The greatest challenge facing humanity today is the transition to a more sustainable energy infrastructure while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Meeting this challenge will require a diversified array of solutions spanning across multiple industries. One of the solutions rising to the fore is the potential to rapidly build out carbon sequestration, which involves the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and its storage in the subsurface. Integrated Aquifer Characterization and Modeling for Energy Sustainability: Key Lessons from the Petroleum Industry provides a comprehensive and practical technical guide into the potential that aquifers hold as sites for carbon and energy storage.
Aquifers occupy a significant part of the Earth’s available volume in the subsurface and thus hold immense potential as sites for carbon storage. Many aquifers have been studied extensively as part of oil and gas energy development projects and, as such, they represent an opportunity to sequester carbon within existing areas of infrastructure that have already been impacted by, and integrated into, an inherited energy framework. Moreover, future efforts to reconfigure the landscape of our national and global energy systems can extract valuable lessons from this existing trove of data and expertise.
From a multidisciplinary perspective, this book provides a valuable and up-to-date overview of how we can draw on the wealth of existing technologies and data deployed by the petroleum industry in the transition to a more sustainable future. Integrated Aquifer Characterization and Modeling for Energy Sustainability will be of value to academic, professional and business audiences who wish to evaluate the potential underground storage of carbon and/or energy, and for policy makers in developing the right policy tools to further the goals of a sustainable energy transition.
Author(s): M.R. Fassihi, J.P. Blangy
Publisher: CRC Press/Balkema
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 237
City: Leiden
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Aquifer Presence and Identification
Introduction
2.1 Definitions
2.2 Data Availability, Cost and Schedule
2.2.1 Fields in the Late Exploration Or Appraisal Phase
2.2.2 Fields Under Development And/or Production
2.3 Detection Methods: Direct Detection
2.3.1 Surface Sampling and Mapping
2.3.2 In Situ Sampling Or Well-Based Methods
2.3.2.1 Well Logs
2.3.2.2 Pressure and Temperature
2.3.2.3 Rock and Fluid Samples
2.4 Detection Methods: Remote Sensing
2.4.1 Potential Fields
2.4.2 Seismic
2.4.2.1 Seismic Data Characteristics
2.4.2.2 Seismic Data Type, Availability and Quality Considerations
2.4.2.3 Seismic Resolution and Seismic Detection From Reflections
2.4.2.4 Seismic Observations
2.5 Examples of Aquifer Detection and Identification
2.5.1 Atlantic Margin, Offshore United States
2.5.1.1 Well Data Acquired in the 1970s and the 2010s
2.5.1.2 New Well and Seismic Data Acquired By IODP-313 in the 2010s
2.5.1.3 Modern Potential Fields Data Acquired in the Late 2010s
2.5.2 A Seismic Example: Offshore Angola
2.5.2.1 Descriptive Seismic Attributes
2.5.2.2 Using Seismic to Identify and Map the Aquifer
2.5.3 Detection of a Hydrodynamic System
2.5.3.1 The Cretaceous Nahr Umr Lower Sands, Offshore Qatar
2.6 Aquifer Extent Summary and Conclusions
References
Chapter 3 Aquifer Description and Characterization
Introduction
3.1 Aquifer Characterization Using Geological Information
3.1.1 Regional Geology: a Play-Based Approach
3.1.1.1 Play-Based Concepts
3.1.2 Depositional Systems and Stratigraphy
3.1.3 Structural Model and Faulting
3.1.3.1 Large-Scale Structural Deformation
3.1.3.2 Local Scale Structural Features and Fault Traps
3.1.4 Reservoir Quality Assessment
3.1.4.1 Thin Sections
3.1.4.2 Core Analyses
3.1.5 Production Geology
3.2 Aquifer Characterization Using Geophysical Information
3.2.1 Internal Geometry of the Aquifer: Stratigraphy
3.2.2 Internal Geometry of the Aquifer: Faulting
3.2.3 Gas–water Contact Identification
3.2.4 Oil–water Contact Identification
3.2.5 Rock-Physics-Based Seismic Inversion for Facies Classification
3.2.6 Production Geophysics and Surveillance
3.3 Aquifer Characterization Using Petrophysical Information
