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At least 325 records · Page 18

Positive commandable oiler for satellite bearing lubrication

On-orbit commandable lubrication of ball bearings accomplished by direct oil application to the moving ball surfaces was studied. Test results for the lubricant applicator portion of the system are presented in conjunction with a design approach for the reservoir and metering components.

James, G. E.↗

Assessing reservoir performance for geologic carbon sequestration in offshore saline reservoirs

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a technological strategy to reduce CO 2 emissions from hydrocarbon-based energy production and non-energy industrial emitters, like fertilizer and cement production. To expand the geographic opportunities for CCS, offshore geologic settings are increasingly considered for saline CO 2 storage, particularly where legacy oil and gas infrastructure may be repurposed for CO 2 transport and injection. In this context, the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), United States (U.S.), may offer tremendous opportunity for CCS because the surrounding states are among the largest CO 2 producers in the U.S. and there has been extensive oil and gas development over the last half century. Nevertheless, there remains significant uncertainty in how GoM reservoir/seal systems will respond to industrial-scale CO 2 injections, particularly in the context of meso-scale (1–10s of meters) permeability variations that are difficult to identify prior to injection. Such permeability variations can have significant impacts on CO 2 migration and fluid pressure propagation, both of which govern the overall effectiveness of the CCS project. This research uses ensemble simulation methods to quantify the influence of spatially variable and a priori unknown permeability fields on CO 2 plume development and fluid pressure propagation when CO 2 is injected at 1 MMt per year for ten years. Results show a number of characteristic patterns that reveal the substantial influence of both near- and far-field permeability on reservoir performance. By focusing on basin characteristics that are common among offshore basins worldwide, results from this study suggest that offshore CCS may be a feasible carbon management strategy in regions where offshore basins are proximal to industrial CO 2 sources.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Developing Methods to Assess Changes in Mechanical Properties of Shale Modified by Engineered Mineral Precipitation

Fractures in subsurface shale formations serve multiple purposes, for example, in the recovery of resources in hydraulic fracturing or as potential harmful leakage passages through caprocks that may contribute undesired fluids to the atmosphere or functional groundwater aquifers. A proposed method to seal or influence fracture properties is Ureolysis-Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation (UICP), a bio-mineralization technology driven by the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea, resulting in the formation of calcium carbonate. The resulting calcium carbonate can bridge the gaps in fractured shale and reduce fluid flow through fractures. This study represents the first step toward determining the influence of UICP treatment on shale material and its subsequent mechanical strength properties. The goal of this preliminary work is twofold: first, we aim to identify a method to test tensile strength along a core axis and second, we seek to assess the effect of temperature on the tensile strength of intact, unfractured shale cores (2.54 cm (1 in) diameter, 5.08 cm (2 in) long for comparison with future fractured and UICP-treated cores. A modified Brazilian indirect tensile strength test successfully measured splitting tensile strength of shale cores from Eagle Ford and Wolfcamp formations at room temperature and 60°C.

clastic rock↗

Parametric Study to Assess Technical Prospect Feasibility for Offshore CO 2 Storage

This report is a white paper on the parametric study to assess technical prospect feasibility for CO 2 storage with and without CO 2 -EOR. The SECARB Offshore GOM team reviewed key parameters that previous modeling experience suggests have the largest impact on CO 2 plume size and CO 2 -EOR performance (SSEB, 2019) These parameters include tectonic impacts (reservoir dip and fault block size), reservoir properties (permeability) and development strategies (well field payout, waterflood, and CO 2 flooding strategies). These parameters are further evaluated in this study in order to identify upper and lower boundary conditions for the parametric values. The boundary conditions are needed to set constraints for key parameters when performing modeling assessments. Understanding the key parametric values for the GOM will facilitate locating successful offshore carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects in terms of plume size, CO 2 stored and, in the case of EOR, oil recovery. Importantly, this white paper focuses on both technical factors (geologic and engineering), but does not address economic, commercial, or stakeholder considerations. The report is organized into four sections and includes a review of the datasets used to define the parameter ranges, the results of a full-physics reservoir simulation, a summary of a reduced order modeling approach to evaluate the impact of the study parameters, and, finally, a discussion of the work that will occur during the next phase of the project.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Regional Subsurface Stress Assessment for CO 2 Storage in Candidate Basal Reservoirs within the Plains CO 2 Reduction Partnership Region of North America

