsurface project, it is more important in CO2 injection projects into saline aquifers than oil and gas production from confined reservoirs. This work summarises the specific results derived from digital core analysis (DCA) performed on core plugs from the injection interval of CO2CRC’s Otway Stage 3 project. The aim was to determine the rock types from continuous high-resolution imagery on whole-core material and relate these to rock types identified from wireline logs at larger scales. A set of scanning data was acquired and careful calibrations for porosity were developed to offer more quantitative static data along the injection interval. Considering the historically available information from the Otway site, we showed that the results provided more reliable estimation of rock properties compared to conventional core experiments which would lead to a greater confidence in plume migration behaviour. The DCA also had several other advantages compared to conventional core analysis which helped to characterise the reservoir not only more rigorously but also more efficiently by reducing the cost of experiments. These additional advantages include the following:
Measurement of parameters on unconsolidated sections of the cores which were not otherwise measurable
Anisotropic multiphase flow parameters
Obtaining all information on a single core rather than multiple plugs.
This paper shows how the information above could lead to a more reliable prediction of the plume and reduce the risk exposure.
Keywords: CO2 injection, conventional core analysis, digital core analysis, permeability, poro–perm relationship, porosity, reservoir characterisation, multiphase flow parameters.
Dr Mohammad Bagheri is currently working as a subsurface manager with CO2CRC. He is a reservoir engineer with 19 years of oil and gas as well as CCS experience in Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Mohammad holds a PhD in petroleum engineering from Sharif University of Technology. He started his career with NIOC in 2003 as a field engineer and subsequently worked for Statoil, Schlumberger, British Gas, and Santos as both production and reservoir engineer in different time periods between 2005 and 2017. Mohammad is recognised as a chartered professional engineer with Engineers Australia. He is a member of the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (RPEQ) and certified by SPE as a petroleum professional. Mohammad has been the program chair for the Victorian and Tasmanian chapter of SPE since 2018. |
Mark Knackstedt is a Professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics and the National CTLab at Australian National University. He holds a BSc from Columbia University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice University. He was awarded the 2012 Rio Tinto Eureka Prize for Innovation in Commercialisation and the 2014 ENI Award. He was the 2019 Kimberley Clark Interpore Lecturer, SPE Distinguished Lecturer (2015–2016), and SPWLA Distinguished Speaker (2007–2008, 2009–2010, and 2012–2013). He was awarded the George C. Matson Memorial Award from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in 2009, and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering. |
Dr Tess Dance has worked for more than 16 years in the field of CCS characterising sites for the geological storage of CO2, first with Geoscience Australia’s Petroleum and Marine division in Canberra, then with the CO2CRC, and now with CSIRO in Perth. Her expertise is in sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy and translating that to 3D geological modelling for CO2 uncertainty risking and injection simulation. She is the geologist for the CO2CRC Otway project where she is researching the geological characteristics that influence residual trapping and dissolution storage mechanisms in a saline aquifer and providing critical geological support for the Stage 3 operations. |
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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