3.3.1 Petrophysical Interpretation
3.3.2 Transition Zones
3.3.2.1 Capillary Pressure
3.3.2.2 FWL Versus OWC
3.3.3 Paleo Zone
3.3.4 Tar Mat
3.4 Anomalous Water
3.4.1 Perched Water
3.4.2 Quick Checklist for Perched Water Identification
3.4.3 Hydrodynamically Tilted Contacts
3.5 Summary
Note
References
Chapter 4 Static Models for Reservoirs and Their Aquifers
Introduction
4.1 Basin Models
4.1.1 Definition and Functionality
4.1.2 Applying Physics: Solving for Pressure and Temperature
4.1.3 Current Challenges and Limitations in Basin Modeling
4.1.3.1 Coupled Structural Evolution/basin History
4.1.3.2 Multi-Phase Compositional Fluid Flow
4.1.3.3 Diagenesis
4.2 Reservoir Quality Models
4.2.1 Porosity Models
4.2.2 Permeability From Porosity
4.3 Geomodeling: Field Scale Integration
4.3.1 A Typical Geomodeling Workflow
4.3.1.1 Phase 1: Building the Structural and Stratigraphic Framework
4.3.1.2 Phase 2: Assigning Layer Properties
4.3.2 Aquifer-Specific Geomodeling
4.3.3 Preliminary Volume Calculations and Volumetric Uncertainty Assessment
4.3.3.1 Basics of in Situ Petroleum Volumetrics (Resources)
4.3.3.2 Basics of Recoverable Petroleum Volumetrics (Reserves and Resources)
4.3.3.3 Subsurface Uncertainty: Conclusions
References
Chapter 5 Aquifer Analytical Modeling
Introduction
5.1 Mass and Energy Balance
5.2 Van Everdingen and Hurst
5.3 Havlena-Odeh Method
5.4 Cole Plot for Estimating Aquifer Contribution
5.5 Campbell Plot for Estimating Aquifer Contribution in an Oil Reservoir
5.6 Aquifer Effectiveness in Lower Quality Gas Reservoirs
5.7 P/Z (Pressure/compressibility) Plot
5.8 Solution Plot for Gas Reservoirs
5.9 Carter-Tracy Aquifer Implementation
5.10 Fetkovich Aquifer
5.11 Other Aquifer Models
References
Chapter 6 Numerical Aquifer Modeling
Introduction
6.1 Required Information
6.2 Sources of Information
6.3 Numerical Aquifer
6.4 Conventional Gridded Aquifer
6.5 Aquifer Analytical Models in Reservoir Simulators
6.5.1 Carter-Tracy Aquifer Guidelines
6.5.2 The Fetkovich Aquifer
6.6 Guidelines for Analytical Model Use
6.7 Using MBAL to Validate an Aquifer Model
6.8 Key Issues in Aquifer Model Building
6.9 Estimation of Aquifer–reservoir Connectivity
6.10 Conclusions
References
Chapter 7 Aquifer Influx Versus Water Injection in the Gulf of Mexico
Introduction
7.1 Aquifer Description Workflow
7.1.1 Geophysical Input to Aquifer Size
7.1.2 Geological and Petrophysical Input to Aquifer Effectiveness
7.1.3 Static Uncertainty of the Aquifer
7.2 Aquifer Characterization: Strength Quantification
7.2.1 Aquifer Impact On Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR)
7.2.2 Dynamic Uncertainty of the Aquifer
7.3 Water Injection Tipping Point
7.4 Aquifer Impact On Estimation of Reserves and Resources
7.5 Conclusions
References
Chapter 8 Field Case Studies
Introduction
8.1 Field B: Static Modeling
8.2 Field B: Dynamic Modeling
8.3 Field C: Static Modeling
8.4 Field C: Dynamic Modeling
Chapter 9 Applying Petroleum Lessons to Aquifers During the Energy Transition
Introduction
9.1 CO2 Storage
9.1.1 Geological Considerations
9.1.1.1 The Reservoir
9.1.1.2 The Seal(s)
9.1.1.3 Data Requirements
9.1.1.4 Data Availability and Cost
9.1.1.5 The Importance of Economic Analysis
9.1.1.6 Resources Available for Screening Analysis
9.1.2 Fluid Properties
9.1.3 CO2 Containment Modeling
9.1.4 Geomechanical Modeling Requirements
9.1.5 Geochemical Modeling Requirements
9.1.6 Monitoring Requirements
9.1.6.1 A 4D Example
9.1.7 Sequestration Capacity Estimation
9.1.8 The Role of Aquifers for CO2 Sequestration in Depleted Reservoirs
9.1.9 Injectivity Considerations
9.2 Natural Gas Storage
9.2.1 Methane Properties
9.2.2 Gas Trapping
9.2.3 Best Practices for Natural Gas Storage in Aquifers
9.3 Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS)
9.4 Compressed Air Energy Storage
9.5 Waste Liquid Disposal By Injection Into Non-Potable Aquifers
9.6 Conclusions
References
Chapter Postface
Parting Thoughts
Appendix A: Units: Definitions, Prefixes and Conversions
Appendix B: Acronyms and Abbreviations
Appendix C: Aquifer Characterization and Modeling Checklist
Sources of Aquifer Characterization Data
Aquifer Description
Aquifer Model Construction
Numerical Aquifer Pitfalls to Avoid
Index
