TY - JOUR
T1 - A workflow to assess the efficacy of brine extraction for managing injection-induced seismicity potential using data from a CO2 injection site near Decatur, Illinois
AU - Babarinde, Oladipupo
AU - Okwen, Roland
AU - Frailey, Scott
AU - Yang, Fang
AU - Whittaker, Steven
AU - Sweet, Dustin
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was primarily supported as part of the Center for Geologic Storage, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under award number DE-SC0C12504, and by the U.S. Department of Energy, under award number DE-FE0026136 (part of the characterization and modeling effort). Data for this work was provided, in part, by work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under award number DE-FC26-05NT42588. The authors thank Robert Bauer, Hannes Leetaru, Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, and Sallie Greenberg for providing constructive reviews, comments, and data. The authors also thank contributors from the Schlumberger team, who helped with interpretation of the electrical resistivity image logs and seismic and mini-frac test data. We also acknowledge Landmark Graphics for use of their software via the University Donation Program and Schlumberger Carbon Services for donation of the Petrel E&P software platform.
Funding Information:
This work was primarily supported as part of the Center for Geologic Storage, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under award number DE-SC0C12504, and by the U.S. Department of Energy, under award number DE-FE0026136 (part of the characterization and modeling effort). Data for this work was provided, in part, by work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under award number DE-FC26-05NT42588. The authors thank Robert Bauer, Hannes Leetaru, Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, and Sallie Greenberg for providing constructive reviews, comments, and data. The authors also thank contributors from the Schlumberger team, who helped with interpretation of the electrical resistivity image logs and seismic and mini-frac test data. We also acknowledge Landmark Graphics for use of their software via the University Donation Program and Schlumberger Carbon Services for donation of the Petrel E&P software platform.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Injection of CO2 for storage in a geologic formation increases pore pressure and alters in situ stresses. Depending on the orientation of any existing fault and fracture planes, such as critically stressed planes, this stress alteration will modify normal stresses acting on planes and could result in frictional sliding and release stored energy in the form of seismicity. Brine extraction (BE) is a technique that can be applied prior to, or during, CO2 injection to reduce pore pressure for increasing storage capacity and, potentially, for reducing the likelihood of frictional sliding. A workflow is described to assess the efficacy of BE for mitigating frictional sliding (i.e., seismicity) during injection and entails: site characterization, stress calculations and failure assessment, static and dynamic modeling, and BE operational planning. Site characterization describes the stress field used to calculate the Coulomb Failure Function (CFF) that constrains allowable pore pressure changes and injection rates in the numerical simulation of CO2 injection scenarios. The inclusion of BE in the workflow allows for determination of the potential need for pressure reduction, and evaluation of the effectiveness of this operation. Example application of the workflow using an injection field dataset near Decatur, IL, provides insight on fracture planes and stresses at the site, formation properties and the impact of variable CO2 injection-rate targets on whether BE plans are required. The study workflow indicates that BE could enhance CO2 injection rate by 39% and correspondingly reduce the potential for injection-induced seismicity as indicated by a reduction in CFF.
AB - Injection of CO2 for storage in a geologic formation increases pore pressure and alters in situ stresses. Depending on the orientation of any existing fault and fracture planes, such as critically stressed planes, this stress alteration will modify normal stresses acting on planes and could result in frictional sliding and release stored energy in the form of seismicity. Brine extraction (BE) is a technique that can be applied prior to, or during, CO2 injection to reduce pore pressure for increasing storage capacity and, potentially, for reducing the likelihood of frictional sliding. A workflow is described to assess the efficacy of BE for mitigating frictional sliding (i.e., seismicity) during injection and entails: site characterization, stress calculations and failure assessment, static and dynamic modeling, and BE operational planning. Site characterization describes the stress field used to calculate the Coulomb Failure Function (CFF) that constrains allowable pore pressure changes and injection rates in the numerical simulation of CO2 injection scenarios. The inclusion of BE in the workflow allows for determination of the potential need for pressure reduction, and evaluation of the effectiveness of this operation. Example application of the workflow using an injection field dataset near Decatur, IL, provides insight on fracture planes and stresses at the site, formation properties and the impact of variable CO2 injection-rate targets on whether BE plans are required. The study workflow indicates that BE could enhance CO2 injection rate by 39% and correspondingly reduce the potential for injection-induced seismicity as indicated by a reduction in CFF.
KW - Brine extraction
KW - CO storage
KW - Coulomb failure function
KW - Faults and fractures
KW - Injection rate
KW - Injection-induced seismicity
KW - Workflow
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103393
DO - 10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103393
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110193998
SN - 1750-5836
VL - 109
JO - International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
JF - International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
M1 - 103393
ER -