Albany, OR • Anchorage, AK • Morgantown, WV • Pittsburgh, PA • Sugar Land, TX

Website: www.netl.doe.gov

Customer Service: 1-800-553-7681

PROJECT FACTS

Carbon Storage - RCSP

CONTACTS

Traci Rodosta

Carbon Storage Technology Manager

National Energy Technology Laboratory

3610 Collins Ferry Road

P.O. Box 880 

Morgantown, WV 26507

304-285-1345

traci.rodosta@netl.doe.gov 

Bruce Brown

Project Manager

National EnergyTechnology Laboratory

626 Cochrans Mill Road

P.O. Box 10940

Pittsburgh, PA 15236-0940

412-386-5534

bruce.brown@netl.doe.gov

Kenneth Nemeth

Executive Director

Southern States Energy Board

6325 Amherst Court

Norcross, GA 30092

770-242-7712

nemeth@sseb.org 

PARTNERS 

Advanced Resources International

AGL Resources

Alabama Oil & Gas Board

Alawest

Alpha Natural Resources

American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy

American Electric Power

Amvest Gas Resources

Applied Geo Technologies

ARCADIS

Arch Coal

Arkansas Oil & Gas Commission

Association of American Railroads

Augusta Systems, Incorporated

Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration 

Partnership—Development Phase 

Cranfield Site and Citronelle Site Projects

Background 

The U.S. Department of Energy Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) 

Initiative consists of seven partnerships. The purpose of these partnerships is to 

determine the best regional approaches for permanently storing carbon dioxide (CO2) 

in geologic formations. Each RCSP includes stakeholders comprised of state and local 

agencies, private companies, electric utilities, universities, and nonprofit organizations. 

These partnerships are the core of a nationwide network helping to establish the 

most suitable technologies, regulations, and infrastructure needs for carbon storage. 

The partnerships include more than 400 distinct organizations, spanning 43 states 

and four Canadian provinces, and are developing the framework needed to validate 

geologic carbon storage technologies. The RCSPs are unique in that each one is 

determining which of the numerous geologic carbon storage approaches are best 

suited for their specific regions of the country and are also identifying regulatory 

and infrastructure requirements needed for future commercial deployment. The 

RCSP Initiative is being implemented in three phases, the Characterization Phase, 

Validation Phase, and Development Phase. In September 2003, the Characterization 

Phase began with the seven partnerships working to determine the locations of CO2

sources and to assess suitable locations for CO2 storage. The Validation Phase (2005–

2012) focused on evaluating promising CO2 storage opportunities through a series of 

small scale field projects in the seven partnership regions. Finally, the Development 

Phase (2008-2020+) activities are proceeding and will continue evaluating how CO2

capture, transportation, injection, and storage can be achieved safely, permanently, 

and economically at large scales. These field projects are providing tremendous 

insight regarding injectivity, capacity, and containment of CO2 in the various geologic 

formations identified by the partnerships. Results and assessments from these efforts 

will assist commercialization efforts for future carbon storage projects in North 

America.

The Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB), led by the 

Southern States Energy Board (SSEB), represents the 11 southeastern states of 

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South 

Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, and counties in Kentucky and West Virginia. 

SECARB is comprised of more than 100 partners and stakeholders. In the SECARB region, 

there are more than 900 large, stationary CO2 sources with annual CO2 emissions in 

excess of 1 billion metric tons. SECARB’s deep saline formations offer significant safe 
and permanent storage capacity for these emissions. Moreover, SECARB, along 

with the other RCSPs, continues to develop best practices to support the widescale transfer and advancement of information and technology derived from 

its projects.

Project Description 

Project Summary 

SECARB is conducting two large-volume injection field projects; one in the 

lower Tuscaloosa Formation (Cranfield Site) and one in the Paluxy Formation 

(Citronelle Site). These formations are key components of a larger, regional group 

of similar formations, called the Gulf Coast Wedge. 

Cranfield Site

The “Early Test,” which was the first Development Phase field test to begin CO2

injection operations, injects CO2 into the lower Tuscaloosa Formation. The Early Test 

began injection in April 2009 after a successful Validation Phase field project that 

injected 627,744 metric tons of CO2 into the Tuscaloosa and the same site. The 

Cranfield Site has injected a cumulative 8,461,864 metric tons through September 

30, 2013. Denbury Resources, Inc. is scheduled to continue CO2 injection while 

SECARB monitors the additional injection operations until September 2014. 

