Pressure control and conformance management for safe and efficient CO2 storage - Accelerating CCS Technologies

The main storage-related challenges for accelerated deployment of CCS are capacity, confidence and cost. Pre-ACT was an industry-driven research project focusing on these challenges by improving strategies for monitoring and management of pore pressure. Pre-ACT developed pressure-driven methods and recommendations for a cost-efficient system for reservoir monitoring that helps operators to maximize CO2 storage capacity and quickly turn monitoring data into corrective action. Equinor, Total, Shell and TAQA were instrumental in securing the relevance and applicability of the developed tools and methodologies. Pre-ACT work packages: * WP1: Development and demonstration of methods to model pressure build-up and distribution * WP2: Development of novel monitoring techniques * WP3: Development of a modelling-monitoring loop for conformance assessment * WP4: Recommendations for decision making * WP5: North Sea case studies for demonstration of developed methods The Pre-ACT project started in November 2017 with a kick-off including a visit at Svelvik Field Lab and a WP4 workshop related to decision making entitled "Learning from demonstration and pilots". The project started gaining momentum early 2018. Several abstracts were sent to GHGT-14. WP1 work, with help from NPD, on effects of fault uncertainties on pressure distribution (at Smeaheia) was carried out. In WP2, SINTEF and GFZ worked on the plans for experiments at Svelvik. The work on a quantitative monitoring technique for pressure and saturation resulted in a new method which includes uncertainty. NORSAR evaluated micro-seismic data obtained from Rousse and Ketzin. In collaboration with NCCS, SINTEF developed a method for survey optimization and investigated that topic further with TNO in WP3. Equinor prepared data packages for Snøhvit and Smeaheia which were used in the project. In spring 2018, both SINTEF, NORSAR and the Norwegian industry partners participated in a Pre-ACT workshop on monitoring and site conformance. A continuation of the workshop was arranged at the Pre-ACT annual meeting in November with presentations from, amongst others, SINTEF and Equinor. The Norwegian Pre-ACT partners also presented at CO2GeoNet Open Forum, Near Surface Geoscience, and EAGE CO2 Geological Storage Workshop. During the first half of 2019, efforts were made to finalize the large-scale pressure modelling in the Smeaheia region. This study was presented at TCCS in June 2019. Design of well instrumentation and injection campaigns resulted in completion of the Svelvik CO2 Field Lab and a large Pre-ACT CO2 injection campaign in the autumn of 2019. In 2019 a French math-student was involved in the work on Bayesian rock physics inversion. This work was presented during Petroleum Geostatistics in September 2019. Pre-ACT also presented results at EAGE, SEG, TCCS-10, EAGE borehole workshop, EAGE international conference on faults and top seal, and during CSLF technical group meeting. Finally, outreach activities (towards stakeholders and the general public) gained more attention in 2019. In April a first stakeholder workshop was held in Trondheim with participants from many countries. In October, a similar stakeholder workshop was arranged in Brussels. In November 2019, Pre-ACT helped arranging an opening ceremony for the Svelvik field lab. In addition, the Pre-ACT webpage was been updated, for example with video material explaining in a simple way the Pre-ACT project and the importance of CCS. During 2020, Pre-ACT concluded on-going activities and focused on disseminating results to everything from external (international) research environments to stakeholders. In addition to participation at Nordic Geological Winter Meeting, 8th EAGE Passive Seismic Workshop, 1st EAGE fibre-optic workshop, and EGU, Pre-ACT sent abstracts for 82nd EAGE Conference & Exhibition and GHGT-15 (both delayed until after the project completion) and for First EAGE Geoscience in Energy Transition Conference. A significant effort was put into an open webinar series reporting on the most important results from the project during spring 2020. The six webinars had between 49-110 registered participants (in total 229 unique). Many journal papers were also submitted, e.g. to Geophysics, Geophysical Prospecting, and IJGGC. By the end of Pre-ACT, partners agreed that the most important results (from Norwegian partners) were: 1) Studies of effects of uncertainties and heterogeneities on prior reservoir modelling 2) Novel methods for pressure/saturation quantification 3) Svelvik CO2 Field Lab instrumentation and first Svelvik campaign 4) Contribution to development of quantitative conformance workflow 5) Development of methods for data acquisition optimization 6) Studies of optimal timing for the purchase of monitoring data 7) Smeaheia case studies 8) Three stakeholder meetings (e.g. in Brussels), and 9) The webinar series.

Pre-ACT's hovedsakelige virkning er koblet til de metodologier og anbefalinger som prosjektet utviklet for kostnadseffektiv og pålitelig overvåking og beslutningstaking. CO2-operatører vil kunne bruke disse for å verifisere at lagringen er sikker og effektiv. Metodene ble demonstrerte sammen med industripartnere for realistiske lagringsscenarier (f.eks. Smeaheia), noe Equinor har poengtert har vært verdifullt. Metoder for verifisering av samsvar mellom geofysiske målinger og reservoarmodeller, og for beslutningsstøtte under drift, tilhører sentrale resultater. Pre-ACT bidro til gjenåpning av Svelvik CO2 Field Lab og utførte den første CO2-injeksjonen der. Forsøket hadde som formål å generere data for å teste metoder for kvantifisering av trykk og CO2-metning. Pre-ACT har formidlet populærvitenskaplig rundt feltlabben og har kommunisert med europeiske politikere og beslutningstakere. Fremfor alt ble dette gjort gjennom arrangement av "stakeholder"-møter, hvorav et i Brussel.

The main storage-related challenges for accelerated deployment of CCS are capacity, confidence and cost. Pre-ACT is an industry-driven research project with a strong focus on improving strategies for monitoring and management of pore pressure distribution to address these challenges. Pre-ACT will develop pressure-driven decision support protocols (Pre-ACT Protocols) which will be a cost-efficient system for reservoir monitoring that helps the operator maximize CO2 storage capacity and quickly turn monitoring data into corrective action. Pre-ACT has secured access to a wide and relevant set of monitoring data from key demonstration sites across the world to calibrate, verify and demonstrate the value of the pressure-driven decision support protocols created in Pre-ACT for specific challenges. The industrial partners in Pre-ACT (Statoil, TOTAL, Shell and TAQA) will be instrumental in securing the relevance and applicability of the tools and methodologies developed in the project and will bring their operational experience and perspective. Pre-ACT comprises five technical work packages, designed to build the different elements in the pressure driven decision support protocols. WP1 deals with the development and demonstration of methods to model pressure build-up and distribution. WP2 and WP3 deal with development and demonstration of a modelling-monitoring loop for conformance assessment. Based on the compilation of a unique archive of existing and new data sets from relevant pilot and field sites, WP4 will derive recommendations for decision making procedures. In WP5, North Sea case studies will be carried out, demonstrating the value of the protocols developed in Pre-ACT. The project also includes first of a kind experiments at the ECCSEL Svelvik site. Five countries with strong commitment to CCS are represented in the consortium: Norway, Germany, The Netherlands, UK and France. In addition, Pre-ACT has established a solid cooperation with US and Australia.