Application of the U.S. Department of Energy CO2 Storage Resource Estimation Methodology on the Deadwood Formation, Williston Basin
As part of ongoing regional characterization activities, the Plains CO2 Reduction Partnership estimated the saline formation CO2 storage resource for the Deadwood Formation in the Williston Basin. The Cambrian/Ordovician Deadwood Formation, an unconformable rock layer created by marine and shallow marine transgressions and regressions, represents the basal unit of the Williston Basin. The basin covers several thousand square miles across parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.The storage resource estimate was based on the volumetric approach described in the 2010 Carbon Sequestration Atlas of the United States and Canada, published by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). DOE methodology includes storage efficiency factors, based on geologic and displacement terms, which gauge the fraction of accessible pore volume that will be occupied by the injected CO2. In this study, specific geologic terms for area, thickness, and porosity were derived for the Deadwood Formation, allowing for a modification and thus more precise application of the DOE approach.Batch petrophysics across approximately 40 wells were calibrated to a single well in which multimineral petrophysics were performed. The batch petrophysics model was upscaled using a single arithmetic average across the Deadwood Formation and again in specific zones after cutoffs (shale volume greater than 30% and bulk density greater than 2.68 g/cm3) had been applied in the Deadwood. Modeling algorithms, including two dimensional sequential Gaussian simulation using a novel dynamic azimuth anisotropic workflow and simple kriging, were used to derive final effective pore volume across the formation.The study outlines the steps taken to utilize available geologic data to generate the values needed for a more precise application of DOE methodology for the calculation of storage resource estimates in saline formations. FuView/Download Document
Event/Meeting Information
10th Annual Conference on Carbon Capture & Sequestration
5/2/2011
Pittsburgh, PA