Citronelle Site

The second SECARB project, the “Anthropogenic Test,” is the world’s largest fully 

integrated carbon capture and storage project utilizing anthropogenic CO2 from 

a coal-fired power plant. The project became fully operational on August 20, 2012. 

Over the life of the project, 100,000 to 200,000 metric tons of CO2 will be injected 

into the Paluxy Formation. The CO2 is supplied by a pilot unit capturing CO2 from flue 

gas produced from Alabama Power Company’s (a Southern Company subsidiary)

Plant James M. Berry Electric Generating Facility located in Bucks, Alabama (Figure 1). 

The CO2 is transported 12 miles by a dedicated CO2 pipeline to the Citronelle Field 

injection site (Figure 2). As of October 29, 2013, more than 100,000 metric tons of 

CO2 have been injected and stored at the site (Figure 3).

PARTNERS (CONT.)

Baker Hughes Incoporated

Big Rivers Electric Corporation

Blue Source

BP America

Buchanan Energy Company of Virginia, LLC

Buckhorn Coal Company

CDX Gas, Llc

Cemex

Chevrontexaco Corporation

Clean Coal Technology Foundation of Texas

Clean Energy Systems, Inc.

Clemson University

CO2 Capture Project

Composite Technology Corporation

CONSOL Energy, Inc.

Core Laboratories 

CSX Gas

Dart Oil & Gas Corporation

Denbury Resources, Inc.

Dominion 

Duke Energy

Eastern Coal Council

Edison Electric Institute

Electric Power Research Institute (Epri)

Entergy Services, Inc.

Equitable Resources

Exxon Mobile

Florida Municipal Electric Association

Florida Power & Light Company

Geological Survey Of Alabama 

Geomet, Inc.

Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority

Georgia Forestry Commission

Georgia Power Company

Halliburton

Integrated Utility Services, Inc. 

International Coal Group

Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission

Kentucky Geological Survey

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Louisiana Department of Environmental 

Quality

Louisiana Geological Survey

Marshall Miller & Associates

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

McJunkin Appalachian Oil Field Supply 

Company 

Mississippi Power Company 

Mississippi State University 

National Coal Council

National Mining Association

Natural Resource Partners

Figure 1 - Location of Early Test and Anthropogenic Test
Injection Site Description

Cranfield Site

This project is focused on the down dip “water leg” of the Cranfield Unit, operated 

by Denbury Resources, Inc. in Adams and Franklin Counties, Mississippi, about 15 

miles east of Natchez, Mississippi, and one and one-half miles north of Cranfield, 

Mississippi. The area selected for the Early Test is immediately north of SECARB’s 

Validation Phase “Stacked Storage” study in the Cranfield oil field near 

Natchez. 

Citronelle Site

This project will be conducted approximately 12 miles northwest of Southern 

Company’s Plant Barry in a saline formation within the Citronelle Oil Field in 

Mobile County, Alabama. CO2 would be transported to the Citronelle Field from 

a capture unit located at Plant Barry via a 4-inch pipeline that Denbury Resources 

has proposed for construction. 

PARTNERS (CONT.)

Norfolk Southern

North American Coal Corporation

North Carolina State Energy Office 

Nuclear Energy Institute

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative

Peabody Energy

Penn Virginia Corporation

Phillips Group, The

Pine Mountain Oil & Gas, Inc. 

Pocahontas Land Corporation

Powell River Project

Praxair 

Progress Energy

QEA, LLC

Rentech, Inc. 

RMB Earth Science Consultants

RMS Strategies 

SCANA Energy

Schlumberger

Shell Oil Company

Smith Energy

South Carolina Department of Agriculture

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company 

South Carolina Public Service

Authority/Santee Cooper

Southern Company

Southern Natural Gas/El Paso

Southern States Energy Board 

Susan Rice and Associates, Inc.

Tampa Electric Company 

Tennessee Valley Authority

Texas Bureau of Economic Geology

TXU Corporation (Luminant Energy)

United Company, The 

University of Alabama

University of British Columbia

Virginia Center for Coal and Energy 

Research 

Virginia Department of Mines, 

Minerals & Enegy

Walden Consulting

Winrock International

PROJECT DURATION

Start Date End Date

09/22/2007 09/30/2017

COST

Total Project Value

$93,689,241

DOE/Non-DOE Share

$64,949,078 / $28,740,163

AWARD NUMBER

FC26-05NT-42590

Figure 2 - Construction of the CO2 pipeline for the Plant Barry Site.