Conference presentation at Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) Conference 2024, Houston, Texas, March 11–13, 2024. A screening-level regional evaluation of basement and mechanical overburden stress across the geologically diverse Plains CO 2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership Initiative region was conducted. The main objective of the project was to assess potential basement fault reactivation and better understand technical uncertainties pertaining to CO 2 storage in candidate basal reservoirs.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Machine-learning predictions of the shale wells’ performance

The ultra-low permeability nature of shale reservoirs leads to an extended linear flow and necessitates horizontal wells with multi-stage engineered fractures to efficiently extract hydrocarbons resources. These artificially-generated and naturally-occurring fractures form complex networks that create complex flow regimes which control oil production. These fractures are neither identical nor equally-spaced, which leads to a production profile with a masked onset of the boundary-dominated flow. The combination of the extended linear flow with the indeterminate onset of the boundary-dominated flow challenges the current deterministic analytic approaches to forecast the estimated ultimate recovery (EUR). In this work, we propose a novel machine-learning approach which overcomes these challenges and provides reliable EUR estimates based on field-wide analyses. We implement a novel unsupervised machine learning (ML) methodology, which allows for automatic identification of the optimal number of features (signals) present in the data based on non-negative matrix/tensor factorization coupled with k-means clustering incorporating regularization and physics constraints. In the presented analyses, the input data to the ML algorithm is the available (public) production history from the field collected at existing unconventional reservoirs. We validate our approach through hindcasting of the production data, where we achieved an excellent agreement. In addition, our approach is able to identify the poorly-performing wells, which could benefit from early refracing. Our approach provides fast and accurate estimations of the well performance without presumptions about the state of the well or the flow regime.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Wyoming CarbonSAFE: Advancing Commercialization of Low-Carbon Energy Technologies in Fossil-Rich Wyoming

Wyoming’s Powder River Basin (PRB) is the most prolific coal producer and exporter in the United States and the State of Wyoming’s largest oil-producing basin. In addition to being a leading energy producer, the PRB is the site of research programs whose aim is to develop and integrate low-carbon technologies into existing fossil fuel energy industries. Much of the PRB’s low-carbon research is focused around Dry Fork Station (DFS), which is the newest coal-fired power station in the western US. Currently, DFS hosts five carbon capture projects, including pilot-scale capture projects that utilize different capture technologies and a full front-end engineering and design (FEED) study, a commercial CO 2 pipeline for nearby CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery industry, and is also co-located with the Wyoming Integrated Test Center, which is a host facility for unconventional carbon utilization research (i.e. flue gas carbon-to-products innovations). DFS is also the host site for the Wyoming CarbonSAFE project. Wyoming CarbonSAFE, funded by the Department of Energy/National Energy Technology Laboratory, is a multi-phased program (currently in Phase II) whose core objective is developing and validating storage sites within a complex capable of storing 50 million metric tonnes of CO 2 over a 30 year project period using carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS). This paper will provide an overview of the project to-date, showing that CarbonSAFE goals are achievable with respect to geologic, environmental, regulatory, CO 2 source and economic conditions, and why the State of Wyoming offers one of the more favorable environments to advance the commercialization studies. In 2019, the project team designed and completed a ~10,000 foot stratigraphic test well just south of DFS. From this well, the team collected over 600 feet of core, fluid samples from target injection zones, and a full petrophysical log suite. In addition, legacy 2D seismic lines were acquired and a 3D seismic survey was acquired in the fall of 2020. The objective of these field activities has been to identify and characterize target storage reservoirs and associated caprock. This complex has several reservoirs that could meet commercial injection goals, and over 4000 feet of associated caprock. Simulations of site performance suggest that stacked injection provides the most effective storage strategy, and would necessitate several sites within the greater complex to meet final project injection goals. Other work within this project includes the development of a business-case around proximal fields with CO 2 -enhanced oil recovery potential and existing tax credits, assessment of regulatory conditions, including pore space ownership and Class VI injection well permitting requirements, implementation of a robust public outreach Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3821220 GHGT-15 McLaughlin 2 program, and surface site characterization activities that have focused on environmental factors. In the PRB and at DFS, the State of Wyoming and other entities have made carbon management a priority of its future energy industry by providing a regulatory and business framework that is favorable to advancing these technologies. These endeavors will become more realistic with the successful implementation of Wyoming CarbonSAFE, and its ability to secure and validate commercial-scale CCUS at the center of Wyoming’s premier low-carbon research efforts.

