The Aquistore Project: CommercialScale CO2 Storage in a Saline Aquiferin Saskatchewan, Canada
Don White, Geological Survey of Canada

Geological Storage
Sedimentary Basins• Depleted oil andgas reservoirs

Coal Beds• Coal beds
• Saline aquifers• Gas hydrates*

Oil/GasReservoirs
SalineAquifers

Other• Deep Ocean• Marine sediments* Arctic Canada, East and West Coasts• Ultramafic rocks

Boundary Dam/Aquistore Projects

Boundary Dam CCS Project
100 kmEOR

50 km•Coal-fired power plant•1 Mt/year CO2 starting in 2014•90% of CO2 for EOR•Deep saline aquifer storage and EOR (Aquistore)

Boundary Dam ICCS Demonstration
Original Unit 3•Pulverized Coal (lignite)•1800 psi 1000/1000 F•139 MW net•commissioned 1968

Replacement Unit 3•New Unit in an old box•Carbon Capture Ready•1800 psi 1050/1050 F•120 MW net with Carbon Capture•commissioned 2013

Boundary Dam ICCS Demonstration:2011 Conceptual Model
Unit #3

Capture Plant: 20122013Capture Plant: 2013

Aquistore Project Overview•CO2 storage researchmonitoring project•Variable injection rates:
0-1500 tonnes CO2/day•Buffer protection andlong-term storage option
for SaskPower’s
Boundary Dam Carbon
Capture ProjectCO2 Capture
CO2 Injector

Aquistore Project Timeline
Site characterization
Site/Funding
Agreements

Baseline Surveys

Injection
Well
H2O Injection
Test

Apr-13
Nov-12

Sep-11Mar-12

Permanent &Baseline 3D
Seismic

Aug-12Groundwater,
Soil Gas,
Passive Seismic

Today

Observation
Well

GPS,
Tiltmeters
InSAR,
Piezometers

Nov-13

Crosswell Seismic,
Monitor I 3D
Seismic

2014

CO2Injection

Baseline VSP,
Monitor II 3D
Seismic
14

AQUISTORE Project: Task List
1. Site Suitability
2. Detailed Site Characterization
3. Geophysical Monitoring
4. Geochemical Sampling and Analysis
5. Reservoir Surveillance Wells
6. Numerical Simulations
7. Risk Assessment Management Framework
8. Commercialization / Economic Analysis

GEOLOGICAL
CHARACTERIZATION

Record of Seismicity
Potash Mining
Saskatoon

ReginaEstevanWeyburn
Estevan>650 Mm3
brine injected
since 1964

Subsurface Model

Colorado Shale

Watrous “Red Beds”
Midale Beds

Prairie Evaporite

Deadwood Formation
Precambrian

19

Reservoir Injection Rate Capacity
GRGR

GRGR

GR

3000m

Regina:Thick sandpackages

GRGR

Icebox Shale

3100m

3200m

Estevan:More limited sandthickness & qualityPrecambrianApproximate Injection Loc.

Deadwood Fm. Thickness

Numerous PreCambrianBasement Highs

Deadwood Formation
greater than 100 meters
thick in study area (328 ft)

Geothermal Regime: T at Precambrian Surface

Contour Interval = 10°C

Saskatoon

ReginaNormal Geothermal GradientApproximately 20-30°C perkm
Target Depth Temp. ~95100°C
Approx. ProjectLocation

CO2 Saturation

Year 2Year 4

Year 102 km

2 km

2 km

Case 1: 2000 T/d (Winnipeg and Lower Deadwood)

3D Seismic Survey••••

Size : 30 km2
Acquisition : UniQ
Acquired March 2012
Vibroseis source:
2-100Hz sweep
5 sec record length
2ms sample rate
288 m line interval,
36 m in-line•Receivers:
288m line interval
6m in-line

•••
•
•

2411 shots
18100 geophones
Natural bin size: 3m x 18m
Full fold: 88
Offset range: 220m to 5388m

 3D Seismic Interpretation
W

2600m

E

Regional Seal:
Prairie Evaporite (150m)

Reservoir Caprock:
Icebox Shale (15m)
3200m
Reservoir:
Winnipeg Sand/
Deadwood Fm (150m)
3400m

Precambrian25

PRAIRIE EVAPORITE ISOPACH (M)

C.I. = 10 m

m
Aquistore 3D Preliminary Review26D) Seismic Interpretation – Time Data
Winnipeg to Winnipegosis Isochron Grid (ms)A thinning of the Winnipeg Shale to Winnipegosis
isochron may indicate drape of Winnipeg Fm over a
Precambrian basement high.

C.I. = 1ms
boydpetro.com | rpsgroup.com/Canada

Ordovician lineation
Semblance - Winnipeg +5ms

Ordovician Lineation

MONITORING RESEARCH

Monitoring Program
Designed for: (1) project/plume monitoring; (2) public assurance; (3) research objectives
Surface-based:• Regional 3D seismic survey• Geological characterization• Baseline & time-lapse (?)• Permanent seismic array• Time-lapse imaging

Plume• Electrical/electromagnetic• Gravity• Passive seismic (broadband &short period array)• InSAR
Deformation• GPS• Tiltmeters• Groundwater & Soil gas
Leakagemonitoring

Down-hole• Cross-well seismic & VSP• Cross-well & surface-todownhole electricalmonitoring• Real-time P & T• Passive seismic
In Situ• Fluid sampling• Time-lapse logging• Distributed
Acoustic/Temperature
Sensors (DAS/DTS)• Heater cable• Gravity
30

