Evaluation of Large-Scale Carbon Dioxide Storage Potential in the Basal Saline System in the Alberta and Williston Basins in North America
As one of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships, the Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership has performed a case study on the feasibility of large-scale underground carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in the basal saline system of central North America. The area of investigation encompasses approximately 1,500,000 km2 of the Alberta and Williston Basins located in the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan in Canada and the states of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States. The thickness of the system is up to 300 m, with permeability ranging from 0.0001 to 1250 mD and porosity ranging from 0.01% to 25%. The calculated volumetric CO2 storage resource potential in this saline system is 480 billion metric tonnes. However, this estimate does not consider the time or number of wells required to inject this mass of CO2, and the realistic injectivity of any given well is highly dependent on the site-specific reservoir properties and pressure buildup during the CO2 injection. In order to estimate realistic capacity ranges for the basal saline system, injection simulations were carried out to better understand the site-specific parameters such as reservoir properties, well spacing and number, injectivity, and local and regional pressure buildup. In the study area, the large-scale CO2 emissions were aggregated as 16 and 25 large-scale CO2 sources for Scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Two scenarios, comprising a total of 16 cases, were designed to address the dynamic CO2 storage capacity and pressure transient. To increase the injectivity and maximize the efficiency of storage resource, various strategies were tested including injection well location and spacing, injection rate optimization, and water extraction during CO2 injection. Several geologic variations were also tested to determine the effect of different geologic uncertainties on the dynamic storage capacity, including modifications to the ratio of vertical permeability and horizontal permeability (Kv/Kh), boundary condition, and relative permeability. Dynamic simulations were set to initiate in 2014 and ended in the year 2064 for the 50-year injection period. Another 36-year postinjection period followed to check the pressure transient for the whole domain.View/Download Document
Event/Meeting Information
12th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies
10/5/2014
Austin, TX