Classification: Internal Status: Draft

Assessing the long-term performance

of the In Salah C02 Storage Site
33rd International Geological Congress, Oslo, August 11th 2008

Philip Ringrose & Martin Iding, StatoilHydro ASA

In Salah CO2 Joint Industry Project

Outline:
1. Summary of In Salah CO2 storage site
2. Long-term performance assessment
3. Future challenges
 2

The In Salah CO2 storage site at Krechba Satellite

monitoring
(PSInSAR)
Amine C02 removal
Gas from
other fields

Gas production CO2 injection

(5 wells) (3 wells)
Density change
Gas Chemistry
monitoring
monitoring
(Gravimetry)
Cretaceous Production
sequence monitoring Fluid displacement
(900m) (Tracers) monitoring
(4D seismic)
Rock strain monitoring
(Tilt, MEQ)

Carboniferous Definition and

mudstones modelling of potential
(950m) cap-rock pathways

ic k)
- 25m th
20
er v oir ( Definition and modelling
Res of reservoir storage and
migration
 3

Satellite Monitoring Summary

• Time-lapse inversion of
Up to Satellite data (Envisat)
Kb-Kb-
Kb-503
Kb-503 Kb-
Kb-5
5mm/yr • Permanent Scatterer
relative
Kb-
Kb-502 Interferometry
uplift
(PSInSAR™)
• Lawrence Berkeley (US)

Fa
Kb-
Kb-14
~2mm/yr Kb-
Kb-14

u lt
relative and TRE (Milan, Italy)

co
Kb-
Kb-11 Kb-
Kb-501

nt
Kb-
Kb-11
subsidence

ro
Kb-
Kb-501
Back-scatter

l?
Krechba Plant phase-shift
analysis Radar
Kb-
Kb-12
Kb-
Kb-12
(time-lapse)

PS

Kb-
Kb-13
• Indicates a critical-state
rock mechanical system

5km • Method published by

Vasco et al. (2008)
 4

Sub-surface dataset:
Well data and
overburden model

Po
ssib
le
Fa
u lt /
fra
ctur
e zo
ne
?
 5

Subsurface dataset:
Downhole gas data
Head gas and Isotubes™ samples from two wells
characterise the pre-injection gas distribution:
Natural CO2 in
• Reservoir CO2 mole fraction is c. 1.3% overburden

• Downhole CO2 varies around mean close to

atmospheric (385ppm) but with a huge range
(0-100000 ppm or 0-10%)
• High CO2 fractions in caprock/overburden probably
indicate locally-generated source-rock CO2
• Ongoing work to better understand origin of
overburden gases

CO2 in gas
reservoir
 6

Subsurface dataset:
Rock characterisation

Cret. • Cretaceous Sandstone

• Upper caprock (C20); ~650m thick;
Dark grey mudstone with occasional
Viséan

dolomite layers.
• Lower caprock (C20.1–7), ~150m thick:
Carboniferous

Distal deltaic to marine mudstone.

• Tight sandstone (C10.3); 15-20m thick:
Very-fine grained tidal-heterolithic
Tournasian

sandstones. Strongly quartz cemented.

• Reservoir/Aquifer (C10.2), 20-25m thick:
Fluvial-dominated, tidal-deltaic
sandstone; φ=18+5%, k=0.1-100md
Dev.
Heterolithic interval from C10.2 reservoir
showing wavy laminated bedding in a
tidally-influenced delta setting
 7

Subsurface dataset:
Structure, faults and fractures
• Broad Carboniferous fold
influenced by underlying
Devonian faults
kb-502
• Strike-slip tectonic
setting
Fracture
orientation
• Evidence for conductive
fractures from well data
• Fractures controlled by
present-day stress field:
σH = NW-SE
East margin has sub-
Some clear EW Faults seismic deformation
related to deeper faults

Carboniferous time slice

(C10) Semblance cube
 8

Long-term Performance Assessment

So how do we assess the likely long-term behaviour of CO2?

1. Build on framework developed by the IPCC:
– Special Report on Carbon dioxide Capture and Storage, 2005
2. Engage R&D community:
– CO2ReMoVe project (EU), LLNL/LBNL (USDoE)
3. Adapt oil industry tools:
– Basin exploration, oil production forecasting, risking.