PLUME MONITORING

Time-Lapse Imaging
T1

T2=

Seismic Time-Lapse Imaging
T1T2-CO2

T2-T1=

Time-Lapse Seismic Imaging:
Repeatability Factors• Seismic Methodology– Acquisition geometry (source and receiverlocations, numbers of sources and receivers,
recording patch)– Data processing• Subsurface conditions– Near-surface condition variations (dry or wet,frozen)– Variations in the overburden above the target zone

Permanent Seismic Array•
••
•
•
•
•

Active source and passive monitoring
630 geophones over 6.25 km2
20 m depth
Receiver lines 144m, in-line 72m
Baseline dynamite survey:
260 shots, 1 kg at 15 m depth
Source lines 288m, in-line 144m

35

Permanent Seismic Array

Permanent Array

3D Seismic

Time-Lapse 3D Seismic: Permanent Seismic Array

Time-Lapse 3D Seismic: Permanent Seismic ArrayProcessing Results

Reservoir
Raw StackMigrated

Time-Lapse Differences
Trace Edited

SC DeconMigratedReservoirnRMS: 0.80

nRMS: 0.44

nRMS: 0.19

Improved Data Repeatability
Weyburn NRMS during processing flow

Aquistore

Aquistore

DEFORMATION MONITORING

Microseismic Monitoring Array

Passive Monitoring ArrayFirst deployment of 2D
passive sites
26/7/2012

Start of seismic
acquisition - full 3D

Perforation shots

16/3/2012

2012

Mar

14/9/2012

JunSep

Dec

Permanent array 3Dsurvey (1)VSP & Permanent
array 3D (2)Start of injection?

3/5/2013

13/11/2013

30/4/2014

Mar2013

JunSep

Mar2014

Dec2014Today
2DPassive1
2DPassive2
2DPassive3
3D vsp survey
2DPassive4

26/7/2012 - 20/12/2012
4/5/2013 - 23/8/2013
24/8/2013 - 26/10/2013
30/10/2013 - 20/11/2013
30/11/2013 - 13/1/2014

Passive Monitoring: Local Event
S-N Stations

W-E Stations

Surface Monitoring Sites

GPS: Background Ground Deformation

Scale5 mm/y
Red: Uplift
Blue: SubsidencecgsbnCR4na05oc_VVc.ps

Surface Monitoring Site

Soil Gas
Monitoring

InSAR
Reflector/
GPS Antenna

Broadband
Seismometer

InSAR Vertical Motion (06/2012 to 11/2013)

S. Samsonov

GPS Vertical Motion (06/2012 to 11/2013)
SITE-3.8 ±0.8 mm/yNE01

-4.1 ±0.8 mm/ySW01

-3.2 ±0.8 mm/y

IN SITU MONITORING

Observation Well
Monitoring
Casing-conveyed instruments:• Fluid sampling ports• P/T gauges• Fibre optic Temp. Sensor/Acoustic Sensor• Heat trace cable

Observation Well SchematicGeology over
Instrumented Section

Wireline instruments:• Geophones• Electromagnetic sensors• Time-lapse logging (RST, sonic)• Gravity

Aquitard 1

Geophone Strings• (2 - 9 phone lines - 18phones in total)• phones spaced at
approximately 25 m with aminimum 5 phones below
injection horizon• Sensitivity of geophones
sufficient for VSP, passive
seismic and crosshole
tomography measurements

Aquifer 1

Fluid SamplingPort• allows downhole
fluids to becollected forcomparison towellhead fluidsamples

All instrumentation isrun casing conveyed
to allow time-lapse
logging to occur
unimpeded54

Caprock Aquitard

Pressure/Temp
GaugesData Acquisitionr

Source Interval: 1.5 m
Receiver Interval: 1.5 m
Sweep Length: 2.6 sec
Sweep: 100-800 Hz
Sample Rate: 0.25ms
Stack: 8
Record length: 3000 ms
Correlated record length: 400 ms
Source type: Piezoelectric
Receiver type: Hydrophone – 20 levels

Transmitter

Receiver55

Baseline Reflection Tomography Image
Depth(m) S
3100

150 m
N

W. Icebox Shale

W. Black Island

Deadwood

3200

3300

PrecambrianInjection Well

3400
Observation Well

56

Geophones vs Fibre Sensors

40 mm6 mm

Acoustic SM Fibre Recording(DAS Raw)

R=2700 geophone VSP!
DAquistore Team• Monitoring Activities: Lisa Roach (GSC), S. Samsonov (CCRS),
M. Craymer (CCRS), B. Roberts (GSC), J. Henton (CCRS), M.
Czarnogorska, J. Silliker (CCRS), Tom Daley (LBNL), Michelle
Robertson (LBNL)• Management: Petroleum Technology Research Centre (KyleWorth, Neil Wildgust, Aleana Young, Joseph Lazlo)• Operations: Sask Power, Schlumberger Carbon Services (Jared
Lee Walker, Marcia Couëslan, Bob Will, Wade Zaluski)• Science & Engineering Research Committee: Rick Chalaturnyk(U Alberta), Chris Hawkes (U Sask), Ben Rostron (U Alberta),
Jim Johnson (Schlumberger-Dole), Jim Sorensen (EERC), Don
White (GSC)• Contractors: Western-Geco, RPS Boyd-PetroSearch,Geospace, Silixa, Sercel

30/01/2014

Questions?