Risk assessment-led characterisation of the SiteChar UK North Sea site for the geological storage of CO2

Risk assessment-led characterisation of a site for the geological storage of CO2 in the UK northern North Sea was performed for the EU SiteChar research project as one of a portfolio of sites. Implementation and testing of the SiteChar project site characterisation workflow has produced a ‘dry-run’ storage permit application that is compliant with regulatory requirements. A site suitable for commercial-scale storage was characterised, compatible with current and future industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) sources in the northern UK. Pre-characterisation of the site, based on existing information acquired during hydrocarbon exploration and production, has been achieved from publicly available data. The project concept is to store captured CO2 at a rate of 5 Mt per year for 20 years in the Blake Oil Field and surrounding Captain Sandstone saline aquifer. This commercial-scale storage of 100 Mt CO2 can be achieved through a storage scenario combining injection of CO2 into the oil field and concurrent water production down-dip of the field. There would be no encroachment of supercritical phase CO2 for more than two kilometres beyond the field boundary and no adverse influence on operating hydrocarbon fields provided there is pressure management. Components of a storage permit application for the site are presented, developed as far as possible within a research project. Characterisation and technical investigations were guided by an initial assessment of perceived risks to the prospective site and a need to provide the information required for the storage permit application. The emphasis throughout was to reduce risks and uncertainty on the subsurface containment of stored CO2, particularly with respect to site technical performance, monitoring and regulatory issues, and effects on other resources. The results of selected risk assessment-led site characterisation investigations and the subsequent risk reassessments are described together with their implications for the understanding of the site. Additional investigations are identified that could further reduce risks and uncertainties, and enable progress toward a full storage permit application. Permit performance conditions are presented as SiteChar-recommended useful tools for discussion between the competent authority and operator

Flow modelling of unconventional shale reservoirs using a DFM-MINC proximity function

International audienceDue to their initial low permeability, unconventional plays can be economical only through hydraulic fracturing. This process, in order to be controlled needs to rely on a solid representation of the natural fracture geometry, an accurate stimulation model which considers the interaction with natural lineaments, and a physical reservoir model which can account for the different flow regimes occurring during production. The stimulated volume drainage can be evaluated using either Decline Curves Analysis/Rate Transient Analysis (DCA/RTA) techniques or reservoir simulation. In both cases, the geometry of the final Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) issued from the natural characterization and the stimulation, is very important, and for practical purposes is either overly idealized (Warren & Root approach) or oversimplified (Bi-wing). The models have shown their limitations when confronted with measurements in the field, opening up ways to use DFN geometries within integrated reservoir studies.The present work addresses some of the issues above, developing a hierarchical Discrete Fracture Model (DFM) based on the “filtering” of a stimulated DFN, realistically obtained by the characterization step and the stimulation process. This leads to a triple-continuum representation, consisting of: (1) the matrix media, (2) a high conductive stimulated fracture network and (3) a low conductive stimulated fracture network.The method consists in homogenizing low conductive networks, keeping a user defined backbone of high conductive fractures as the main “reservoir” DFN. One of the main advantages of this DFM relies on the way we compute the well-known Multiple Interacting Continua (MINC) approach, using a “proximity function” formalism, able to simulate transient effects. Using practical examples, this paper demonstrates applicability capacities of this method, enabling the integration of more complex geometries within a “quick” simulation framework

Risk Assessment-Led Characterisation of the SiteChar UK North Sea Site for the Geological Storage of CO2

Risk assessment-led characterisation of a site for the geological storage of CO2 in the UK northern North Sea was performed for the EU SiteChar research project as one of a portfolio of sites. Implementation and testing of the SiteChar project site characterisation workflow has produced a ‘dry-run’ storage permit application that is compliant with regulatory requirements. A site suitable for commercial-scale storage was characterised, compatible with current and future industrial carbon dioxide (CO2) sources in the northern UK. Pre-characterisation of the site, based on existing information acquired during hydrocarbon exploration and production, has been achieved from publicly available data. The project concept is to store captured CO2 at a rate of 5 Mt per year for 20 years in the Blake Oil Field and surrounding Captain Sandstone saline aquifer. This commercial-scale storage of 100 Mt CO2 can be achieved through a storage scenario combining injection of CO2 into the oil field and concurrent water production down-dip of the field. There would be no encroachment of supercritical phase CO2 for more than two kilometres beyond the field boundary and no adverse influence on operating hydrocarbon fields provided there is pressure management. Components of a storage permit application for the site are presented, developed as far as possible within a research project. Characterisation and technical investigations were guided by an initial assessment of perceived risks to the prospective site and a need to provide the information required for the storage permit application. The emphasis throughout was to reduce risks and uncertainty on the subsurface containment of stored CO2, particularly with respect to site technical performance, monitoring and regulatory issues, and effects on other resources. The results of selected risk assessment-led site characterisation investigations and the subsequent risk reassessments are described together with their implications for the understanding of the site. Additional investigations are identified that could further reduce risks and uncertainties, and enable progress toward a full storage permit application. Permit performance conditions are presented as SiteChar-recommended useful tools for discussion between the competent authority and operator

METSTOR : a GIS to look for potential CO2 storage zones in France

The METSTOR project offers a methodology to look for potentially interesting CO2 storage areas in France at the initial stage, before the "site selection" step. Our tool, embodied in a Geographic Information System, is based on an interactive map of CO2 storage capacities. Other relevant information layers are included. The geographic layers are complemented with a series of online technical notices. It seems to be the first open online GIS that offers policy makers, businesses and the public at large an integrated access to that necessary information. Our prototype, limited mainly to the Paris Basin, is released online at www.metstor.f