Identifying and Managing Gas Leakage from Subsurface Sources

Abstract:

Subsurface gas accumulations exist from both natural sources such as hydrocarbon reservoirs, as well as, man-made sources such as natural gas storage, gas pipelines, CO₂ storage, or even H₂ storage. Both natural and manmade sources of subsurface gases have the potential to leak to the surface. Leakage can cause safety hazards and detrimental impacts associated with the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Leak management, which involves identifying, characterizing, assessing, and remediating leakage requires a coordinated and systematic approach to effectively deal with these occurrences. Here an overall workflow for leak management is presented, along with technological options and challenges for successful implementation. Many tools and approaches for leak management are available and in use today. However, the increased attention to leakage from a larger variety of sources, particularly associated with legacy facilities and infrastructure, raises new issues and challenges that are highlighted here.