Business
Work with Us
Library
Explore our Library
The University of Wyoming is utilizing existing data from the Rock Springs Uplift, in southwestern Wyoming, to quantitatively predict changes in subsurface conditions and the geomechanical behavior during and after injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the subsurface. Experimental work will be conducted to examine the coupling of geochemical effects and geomechanical properties and their responses of varying rock types. Petrophysical and rock physics analyses will be conducted on samples under expected reactive conditions in CO2 storage scenarios.
The project is developing a new workflow which will use elements of geology, geochemistry, petrophysics, reservoir simulation, and geomechanics to predict the post-injection evolution of porosity, permeability, and rock mechanics. The predicted changes will be used to estimate rock failure events, uplift and subsidence, and saturation distributions. Furthermore, the effect of these changes on the geomechanical parameters and, consequently, reservoir responses will be considered. Specifically, this project is creating and evaluating an integrated workflow that uses current data from the Rock Springs Uplift, experimental results, and multiphase flow experiments to quantitatively predict lithologic and geomechanical reservoir conditions of stress and fluids distributions. The ability to predict geomechanical and geochemical behavior in response to CO2 injection could increase the accuracy of subsurface models that predict the integrity of the storage reservoir.