Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico

As part of the Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility phase of the Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE) Initiative, the University of Texas at Austin, partnered with the DOE, will aim to demonstrate that saline and depleted hydrocarbon storage reservoirs within a storage complex can store industrial CO₂ emissions safely, permanently, and economically. This study seeks to identify near-offshore storage resource on the inner shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 1) in the range of 50+ million metric tons of CO₂. The study will further identify specific injection reservoirs and evaluate the change from CO₂ use for enhanced oil recovery to large-volume storage in saline formations. Tasks will include subsurface geologic characterization, modeling and simulation, management strategy, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, public outreach, and site development planning.

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Figure 1. Near-offshore northwest Gulf of Mexico planned project area is completely covered by available 3-D seismic lines as well as an array of 2-D lines. Refinery and chemical sources (blue) and electricity generators (green; from the NATCARB database) and existing pipeline networks are key elements of project readiness.

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Integrated CCS Pre-Feasibility in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico (Aug 2017)
Presented by Susan Hovorka, University of Texas at Austin, 2017 Carbon Storage and Oil and Natural Gas Technologies Review Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA

Principal Investigator

Tip Meckel

tip.meckel@beg.utexas.edu

Project Benefits

The researchers will locate a number of viable reservoirs capable of storing CO₂ in the range of 50+ million metric tons on the inner shelf of the Northwest Gulf of Mexico. This project will support the DOE’s Carbon Storage Program goals to develop and validate technologies that will ensure 99% storage permanence, improve storage efficiency while maintaining containment effectiveness, improve industry’s ability to predict CO₂ storage capacity to within ±30 percent, and develop Best Practice Manuals for key activities in developing and operating storage projects. The University of Texas at Austin effort will also support the Carbon Storage Program mission to develop and advance CCS technologies, for widespread commercial deployment in the 2025-2035 time frame, that will ensure safe, secure, efficient, and cost effective CO₂ containment in diverse geologic formations.

Project ID

FE0029487

Website

University of Texas at Austin

http://www.utexas.edu/