Progress Report, December 2010: Improved Site Characterization And Storage Prediction Through Stochastic Inversion Of Time-Lapse Geophysical And Geochemical Data

Abstract Natural gas is the noble fuel of 21st century. Consumption increased nearly 30% in last decade. Exploitation of conventional, unconventional, and contaminated gas resources are in focus to meet the demand. There are number of giant gas fields discovered worldwide and some of them with higher degree of contaminants viz. CO2, H2S and Hg. Additionally, they have operating challenges of high pressure and temperature. It becomes more complex when discovery is in offshore environment. This study presents the development and production, separation, transportation and identification & evaluation of storage sites and sequestration and MMV plan of a giant carbonate gas field in offshore Malaysia. Geological, Geophysical and petrophysical data used to describe the reservoir architecture, property distribution and spatial variation in more than 1000m thick gas bearing formation. Laboratory studies carried out to generate the rock and fluid representative SCAL (G-W), EOS and Supercritical CO2-brine relative permeability, geomechanics and geochemical data for recovery and storage estimates in simulation model and evaluating the post storage scenario. These data are critical in hydrocarbon gas prediction and firming up the number of development wells and in the simulation of CO2 storage depleted carbonate gas field. Important is to understand the mechanism in the target field for storage capacity, types of storage- structural and stratigraphic trapping, solubility trapping, residual trapping and mineral trapping. Study covers methodologies developed for minimization of hydrocarbon loss during contaminants separation and utilization of CO2 in usable products. Uncertainty and risk analysis have been carried out to have range of solution for production prediction and CO2 storage. Coupled Simulation studies predict the production plateau rate and 5 Tscf recovery separated contaminants profile and volume > one Tscf in order to have suitable geological structure for storage safely forever. Major uncertainties in the dynamic and coupled geomechanical-geochemical dynamic model has been captured and P90, P50, P10 forecast and storage rates and volumes have been calculated. Results includes advance methodologies of separation of hydrocarbon gas and CO2 like membrane and cryogenics for bulk separation of CO2 from raw gas and its transportation in liquid and supercritical form for storage. Study estimates components of sequestration mechanism, effect of heterogeneity on transport in porous media and height of stored CO2 in depleted reservoir and migration of plume vertically and horizontally. Generation of chemical product using separated CO2 for industrial use is highlighted.

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