Abstract

In this presentation I will present recent research in my group on two topics in subsurface CO2 storage.

In the first topic I will argue that small, centimetre scale, heterogeneities in multiphase flow properties will have field scale impacts on the movement of CO2 injected underground. I will demonstrate our characterisation and modelling workflows in application to simulations of CO2 storage sites of the offshore UK. In search of a validating case study, my research group has been reinterpreting seismic imagery from the Decatur CO2 storage site in the USA . I will show results of our application of an interpretation of the time-shifts from seismic surveys at this site. This has revealed CO2 migration along faults, allowing the plume to bypass lower quality units within the reservoir.

In the second topic I address questions of the representation of CO2 storage resource (pore space) use in techno-economic models used to identify scaleup trajectories and identify climate change mitigation plans. I will review the varied uses and demands for resource assessment in these projections and discuss the potential for including simplified physics and techno-economic constraints on the use of subsurface CO2 storage. I will show the results of our global analyses of CO2 storage scaleup limited by reservoir pressurisation or constraints on sustained annual growth in the deployment of projects. I argue for both a standardised reporting of current carbon capture and storage activity and an inclusion of growth modelling and physics-based contraints in the projection of future scaleup in CO2 storage.