Pressure Management and Plume Control at the Devine Test Site, South Texas by Means of Brine Extraction
Abstract
A critical issue for saline CO2 storage is build-up of pressure caused by CO2 injection. The magnitude of the pressure build-up depends on many factors, including the injection rate, static properties of the target formation, nature of the in-situ and injected fluids, and the formation boundary conditions. Maximum pressure increase is localized at the injection well; however, a pressure front diffuses into the formation, increasing pressure regionally far from the injection well. Within the context of CO2 geological storage, excessive pressure buildup is undesirable because it increases risks of CO2 plume leak into unwanted zones, reduces the storage capacity of the formation and can limit the life of a storage project.
In this study, we design a brine extraction field pilot project for pressure management and plume control at Hosston Formation in Devine Test Site in Texas. We investigated the possibility of using seismic and tracer data to monitor pressure front and injected fluids plume. Seismic surveys provide the volumetric coverage needed to understand the 3D subsurface fluid and pore pressure front movement; however, the limit of seismic detectability may be influenced by Hosston formation initial pore pressure. The range of minimum pore pressure increase needed to produce detectable P-wave and S-wave seismic velocities is investigated. Simulation study of active pressure management system (APMS) and passive pressure management system (PPMS) at the Devine Test Site is performed using CMG-STARS to demonstrate the possibility of the pressure build up control in the storage formation. The estimation of pore pressure increase from flow simulations will help us to understand if the pressure changes during brine injection and extraction can be detected using seismic response.