McLaughlin, Fred↗

The effect of original and initial saturation on residual nonwetting phase capillary trapping efficiency

Injection of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into geological formations is a strategy for both atmospheric greenhouse gas reduction (climate change mitigation) and enhanced oil recovery. To understand CO 2 trapping efficiency, the capillary trapping behaviors that immobilize subsurface fluids were analyzed at the pore-scale using pairs of proxy fluids representing the range of in situ nonwetting and wetting fluid properties encountered in geologic storage reservoirs. The pairs of fluids were cycled through imbibition and drainage processes using a flow cell apparatus containing a sintered glass bead column. Computed x-ray microtomography (microCT) was used to identify immobilized nonwetting fluid after imbibition and drainage events. From microCT images, the trapped residual (post-secondary imbibition) nonwetting phase was spatially correlated to both the original (post-primary imbibition) and the initial (post-primary drainage) nonwetting phase; this relationship is referred to here as the original saturation dependence (SO-dependence) and initial saturation dependence (SI-dependence), respectively. Significant trends of decreasing SO- and SI-dependence with increasing wetting and nonwetting fluid phase viscosities were observed. This finding implies that the amount of CO 2 injected and ultimately trapped is dependent on the nonwetting phase (e.g. oil or gas) already present in the formation, as well as on the manner in which supercritical CO 2 is initially injected, which are factors not considered in current trapping models. To explore the potential effect that varying viscosity and interfacial tension (IFT) might have on this process, we report on a variety of fluid pairs with different viscosities and IFT.

42 ENGINEERING↗

CO2 injection with fracturing in geomechanically protected caprock: Task 6 of LLNL's Research Activities to Support DOE's Carbon Storage Program (FWP-FEW0191) (Final Technical Report)

Conventional principles of the design and operation of geologic carbon storage (GCS) require injecting CO 2 below the caprock fracturing pressure to ensure the integrity of the storage complex. In non-ideal storage reservoirs with relatively low permeability, modest injection rates can lead to pressure buildup and hydraulic fracturing of the reservoir and caprock. While the GCS community has generally viewed hydraulic fractures as a key risk to storage integrity, the actual behavior of a caprock hydraulic fracture, particularly from a geomechanical perspective, has not been thoroughly studied. The prevailing method of treating a hydraulic fracture as a high-permeability wing of the storage reservoir might have resulted in erroneous understanding of caprock hydraulic fracture behavior. Comprehensive analyses of monitoring data from the In Salah project suggested that one or more hydraulic fractures may have been created in the reservoir and lower caprock system during injection operations, but did not cause detectable leakage of CO 2 out of the storage complex. This observation coincides with a well-known phenomenon in the oil and gas industry: sedimentary rock formations have many inherent features that naturally protect the formations from unbounded vertical growth of hydraulic fractures.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration: Phase III (Final Scientific/Technical Report)

