Fall 2007
Gulf Coast Carbon Center Quarterly Update
Bureau of Economic Geology, Scott W. Tinker, Director
Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
http://www.gulfcoastcarbon.org
Key GCCC goals are field documentation of the process of geologic storage and high-quality research
assessment of remaining issues and questions. GCCC is leading investigations at three sites:
• Cranfield Mississippi, hosted by Denbury Resources
as part of the DOE–funded Southeast Regional
Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB)
• Frio Site, Liberty County, Texas
• SACROC oil field, Scurry County Texas, hosted by
Kinder Morgan CO2 as part of the Southwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SWCARB)
GCCC partners can report to stakeholders that companies are participating in the fore-front of field tests
though these projects.
SECARB
Recent GCCC activities at Cranfield include (1) moving to the field under funded Phase 2 of the
DOE program ($4.9M) and (2) writing Phase 3 proposal ($38M) which was accelerated by DOE.
A new injection well was drilled, logged, and cored by Denbury at the Cranfield Unit. GCCC researchers
Tip Meckel and Bill Ambrose examined the sandstone and conglomerate injection interval and overlying
shale seal horizons; partially completed analyses include detailed sedimentological description, compositional XRD, thin section, petrophysical properties, and wireline logs of borehole to match with cored intervals.
Forward plans include work-over of a plugged and abandoned well in the oil-production zone and dedicated
novel fiber optic instrumentation for long-term monitoring of temperature and pressure. Multiple packers
will isolate a sand horizon above the injection interval to test the concept of ‘above zone monitoring’ for
demonstration of CO2 retention in the injection interval. A field-wide logging campaign is designed to
generate data for pressure history matching to assess sweep efficiency in the injection interval and
Location of Cranfield, Mississippi
improve assessment of the capacity of the subsurface to store CO2.
A 10-year budget (~$38M for 2008-2018) for GCCC research at
Cranfield has been submitted for DOE approval. This will test a
formation of regional significance (Tuscaloosa Formation) in the
context of industrial-scale injection into brine (1 Mt/yr for 1-1.5 years).
Proposed well instrumentation includes active source seismic
(cross-well and VSP), electromagnetic, passive downhole micro-seismic,
downhole and surface tiltmeters, and InSAR. Goals of the experiment
will be to test indirect methods for identifying and quantifying
CO2 presence in the deep subsurface, and to monitor geomechanical
responses to large-scale injection. Additional monitoring is intended
to demonstrate no harm to protected water resources.
FRIO BRINE PILOT
The Frio pilot is in the final stages of post-injection monitoring for the second injection at this site. GCCC
partners have played key roles in this project from the start in 2003, when BP provided guidance on scope
and engineering issues. Schlumberger has processing RST logs from the second experiment, which has
proven-up RST as tool of choice for well-based CO2 plume monitoring.
Praxair Seeper Trace work
in action
Schlumberger has just conducted sampling with the cased hole formation tester to test this tool as a
method to assess well integrity. Praxair has conducted two tests with their surface perfluorocarbon tracer
“Seeper trace” and documented that this technology works in geologic storage environments and that the
Frio wells are not leak sources. The second test was conducted with the press observing (ABC News, San
Antonio Express-News, and Houston Chronicle) thus achieving the goal of demonstrating to the public that
this technology is mature.
Final activities at the Frio site will be a VSP survey in 2008, which is a low-budget surface to well
seismic survey designed to measure the maximum subsurface spread of the injected CO2.
Page 1 of 2 Please see reverse side for more....
GCCC Quarterly Report, Fall 2007
SWCARB
FUTUREGEN- RELATED NEWS
On July 31, 2007 the FutureGen Texas team submitted their
Best and Final Offer (BAFO) to the Alliance. The Odessa and
Jewett offers were described in over 1000 pages of documentation
(500 pages each). The offers are being evaluated by the Alliance
and their team of technical and legal consultants. The evaluation
process is being performed in an rigorous fashion to ensure that
the final selection meets all federal selection process criteria.
