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

Natasha Trujillo, Dylan Rose-Coss, Jason E. Heath, Thomas A. Dewers, William Ampomah, Peter S. Mozley and Martha Cather
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Natasha Trujillo: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Earth and Environmental Science Department, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Dylan Rose-Coss: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Earth and Environmental Science Department, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Jason E. Heath: Sandia National Laboratories, Geomechanics Department, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
Thomas A. Dewers: Sandia National Laboratories, Nuclear Waste Disposal Research and Analysis, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA
William Ampomah: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Petroleum Resource Recovery Center, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Peter S. Mozley: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Earth and Environmental Science Department, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Martha Cather: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Petroleum Resource Recovery Center, Socorro, NM 87801, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-26

Abstract: Leakage pathways through caprock lithologies for underground storage of CO 2 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 CO 2 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.

Keywords: carbon sequestration; caprock integrity; noble gas migration; seal by-pass (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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