The Southwest Regional Partnership on Carbon Sequestration (SWP) is one of 7 regional partnerships formed in 2003 under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnerships (RCSPs) initiative. The overall purpose of the initiative was to help determine and implement the technology, infrastructure, and regulations most appropriate to promote carbon storage in different regions of the country. Covering Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and parts of Texas, Wyoming, and Kansas, the SWP evaluated regional carbon storage and utilization potential and focused on technologies and sites that could complement the region’s strong position in energy production. The project progressed through three phases: • Phase I (2003–2005): Characterized regional geologic formations and CO 2 sources, assessed sequestration potential, and identified pilot test sites. • Phase II (2005–2013): Conducted small-scale field tests to validate sequestration methods, including geologic and terrestrial projects. • Phase III (2008–2022): Demonstrated large-scale CO 2 injection at a commercial oil field to test monitoring, verification, and long-term storage strategies. This report covers Phase III. The final project site, the Farnsworth Unit (FWU) in Texas, provided real-world testing of reservoir characterization, monitoring, and risk evaluation tools and processes that could be used in any commercial scale carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) project. Extensive data collection and analysis helped refine best practices for reservoir characterization, injection monitoring, and storage verification. The SWP contributed to national databases, DOE best practice manuals, and regional geological assessments to support future sequestration efforts. Key lessons learned include the importance of robust data management, strategic site selection, regulatory navigation, and effective industry collaboration. The project’s findings will inform ongoing and future carbon storage initiatives. Task 1 (Regional Characterization) • The SWP continued to participate in national outreach efforts and NATCARB. • The SWP evaluated multiple potential sites before selecting the FWU as the primary field test location. Task 2 (Public Outreach and Education) • The SWP contributed to national databases, DOE best practice manuals, and regional geological assessments to support future sequestration efforts. Task 3 (Permitting and Regulatory Compliance) • The SWP ensured compliance with federal and state regulations, including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. • The SWP obtained all necessary permits for drilling, injection, and monitoring activities. Task 4 (Site Characterization and Planning) • The SWP developed work plans for four key activities: characterization, simulation, monitoring and verification, and risk evaluation. • The SWP collected and synthesized legacy data from multiple sources to build initial static geological models and dynamic reservoir models demonstrating project feasibility. • The SWP conducted an initial risk evaluation and developed mitigation plans. Task 5 (Field Operations and Data Collection) • The SWP drilled, logged, and cored three characterization wells to gather critical subsurface data. • The SWP conducted multiple geophysical surveys, including 3D seismic, crosswell seismic, and vertical seismic profiling, to improve reservoir characterization. Task 6 (Monitoring and Verification) • The SWP performed extensive geological characterization using data from characterization wells and seismic surveys. • The SWP established a surface monitoring network to track CO 2 flux in soil gas, groundwater chemistry, and near-surface atmospheric CO 2 levels. • The SWP built and refined reservoir models to study the effects of relative permeability on simulation behavior and improve calibration with experimental data. Task 7 (Risk Assessment and Model Refinement) • The SWP conducted multiple studies to evaluate reservoir integrity, predict CO 2 plume behavior and improve predictive modeling capabilities. • The SWP refined geological models and used them to enhance the accuracy of simulation models. • The SWP continued quantitative risk assessment of top-ranked risks and strengthened the link between qualitative and quantitative risk methodologies.

02 PETROLEUM↗

CO 2 Injection Monitoring with a Scalable, Automated Sparse Seismic Array

Conference presentation at American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting, Virtual, November 16–20, 2020. The scalable, automated sparse seismic array (SASSA) method has been ideated as a cost-effective alternative or complementary to conventional 3D seismic methods. Based on a sparse array of receivers deployed strategically on Earth’s surface and one or more fixed seismic sources, the SASSA method can be used to study specific portions of the subsurface to detect the movement of CO 2 in a reservoir with lower environmental footprint and shorter turnaround time to deliver results than conventional 3D seismic methods. Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) carried out seismic monitoring of an oilfield undergoing CO 2 enhanced oil recovery in Montana, USA, using the SASSA method.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Integrated Monitoring Volume: A Summary of Monitoring Studies Conducted in Niagaran Carbonate Pinnacle Reefs During Enhanced Oil Recovery with CO 2

