Greenhouse gas sequestration in abandoned oil reservoirs: The International Energy Agency Weyburn pilot project

Carbon dioxide sequestration in geological reservoirs is being evaluated internationally as a viable means of long-term CO₂ storage. The International Energy Agency Weyburn CO₂ Monitoring and Storage Project is designed to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of CO₂ storage in a partially depleted oil reservoir in conjunction with enhanced oil recovery operations. Two key elements of the project are (1) the establishment of a regional geoscience framework as a means for prediction of the long-term fate of injected CO₂, and (2) development and application of geophysical/geochemical monitoring and verification methods to track the spread of CO₂ within the reservoir. To date, 1.90 billion m³ of CO₂ have been injected into the reservoir, the effects of which are imaged by the various monitoring methods.