Climate change is a topic rife with controversy, especially in the oil/gas business. Regardless of where one stands in the spectrum of the climate debate, the fact is that policy inertia from both government and corporations is pushing the world towards widespread adoption of CO2-reducing practices. Most energy demand projections agree that hydrocarbons together with massive-scale carbon capture & sequestration (CCS) will be necessary to supply the world's energy needs, while meeting carbon goals. This is certain to set off a wave of activity that I am calling "sequesploration" , ie the search for suitable "prospects" in which to place all this captured CO2.
Carbon sequestration is a topic ideally suited to the expertise of oil/gas geoscientists, who are accustomed to exploring for vast underground storage volumes in the rocks below, normally to extract the resources within, rather than inject CO2. CO2 can be sequestered in multiple types of underground storage volumes, typically in the pores of various types of rocks, or adsorbed onto the organic material in those rocks. Here's a nice depiction of various scenarios:
Geophysics is a critical skillset to define these underground CO2 storage areas, because unless one is "sequesploring" in an area with numerous wells, only geophysical data (2/3D seismic, potential fields data) can give a holistic view of the storage reservoir. Critical questions that can be answered with the geophysical data are :
Do we have a "trap", ie an area where the CO2 will be constrained from moving, once injected?
Do we have a seal, ie non-porous rock over the injected zone, which will prevent CO2 leakage out of the trap?
Are significant faults present which might allow leakage out of the injected zone, or could they possibly lead to induced seismicity (small earthquakes)?
Where is the CO2 going after we inject it, and how quickly?
During injection, CO2 causes pressure and saturation changes in the rock matrix, typically leading to detectable changes in seismic amplitudes, through time. The CO2 front will normally be mappable through repeated seismic surveys, which can be standard 3D surface seismic acquisition (expensive) or a 3D VSP, which is a smaller less expensive survey that yields a cone of data around a drilled well. New fiber optic technology is making 3D VSPs far faster/cheaper than before, so this can be superior to reshooting an entire 3D surface survey, particularly if you only need to monitor specific injector sites.
At Hunt Geophysical, we can help clients with all phases of a CCS project, from the initial search for available seismic data, through subsurface mapping and site selection, to the post-injection monitoring. Call or email us and let's discuss how we can help advance your CCS objectives.
Randall Hunt
Principal
Hunt Geophysical
+1 (937) 926-2494 mobile
huntgeop@gmail.com
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