The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) was founded in 2003 as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership initiative. Since its founding, MRCSP has made significant strides toward making CCUS a viable option for states in the region. The public/private consortium, funded through the DOE Regional Carbon Sequestration Initiative, brings together nearly 40 industry partners and 10 states. Battelle, as the project lead, oversees research, development and operations and coordinates activities among the partners. The incremental, phased approach has built a valuable knowledge base for the industry and paved the way for commercial-scale adoption of CCUS technologies. From 2008 to 2020, MRCSP Phase III focused on the development of large-scale injection projects. This report is part of a series of reports prepared under the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) Phase III (Development Phase). These reports summarize and detail the findings of the work conducted under the Phase III project. During the MRCSP Phase III monitoring period, over 1 million metric tons of CO 2 was injected into ten Silurian-age (Niagaran) pinnacle reef reservoirs in Otsego County, Michigan that are operated by Core Energy, LLC. There are over 800 pinnacle reefs in northern Michigan, and collectively, these geologic features have sufficient capacity to store several hundred million metric tons of CO 2 . Moreover, most of the reefs are oil-bearing and went through primary production in the 1970s and 1980s; therefore, by injecting CO 2 into the reefs, there is a real opportunity to realize additional (enhanced) oil recovery (EOR) and to permanently store CO 2 after EOR. A key objective of the MRCSP Phase III project is to evaluate the effectiveness of various technologies for monitoring CO 2 that has been injected into deep geologic formations. Monitoring may be required at CO 2 storage sites for a variety of reasons, including to meet UIC Class II (EOR sites) or Class VI (storage only sites) permit requirements or EPA greenhouse gas reporting rule requirements or to qualify for tax credits under the 45Q tax credit rule. The results of this monitoring study should prove useful to operators considering using carbonate pinnacle reefs of Northern Michigan for CO 2 storage.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Quantifying Methane Leak Emissions by Fused Airborne Imaging Spectroscopy with in Situ Surface Mobile and Airborne Observations of a California Producing Oil Field

Methane (CH4) emission budgets remain uncertain and are projected to grow as oil and gas production from short-lived wells increases and their subsequent transport through aging gas distribution networks. Orders-of-magnitude variations in temporal, spatial, and emission scales present a key challenge to leak detection and quantification. Also, the probability distributions for large and stochastic, leaky systems such as geological reservoirs (by natural migration-seeps) and petroleum production from those reservoirs remain largely unknown, needed to address current approach limitations. The scale of many petroleum systems favors remote sensing, but the sensitivity of such systems often precludes detection of weak emissions. Consequently, an accurate evaluation requires that the relative contribution from the emission "tails" of small leaks also be quantified, which is best carried out using high-sensitivity in situ methods. Fusion of remote sensing and in situ approaches leverages complementary capabilities to address these limitations. We show results from mobile surface (AMOG) and airborne in situ (AJAX) and thermal-infrared (TIR) hyperspectral imaging spectroscopy (Mako) data applied to a producing oil field in the California Central Valley near Bakersfield. AMOG is an automobile-based mobile lab that measures 13 trace gases, aerosol size distributions and vertical profiles, 3D winds and other meteorology, and atmospheric column measurements by solar spectroscopy at highway speeds. AJAX measures 5 trace gases and 3D winds at ~140 m/s. Mako is a broad-area TIR imaging spectrometer that can discriminate multiple gases present in each pixel acquired. In situ-derived, total field emissions were 31±16 Gg/yr CH4. This was compared with Mako-derived emissions from all plumes identified across the study site. We found that super-emitters were not the dominant emissions mode and the spatial pattern of plume locations from production infrastructure was correlated to geological structures.