On September 12 the FutureGen Texas team (lead by RRC
Chairman Michael Williams and BEG Director Scott Tinker) and
the Alliance team (lead by Alliance CEO Mike Mudd) met in Austin
for a full day of discussions. The discussions confirmed that the
Alliance is leaving no stones unturned. The industry collaboration
that has been included in the Texas proposals is getting positive
attention from the Alliance. Texas is offering sites that technically,
commercially and politically should score extremely well. The team
is optimistic that the scheduled site selection in December 2007
will provide good news for the Lone Star State.
On September 13, 2007 GCCC researchers attended the kickoff
meeting of the Texas Carbon Capture and Storage Association
in Austin, TX. The mission of this organization is to represent the
interests of members in the business of carbon capture and
storage (CCS) and influence the development of CCS policy in
Texas. GCCC research was the only referenced technical subsurface
work. There was some discussion of the recently passed Texas
state legislation, HB 3732 (Implementation of ultra-clean energy
projects) and the high likelihood of FutureGen-like projects
being developed soon in Texas.
It is time to schedule the
next GCCC partner’s meeting.
Expect to hear from us soon.
Austin Energy-LCRA
BP
Chevron
Entergy
Environmental
Defense
Jackson School
of Geosciences
Recent GCCC activities for SWCARB Phase 2 include
(1) initiation of groundwater sampling and planning of injection
experiment at the SACROC (Scurry Area Canyon Reef Operators
Committee) unitized oil field; total Phase 2 budget is ($1.2M),
and (2) Phase 3 proposal ($5M) preparation.
This past summer GCCC researcher, Becky Smyth, sampled 21
water wells within and to the north and east of SACROC to begin
defining the regional variability in groundwater chemistry
within various fresh water-bearing units. The water samples have
been analyzed for general chemistry, trace metal, and stable
isotope water quality parameters at Los Alamos National
Laboratories (LANL), one of the SWCARB partners. These wells
plus additional ones will be sampled periodically throughout
the CO2 injection experiment.
The SACROC pilot injection experiment will consist of several
five spot injection patterns. Kinder Morgan will enter wells in
these patterns and run
reservoir saturation tools (RST) Monitoring
prior to CO2 flooding. SWCARB groundwater
parameters
partners will deploy various
prior to
MMV techniques before and
sampling
during the injection. Kinder
Morgan has donated a 3-D
seismic volume over the area
that will used to help design
and interpret MMV data.
OUTREACH
The report on Public perceptions of CCS in Texas is now available
from the GCCC members’ webpage and has been submitted by
Tip Meckel as a research article to Global Environmental Change.
One of many recent presentations given by BEG Associate
Director Ian Duncan, was entitled: The Role of Existing Wells in
Projecting Performance Standards for Engineered Saline
Reservoirs. Ian gave this talk at the US EPA Technical Workshop:
Geological Setting & Area of Review Consideration for CO2
Geologic Sequestration on July 11, 2007 in Washington. DC.
A conference call was held by the Outreach subcommittee
chaired by GCCC researcher, Mark Holtz, to discuss the Geologic
CO2 Sequestration Site Location and Characterization Manual.
The specific topic for this call was injection well permitting.
Mark Holtz lectured at the Research Experience in Carbon
Sequestration (RECS) program in Bozeman, Montana between
July 30 – August, 10, 2007. He gave seminars on the
Fundamentals of CO2 EOR and Subsurface Geologic and
Engineering Characterization.
GCCC Sponsors:
We are happy to announce the addition of Austin Energy and
the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), who are partners in
the Fayette coal-fired power plant as GCCC partners
and Environmental Defense as an NGO Liason.
GCCC contact information
Ian Duncan [email protected]
Sue Hovorka [email protected]
Kinder Morgan CO2
Marathon Oil
NRG
Praxair
Schlumberger
Shell
TxU
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