From 1 - 10 / 44
  • A question and answer style brochure on geological storage of carbon dioxide. Questions addressed include: - What is geological storage? - Why do we need to store carbon dioxide? - How can you store anything in solid rock? - Could the carbon dioxide contaminate the fresh water supply? - Could a hydrocarbon seal leak? - Are there any geological storage projects in Australia?

  • The CO2CRC Otway Project is Australia's first demonstration of geological storage of CO2 within deep underground reservoirs. The project has undergone many phases of implementation and the latest work program, Phase 2C, is aimed at injecting between 10,000 and 30,000 tonnes of CO2 into the saline Paraatte Formation located around 1,400m below surface. One of the key measures of success for Phase 2C is successful seismic detection of the injected gas stream. The geophysics team from Curtin University of Technology have previously conducted three 3D surface seismic surveys, and numerous smaller experiments, at the Otway CO2 re-injection site. These tests were completed during Phase 1 of the Otway Project whereby an (80-20%) CO2-CH4 gas mixture was re-injected into the depleted Warre-C gas reservoir. The feasibility of seismic monitoring of the CO2-CH4 gas mixture injected into the Paraatte Formation is expected to be improved over the Warre-C reservoir due to the increased fluid property contrast between brine and the CO2-CH4 mixture and the shallower depth of the reservoir. A comprehensive desktop feasibility study has been completed by the Curtin/CSIRO geophysics team to assess the probability of successful seismic detection and the preliminary results are encouraging. A Seismic Assurance Review workshop was completed incorporating seismic expertise from both academia and industry to assess the risk of unsuccessful seismic detection. The workshop was held on the 3rd and 4th of November, 2011, at Curtin University of Technology.

  • The geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) is the process whereby CO2 captured from power plants or other industrial facilities is transported by pipeline to a suitable location and then injected under pressure into a deep geological reservoir formation, where it remains permanently trapped and prevented from entering the atmosphere. The processes by which it is retained in the subsurface are generally those that have trapped oil, gas and naturally generated CO2 for millions of years. The geological formations that can be utilised for this trapping have the same characteristics as those that are able to act as reservoir rocks for petroleum. They have good porosity and permeability and have an overlying sealing formation, which will prevent the trapped fluids migrating out of the storage reservoir and possibly escaping to the surface. In addition, because of the phase behaviour of CO2, efficient storage requires that they are stored at depths greater than 800 below the surface. Unlike oil and gas, which rely primarily on a three dimensional structural trap to prevent them from ultimately rising to the surface, there are additional trapping mechanisms for CO2. Given a sufficiently long migration path within a formation, CO2 will ultimately be rendered immobile by dissolution into the formation water, residual trapping and potentially, over longer time scales, mineralisation. As groundwaters at these depths are generally saline, this type of storage is often termed deep saline aquifer storage. A recent nationwide review by Commonwealth and State geological surveys, as part of the Carbon Storage Taskforce, rated the suitability of geological basins across Australia for geological storage of CO2. The most geologically suitable basins are the offshore Gippsland and North Perth basins but several onshore basins also rate highly. These include the Eromanga, Cooper, Bowen, Galilee, Surat, Canning and Otway basins. The Victorian Government has recently released area for greenhouse gas storage exploration in the Gippsland Basin and the Queensland Government in the Galilee and Surat basins. The aquifers within these basins provide groundwater for human consumption, agriculture, mining, recreation and groundwater dependent ecosystems. The Surat Basin also contains oil and gas accumulations that are being exploited by the onshore petroleum industry. Understanding the existing the groundwater's chemistry and the connectivity between aquifers in the context of its current use is essential in order to determine whether prospective aquifers could be used for geological storage of CO2 without compromising other activities. The potential risks to groundwater from the potential migration of CO2 and changes to groundwater properties that might be expected will also be discussed. Current data gaps include poor hydrogeochemical data coverage for the deeper aquifers and particularly limited data on trace metals and organics. A comparison with experiences learned from enhanced oil recovery using CO2 in North America and the CO2CRC's pilot CO2 injection project in Western Victoria will illustrate some of the unique differences and opportunities for geological storage of CO2 in Australia. Oral presentation at "Groundwater 2010" conference, 31 October - 4th November 2010, Canberra

  • Currently there is no uniform methodology to estimate geological CO2 storage capacity. Each country or organization uses its own evaluation and estimation method. During 2011-2012, the International Energy Agency has convened a process among national geological survey organizations to recommend a common estimation method for countries to use. Such a method should describe a typical process for developing assessments of CO2 storage resources; recommend a sound methodology for arriving at a jurisdictional or national-scale CO2 storage resource assessment that could be applied globally; and recommend a way forward to bridge the gap between such a resource and a policy-makers aspiration to understand what proportion of the resource can be relied on and is likely to be technically accessible at any particular cost. This report will outline a 'roadmap' to address these recommendations in a way that jurisdictions can use extant methodologies or craft their own to assess their CO2 storage endowment in a manner consistent with other jurisdictions. In this way they may be able to fully utilize their endowment as well as make a contribution to the potential realization of a worldwide estimate of storage resource.

