Quick-look assessments to identify optimal CO₂ EOR storage sites

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 54; no. 8; pp. 1695 - 1706
• Main Authors: Núñez-López, Vanessa, Holtz, Mark H, Wood, Derek J, Ambrose, William A, Hovorka, Susan D
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Berlin/Heidelberg : Springer-Verlag 01.06.2008; Springer-Verlag; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide fixation; Carbon sequestration; CO₂ EOR screening; CO₂ reserve growth; CO₂ sequestration; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Geology; Geophysics; Greenhouse gases; Gulf Coast; Oil fields; Oil recovery; Oil reservoirs; Original Article; Pollution, environment geology; Stratigraphy; US oil reservoirs; Mississippi; United States; New Mexico; Texas; Gulf Coastal Plain; Alabama; Arkansas; Gulf Coast; EOR screening; reserve growth; CO; sequestration; US oil reservoirs; reservoir rocks; Neogene; Paleogene; reservoirs; upper Tertiary; storage; North America; sandstone; spatial distribution; greenhouse gas; underground storage; Oligocene; Upper Carboniferous; CO2 reserve growth; Cenozoic; clastic rocks; carbon dioxide; models; environment protection; Tertiary; Carboniferous; CO2 sequestration; Pennsylvanian; Paleozoic; sedimentary rocks; oil and gas fields; upper Paleozoic; CO2 EOR screening; Miocene; Phanerozoic
• ISSN: 0943-0105; 1866-6280; 1432-0495; 1866-6299
• DOI: 10.1007/s00254-007-0944-y

A newly developed, multistage quick-look methodology allows for the efficient screening of an unmanageably large number of reservoirs to generate a workable set of sites that closely match the requirements for optimal CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) storage. The objective of the study is to quickly identify miscible CO₂ EOR candidates in areas that contain thousands of reservoirs and to estimate additional oil recovery and sequestration capacities of selected top options through dimensionless modeling and reservoir characterization. Quick-look assessments indicate that the CO₂ EOR resource potential along the US Gulf Coast is 4.7 billion barrels, and CO₂ sequestration capacity is 2.6 billion metric tons. In the first stage, oil reservoirs are screened and ranked in terms of technical and practical feasibility for miscible CO₂ EOR. The second stage provides quick estimates of CO₂ EOR potential and sequestration capacities. In the third stage, a dimensionless group model is applied to a selected set of sites to improve the estimates of oil recovery and storage potential using appropriate inputs for rock and fluid properties, disregarding reservoir architecture and sweep design. The fourth stage validates and refines the results by simulating flow in a model that describes the internal architecture and fluid distribution in the reservoir. The stated approach both saves time and allows more resources to be applied to the best candidate sites.