Leifer, Ira↗

Evaluating Production Implications of Pressure Maintenance in Unconventional Oil and Gas Wells using a Machine Learning Modeling Approach: Case Study in the Permian Basin

This study implements the proprietary machine learning-based model (model) developed under the 2022 study titled “Evaluating the Impact of Proprietary Oil & Gas Data on Machine Learning Model Performance Using a Quasi-Experimental Analytical Approach” for forecasting unconventional oil and gas production using well data from the Permian Basin. The model, developed using an exclusive dataset that includes time series production data from an operator in the Permian Basin, is designed to jointly predict daily oil, gas, and water production for horizontal wells as a function of bottomhole pressure drawdown, spatial placement across the study domain, and well-completion attributes. In this study, the model was explicitly applied to explore its utility to evaluate the impact of varying drawdown strategies on the production forecast of a well in the Permian Basin dataset. Managing pressure drawdown has been identified as a way to improve estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) from unconventional shale wells due to the stress-dependent nature of fractures in shale reservoirs. Research has shown that applying a lower pressure drawdown helps to maintain the reservoir conductivity, resulting in higher productivity over the life of a well. Historic bottomhole pressure data from the well over time was used as a benchmark from which to set more and less aggressive pressure decline rates as bounding modeling cases. All pressure decline rates/strategies were forecasted over 5 years, and the model was used to generate oil, water, and gas prediction over the same timeframe. This report presents the results from the production forecast and discusses potential operational and economic implications, with contrasting perspectives between well productivity and profitability given typical oil and gas economics and the volatility in the oil and gas market.

02 PETROLEUM↗

Regional Geology Capstone Report for the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (Volume V)

The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) was founded in 2003 as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership initiative. Since its founding, MRCSP has made significant strides toward making CCUS a viable option for states in the region. The public/private consortium, funded through the DOE Regional Carbon Sequestration Initiative, brings together nearly 40 industry partners and 10 states. Battelle, as the project lead, oversees research, development and operations and coordinates activities among the partners. The incremental, phased approach has built a valuable knowledge base for the industry and paved the way for commercial-scale adoption of CCUS technologies. From 2008 to 2020, MRCSP Phase III focused on the development of large-scale injection projects. This report is part of a series of reports prepared under the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) Phase III (Development Phase). These reports summarize and detail the findings of the work conducted under the Phase III project. The MRCSP regional geology Capstone report summarizes the regional characterization of geologic storage subtasks performed under MRCSP Phase III. The regional characterization work was completed by the state geological surveys of Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia along with Western Michigan University and Rutgers University. Building on the Phases I and II, the Phase III research was focused on key research topics identified in previous MRCSP efforts: [1] Regional Geologic Cross Sections for Potential Storage and Containment Zones; [2] Appalachian Basin: Enhanced Recovery Opportunities; [3] Michigan Basin: Assessment of Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Carbon Dioxide in Silurian Pinnacle Reefs; [4] Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain and Adjacent Offshore Region: Characterization of Carbon Storage Targets; [5] Ordovician-Cambrian Units: Hierarchical Evaluation of Geologic Carbon Storage Resource Estimates; [6] Upper Silurian to Middle Devonian Strata of Ohio: Structural Characterization of Potential CO 2 Reservoirs and Adjacent Strata; [7] Triassic Rift Basins: Preliminary Study of Long-Term CO 2 Storage Potential Together, the regional characterization effort developed useful products to support project developers, policy makers and other stakeholders in the MRCSP region seeking to understand where potential storage exists relative to large stationary sources of CO 2 emissions.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Fundamental Understanding of Methane-Carbon Dioxide-Water (CH 4 -CO 2 - H 2 O) Interactions in Shale Nanopores under Reservoir Conditions (Quarterly Report)

