Development and Characterization of a Geostatic Model for Monitoring Shallow CO₂ Injection

Jessica M. Dongas

A 25 sq. km static geomodel was constructed for shallow injection into the 7 m thick Basal Belly River Sandstone at 300 m depth in Newell County, Alberta. Effective porosity and intrinsic permeability were calibrated to six core laboratory analyses. The regressional shoreline sandstone has effective porosity of 11% and intrinsic permeability of 0.57 mD. Dynamic simulation was completed on the P10-50-90 static cases for multiple injection scenarios, totalling approximately 3250 t/CO₂ over a five-year period. The evolution of the CO₂ plume was observed at one-year during injection and five-years during injection, as well as the one-year and ten-year mark for the post-injection period. The final ten-year post-injection result simulated a laterally extensive plume, expanding to 350 m in diameter and 20 m of vertical migration into the caprock interval. The target interval proves to be an ideal reservoir, and the seal interval predicts containment over a ten-year post-injection period.