Subsurface Characterization and Seismic Monitoring for the Southwest Partnerships Phase III Demonstration Project at Farnsworth Field, TX

Abstract:

The Southwest Partnership on Carbon Sequestration is performing seismic based characterization and monitoring activities at an active CO₂ EOR project at Farnsworth Field, Texas. CO₂ is anthropogenically sourced from a fertilizer and an ethanol plant. The field has 13 CO₂ injectors and has sequestered 302,982 metric tonnes of CO₂ since October 2013. The field site provides an excellent laboratory for testing a range of monitoring technologies in an operating CO₂ flood since planned development is sequential and allows for multiple opportunities to record zero CO₂ baseline data, mid-flood data, and fully flooded data. The project is comparing and contrasting several scales of seismic technologies in order to determine best practices for large scale commercial sequestration projects. Characterization efforts include an 85 km² 3D surface seismic survey, baseline and repeat 3D VSP surveys centered on injection wells, cross-well tomography baseline and repeat surveys between injector/producer pairs, and a borehole passive seismic array to monitor induced seismicity.

All surveys have contributed to detailed geologic models which were then used for fluid flow and risk assessment simulations. 3D VSP and cross-well data with repeat surveys have allowed for direct comparisons of the reservoir prior to CO₂ injection and at eight months into injection, with a goal of imaging the CO₂ plume as it moves away from injection wells. Additional repeat surveys at regular intervals will continue to refine the plume. The goal of this work is to demonstrate seismic based technologies to monitor CO₂ sequestration projects, and to contribute to best practices manuals for commercial scale CO₂ sequestration projects. In this talk the seismic plan will be outlined, progress towards goals enumerated, and preliminary results from baseline and repeat seismic data will be discussed.

Funding for this project is provided by the U.S. Department of Energy under Award No. DE-FC26-05NT42591.