Shale is characterized by the predominant presence of nanometer-scale (1-100 nm) pores. The behavior of fluids in those pores directly controls shale gas storage and release in shale matrix and ultimately the wellbore production in unconventional reservoirs. Recently, it has been recognized that a fluid confined in nanopores can behave dramatically differently from the corresponding bulk phase due to nanopore confinement. CO 2 and H 2 O, either preexisting or introduced, are two major components that coexist with shale gas (predominately CH 4 ) during hydrofracturing and gas extraction. Note that liquid or supercritical CO 2 has been suggested as an alternative fluid for subsurface fracturing such that CO 2 enhanced gas recovery can also serve as a CO 2 sequestration process. Limited data indicate that CO 2 may preferentially adsorb in nanopores (particularly those in kerogen) and therefore displace CH 4 in shale. Similarly, the presence of water moisture seems able to displace or trap CH 4 in shale matrix. Therefore, fundamental understanding of CH 4 -CO 2 -H 2 O behavior and their interactions in shale nanopores is of great importance for gas production and the related CO 2 sequestration. This project focuses on the systematic study of CH 4 -CO 2 -H 2 O interactions in shale nanopores under high-pressure and high temperature reservoir conditions. The proposed work will help develop new stimulation strategies to enable efficient resource recovery from fewer and less environmentally impactful wells.

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS↗

Pulsed Neutron Capture for Monitoring CO 2 Storage with Enhanced Oil Recovery in Northern Michigan

The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) was founded in 2003 as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership initiative. Since its founding, MRCSP has made significant strides toward making CCUS a viable option for states in the region. The public/private consortium, funded through the DOE Regional Carbon Sequestration Initiative, brings together nearly 40 industry partners and 10 states. Battelle, as the project lead, oversees research, development and operations and coordinates activities among the partners. The incremental, phased approach has built a valuable knowledge base for the industry and paved the way for commercial-scale adoption of CCUS technologies. From 2008 to 2020, MRCSP Phase III focused on the development of large-scale injection projects. This report is part of a series of reports prepared under the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (MRCSP) Phase III (Development Phase). These reports summarize and detail the findings of the work conducted under the Phase III project. Pulsed neutron capture (PNC) logging has been used as part of the MRCSP monitoring of CO 2 injection and storage during assessment of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in several Northern Niagara Pinnacle Reef Trend (NNPRT) reefs in Michigan. This technique and data processing cost less than traditional fluid sampling and presents a low risk to well operations by utilizing through-tubing logging capabilities. Additionally, monitoring CO 2 migration and break-through can be conducted from a single monitoring well in the reservoir. A total of four reefs were selected for these studies to monitor CO 2 migration and to test the viability and effectiveness of the PNC technology for saturation monitoring in a low porosity and highly diverse lithology environment. This study provides assessment of the technology and recommendations for utilization of saturation analysis.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Multiscale Assessment of Caprock Integrity for Geologic Carbon Storage in the Pennsylvanian Farnsworth Unit, Texas, USA

Leakage pathways through caprock lithologies for underground storage of CO2 and/or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) include intrusion into nano-pore mudstones, flow within fractures and faults, and larger-scale sedimentary heterogeneity (e.g., stacked channel deposits). To assess multiscale sealing integrity of the caprock system that overlies the Morrow B sandstone reservoir, Farnsworth Unit (FWU), Texas, USA, we combine pore-to-core observations, laboratory testing, well logging results, and noble gas analysis. A cluster analysis combining gamma ray, compressional slowness, and other logs was combined with caliper responses and triaxial rock mechanics testing to define eleven lithologic classes across the upper Morrow shale and Thirteen Finger limestone caprock units, with estimations of dynamic elastic moduli and fracture breakdown pressures (minimum horizontal stress gradients) for each class. Mercury porosimetry determinations of CO2 column heights in sealing formations yield values exceeding reservoir height. Noble gas profiles provide a “geologic time-integrated” assessment of fluid flow across the reservoir-caprock system, with Morrow B reservoir measurements consistent with decades-long EOR water-flooding, and upper Morrow shale and lower Thirteen Finger limestone values being consistent with long-term geohydrologic isolation. Together, these data suggest an excellent sealing capacity for the FWU and provide limits for injection pressure increases accompanying carbon storage activities.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