Back to search

CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering

Accelerating CSEM technology for efficient and quantitative CO2 monitoring

Alternative title: Accelerating CSEM technology for efficient and quantitative CO2 monitoring

Awarded: NOK 7.2 mill.

CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) is nowadays considered a viable option to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. In this context, the Norwegian Continental Shelf has enormous volumes of potential storage space for CO2 in saline aquifers, offering a unique business opportunity for Norwegian industry. The storage and monitoring are parts of the value chain where significant cost reduction is required. The reliability of monitoring technology is also crucial for the public acceptance of CCS, especially in case of large-scale storage and import of CO2 from other European countries. Consequently, the cost of a comprehensive monitoring program covering the different phases of a storage project could quickly become prohibitively high, if not carefully optimised. While expensive seismic surveys will most likely be the backbone of any geophysical monitoring program, the Controlled Source Electro-Magnetics (CSEM) method can be a cost-efficient and valuable complement. By providing additional, yet essential, earth parameters, CSEM can contribute to significantly better constrained estimates property changes caused by CO2 injections. This improved capability will reduce risks and support the development of better tailored geophysical surveys and will consequently help to reduce costs. The resolution of EM is inherently lower than that of seismic and therefore resolution capabilities, time-lapse approaches, and optimum ways of combining seismic and EM data should be carefully investigated. This work is being done using offshore realistic case studies from the Norwegian continental shelf. The EM4CO2 project aims at developing and applying a cost-efficient CO2 monitoring concept using time-lapse CSEM and demonstrating its readiness for the future Norwegian large-scale CO2 storage project. The project consortium consists of SINTEF (project leader), Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), allton, University of Oslo , and University of Southampton. During 2021, the work on the three work-packages has continued, resulting in two papers dealing with the feasibility of CSEM monitoring at Smeaheia and with the importance of resistivity as input to monitor saturation changes due to CO2 injection, respectively. The dissemination of results included several extended abstracts and presentations and a NCCS webinar about the role of CSEM of CO2 monitoring.

-

An accurate and efficient monitoring strategy is essential for safe CO2 storage in compliance with laws and regulations. The reliability of monitoring technology is also crucial for the public acceptance of CCS, especially in case of large-scale storage and import of CO2 from other European countries. The cost of a comprehensive monitoring program covering the different phases of a storage project could, however, quickly become prohibitively high, if not carefully optimized. While expensive seismic survey will most likely be the backbone of any geophysical monitoring program, Controlled Source Electro-Magnetics (CSEM) can be a cost-efficient and valuable complement. By providing an additional, yet essential, earth parameter (resistivity, anisotropy), CSEM contributes to significantly better constrained estimates of the pressure and saturation changes caused by CO2 injection, and mitigates uncertainties in seismic data interpretation. The improved capability of quantitative characterization will reduce risks and support the development of better tailored, sparser (in time and space) geophysical surveys and will consequently help to reduce costs. The resolution of EM is inherently lower than that of seismic and therefore resolution capabilities, time-lapse approaches, and optimum ways of combining seismic and EM data should be carefully investigated. These are the main themes for the project to contribute to, and we will focus on 1) optimal survey layout and time-lapse data inversion; 2) effect of infrastructure on CSEM data and efficient way of simulation; 3) integration of CSEM with other geophysical data. The project consortium consists of Sintef (leading), Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), University of Oslo (UiO), EMGS, and Southampton University. A PhD candidate will be hired at UiO and will be involved most of the project activities.

Publications from Cristin

No publications found

No publications found

Funding scheme:

CLIMIT-Forskning, utvikling og demo av CO2-håndtering