  • We present a probabilistic tectonic hazard analysis of a site in the Otway Basin,Victoria, Australia, as part of the CO2CRC Otway Project for CO2 storage risk. The study involves estimating the likelihood of future strong earthquake shaking and associated fault displacements from natural tectonic processes that could adversely impact the storage process at the site. Three datasets are used to quantify the tectonic hazards at the site: (1) active faults; (2) historical seismicity, and; (3) GPS surface velocities. Our analysis of GPS data reveals strain rates at the limit of detectability and not significantly different from zero. Consequently, we do not develop a GPS-based source model for this Otway Basin model. We construct logic trees to capture epistemic uncertainty in both the fault and seismicity source parameters, and in the ground motion prediction. A new feature for seismic hazard modelling in Australia, and rarely dealt with in low-seismicity regions elsewhere, is the treatment of fault episodicity (long-term activity versus inactivity) in the Otway model. Seismic hazard curves for the combined (fault and distributed seismicity) source model show that hazard is generally low, with peak ground acceleration estimates of less than 0.1g at annual probabilities of 10-3-10-4/yr. The annual probability for tectonic displacements of greater than or equal to 1m at the site is even lower, in the vicinity of 10-8-10-9/yr. The low hazard is consistent with the intraplate tectonic setting of the region, and unlikely to pose a significant hazard for CO2 containment and infrastructure.

  • Residual CO2 saturation (Sgr-CO2) is considered one of the most important trapping mechanisms for geological CO2 storage. Yet, standard procedures for the determination of Sgr-CO2 are missing and Sgr-CO2 has not been determined quantitatively at reservoir until recently. This circumstance introduces uncertainty in the prediction of the nature and capacity of CO2 storage and requires the development of well test procedures. The CO2CRC drilled a dedicated well with perforations in a low salinity aquifer of the Paaratte Formation between 1440 - 1447 m below the surface of the Otway Basin, Australia, with the aim to develop and compare five methods to determine Sgr-CO2 (see also Paterson et al, this volume).

  • This is a collection of conference program and abstracts presented at AOGC 2010, Canberra.

  • The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Survey GA-0335 (SOL5463) was acquired by the RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was undertaken as a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less then 100m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support investigation for CO2 storage potential in these areas. The survey mapped two targeted areas of the Petrel-Sub-basin located within the Ptrl-01 2009 Greenhouse Gas acreage release area (now closed). Data acquired onboard the AIMS research vessel, Solander included multibeam sonar bathymetry (471.2 km2 in Area 1 and 181.1 km2 in Area 2) to enable geomorphic mapping, and multi-channel sub-bottom profiles (558 line-kilometres in Area 1 and 97 line-kilometres in Area 2) to investigate possible fluid pathways in the shallow subsurface geology. Sampling sites covering a range of seabed features were identified from the preliminary analysis of multibeam bathymetry and shallow seismic reflection data. Sampling equipment deployed during the survey included surface sediment grabs, vibrocores, towed underwater video, conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profilers and ocean moorings. A total of 14 stations were examined in Area 1 (the priority study area) and one station in Area 2. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the survey activities and preliminary results from survey SOL5463. Detailed analyses and interpretation of the data acquired during the survey will be integrated with new and existing seismic data. This new information will support the regional assessment of CO2 storage prospectivity in the Petrel Sub-basin and contribute to the nation's knowledge of its marine environmental assets.

  • Geoscience Australia is conducting a study under the National Carbon Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to assess the suitability of the Vlaming Sub-basin for CO2 storage. It involves characterisation of the Valanginian reservoir (Gage Sandstone) and the Early Cretaceous seal (South Perth Shale) by integrating seismic interpretation and well log analysis in a detailed sequence stratigraphic investigation. The Gage Sandstone, comprised of channelised turbidites and mass flows, was the first unit deposited after breakup between India and Australia. Deposited during a sea level lowstand in the palaeo-topographic lows of the breakup unconformity, it is overlain by a thick deltaic to shallow marine succession of the South Perth Shale. The Gage Sandstone is considered one of the best reservoirs in the sub-basin with porosities of 23-30% and permeabilities of 200-1800 mD. It occurs at depths between 1000 and 3000 m below the seafloor, which makes, it an attractive target for the injection and long-term storage of supercritical CO2. The new extent of the Gage Sandstone, based on seismic interpretation and well log correlation, shows that in some of the wells the sandstone unit overlying the Valanginian unconformity belongs to the South Perth Shale and not to the Gage Sandstone. The G. Mutabilis palynological zone used in the past for identifying Gage Sandstone interval appears to be facies controlled and time transgressive. Detailed analysis of the reservoir properties at the wells in conjunction with systematic seismic facies mapping will serve as a basis for a regional reservoir model and storage potential estimation of the Gage Sandstone reservoir.

  • The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Environmental Survey GA-0335, (SOL5463) was acquired by the RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was undertaken as a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less then 100m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support investigation for CO2 storage potential in these areas.