¾ Following results are based on a preliminary assessment of CO2

injected in one of the three wells at the In Salah storage site
 9

Forecasting the long-term fate of subsurface CO2

Concept and Approach

History Forecast → Long-term uncertainty

1.0
Caprock storage
0.9 CO2 migration Reservoir storage (moveable)
into gas reservoir
Fraction of Subsurface CO2

Aquifer storage (moveable)

Dy
0.8
n

Residual CO2 fluid

am

0.7
Aqueous solution
ic
sim

0.6 Mineral precipitation

ula

CO2 in aquifer
0.5
tio

(mobile phase)
ns

0.4

0.3

0.2 Geochemical reactions

Residual CO2
0.1 (immobile)
0.0
0.5

32
6

10
0

316

1000

3162
100

10000
Years
 10

Forecasting the long-term fate of subsurface CO2

Preliminary Results
(Simplified Flow Physics) Caprock storage: Important for
understanding long-term containment

History Forecast → Long-term uncertainty Storage domains

1.0
Caprock storage
0.9 Reservoir storage (moveable)
Fraction of Subsurface CO2

0.8 Aquifer storage (moveable)

Residual CO2 fluid
0.7
Aqueous solution
0.6 Current Mineral precipitation
0.5
simulator
outputs
0.4 • Estimates
0.3
• Ongoing R&D
0.2
• New simulators
0.1
0.0
0.5

32
6

10
0

316

1000

3162
100

10000
Years
 11

Long-term simulation of CO2 migration

• Using
MPath the Permedia
forecast for MPath simulator: Invasion percolation model of gas
phase
injection intowell
from brine-filled
502 pore space controlled by capillary entry pressure
• Based
CO2 migration after estimate fluid and rock properties but neglects multi-phase
on best
100 mixing
years and geochemical reactions
Colours indicate invasion
time sequence
 12

Short-term simulation of CO2 migration

• Detection of CO2 at
observation well after
2 years injection from
well 502 gives us a
calibration point for the
longer-term forecasts.
• Preliminary model
gives plausible match
(after 2 years)
• Many of factors
affecting CO2 plume
(multi-phase mixing) 1km

• The challenge of
fracture flow requires
further work to
improve forecasts
 13

The Fractured Rock Challenge

• Fractures and small faults are evident from
core analysis, image logs and dynamic data
a
• Satellite surface deformation observations
suggest a reactive rock mechanical system
b
• Modelling of CO2 transport in fractured rock is
a significant challenge – ongoing R&D at
Imperial College, LLNL and others.

a. Partially cemented conductive

fracture ~0.8mm wide
b. Cemented fracture at 10o angle
 14

The Fractured Rock Challenge Structural geological model

¾ Work in progress to build

fractured-rock models ...

Discrete fracture network model

Reservoir simulation
(pressure and flow)

Geomechanical model (stress & strain)

 15

Acknowledgements

1. Previous work and contributions from the In Salah CO2 JIP Project
2. Technical contributions from the In Salah Gas Joint Venture
subsurface team
3. Permission to release data from Sonatrach, BP and StatoilHydro
4. Contributions from research partners:
• EU CO2ReMoVe R&D Partners
• USDoE Lawrence Berkeley & Lawrence Livermore National Labs
 16

Model Assumptions (back-up)

• Fluid Densities: CO2 450 kg m-3; Brine 1060 kg m-3
• Endpoint saturations: Critical gas saturation, Sgcr = 0.25 and connate water
saturation, Swc = 0.2-0.5
• 3D model grid: 200x200x5m regular grid (5.6M cells)
• Capillary threshold model based on published Hg-intrusion data
(Schlömer and Krooss, 1997) calibrated to porosity model
• Horizontal anisotropy due to fractures modelled using Pth(Y) = 0.1 Pth(X)
• CO2 dissolution and precipitation rates based on typical (order of magnitude)
published mass fractions (e.g. Obi & Blunt 2006):
CO2dissolved = 0.2 x CO2residual:
CO2mineral = 0→0.5 x CO2residual (Increasing with time)