Baseline MVA at the Bell Creek CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Project
The Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership, led by the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), is working with Denbury Resources Inc. to determine the effect of large-scale injection of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the lower Cretaceous Muddy Formation (depth, 4500 ft) for the simultaneous purpose of CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and to study incidental CO2 storage at the Bell Creek oil field, which is operated by Denbury Onshore LLC. The activities at Bell Creek will inject approximately 1 million tons of CO2 annually. The Bell Creek demonstration project is a unique opportunity to develop a set of cost-effective monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) protocols for large-scale (>1 million tons/year) CO2 EOR and to study incidental CO2 storage in a clastic formation. Developing cost-effective approaches to predict and determine the fate of injected CO2 is an important aspect of implementing large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The goal of the MVA program is to provide critical data to verify site security, evaluate reservoir behavior during the injection program, determine the ultimate fate of injected CO2, and investigate mechanisms that affect CO2 storage efficiency within the EOR process all while operating in an integrated and compatible manner alongside the commercial CO2 EOR operation. The MVA program utilizes targeted time-lapse data acquisitions as part of a surface-, near-surface-, and deep subsurface-monitoring program guided by key subsurface technical risk, geologic characterization, and predictive simulation results. In addition to developing a robust, site-specific MVA data set, the MVA program will also provide complementary data to the commercial operator because of the natural overlaps that exist between MVA and EOR data sets.View/Download Document
Event/Meeting Information
Combined IEAGHG Monitoring and Environmental Network Meeting
8/27/2013
Canberra,