Figure 3 - CO2 Capture Unit at Plant Barry.
Description of Geology 

Cranfield Site

The lower Tuscaloosa Formation is one of the named 

stacked sandstone formations of the Gulf Coast Wedge. It 

is a Cretaceous-age, sandstone saline formation that occurs 

in the subsurface along the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain from 

western Florida to Texas (where it is defined as the Woodbine 

Formation). The Tuscaloosa Formation contains an upper 

section of alternating shales and sands and a basal section, 

the Massive Sand Unit, which contains a thick layer of clean, 

coarse-grained sand. The formation was deposited during 

a major period of global sea level rise, and its deposition 

has been interpreted as an upward gradation from fluvial 

and deltaic sedimentation (the Massive Sand) to shelf 

deposition (alternating sands and shales). The reservoir is in the 

lower Tuscaloosa, above a regional unconformity, in valley-fillfluvial conglomerates and sandstones separated by alluvial 

and overbank within-unit seals. The reservoir is composed of 

stacked and incised channel fills and is highly heterogeneous, 

with flow unit average porosities of 25 percent and permeability 

averaging 50 millidarcy (mD), ranging to a Darcy (D). Chlorite is 

the major cement in these relatively immature sediments. The 

well-sorted, clean, coarse-grained nature of the Massive Sand, 

a result of this environment, makes it an ideal candidate for CO2

injection due to its high permeability and porosity. As the sea 

level continued to rise, the valley-fill depositional environment 

gave way to a deep marine environment, during which the 

overlying middle (Marine) Tuscaloosa Formation was deposited. 

This formation consists of about 500 feet of low-permeability 

shale, providing an excellent confining zone for CO2 injection 

into the lower Tuscaloosa Formation (Figure 4).

Shale is also found in the lower portion of the Tuscaloosa 

Formation acting as a barrier to the vertical migration of 

sandy substrates. Deposition that occurred during the early 

Cretaceous Period was based on a cycle of marine and delta 

sedimentation and deposition. The high porosity and 

permeability of the sandstones in the region are due to the 

cycles of deposition throughout time. 

Citronelle Site

The injection horizon is the Lower Cretaceous-age Paluxy 

Formation. The Paluxy is a 1,150 feet thick package of sand, silt 

and shale strata, which occurs at a depth of about 9,800 feet 

at the project site. The porous and permeable sands of the 

Paluxy Formation represent a typical fluvial deposition reservoir 

in terms of their areal extent and petrophysical characteristics. 

There are approximately 475 feet of net sand in the Paluxy 

Formation, which occurs in over 20 sand units that range 

in thickness from 9 – 80 feet. The Paluxy appears to contain 

a mix of continental, fluvial and marginal marine deposits. 

Relationships between sand units within the formation 

are complex. The average core porosity of the lower Paluxy 

sandstones is 18%. Sandstone permeability ranges from 0.6 

to 167.5 millidarcies and averages 17.4 millidarcies. Several of 

the Paluxy sand units appear to be laterally extensive, and are 

targeted as the injection zones for the Anthropogenic Test. 

Following this deposition was another marine transgression, 

which deposited the shales, limestones, and sandstones that 

are known as the Washita-Fredericksburg Shale. This shale 

would be the primary confining zone for carbon dioxide stored 

in the Paluxy Formation. The shale appears to possess the 

appropriate criteria (lateral continuity, low permeability) to 

act as an effective CO2 seal. In addition to the basal WashitaFredericksburg shale, there are secondary overlying confining 

units including the Middle (Marine) Tuscaloosa Formation, the 

Selma Group, and the Midway Shale, which occur stratigraphically between the injection zone and the base of the lowermost underground source of drinking water (USDW). As 

such, a vertical interval of over 8,000 feet with numerous low 

permeability barriers occurs between the proposed CO2

injection zone and the base of the lowermost USDW.

Source of CO2

Cranfield Site

The naturally occurring CO2 for the Early Test will be provided 

by Denbury Resources’ CO2 pipeline from the Jackson Dome 

near Jackson, Mississippi. The source is commercially available, 

high purity, highly reliable, and low cost. 

Citronelle Site

The CO2 for the Anthropogenic Test will be supplied from a 

pilot unit capturing CO2 from flue gas using amine capture 

technology from a 25 megawatt (MW) slipstream from Unit #5 

of Southern Company’s Plant Barry power plant. 

Figure 4- Stratigraphy present at the Cranfield (Early Test) site.
Injection Operations 

Injections will occur at a scale sufficient to successfully 

address issues of injection rate and cumulative injection 

impacts that may be factors in the design of future largescale, commercial carbon storage deployments. 

Cranfield Site

CO2 from Jackson Dome is supplied to the Cranfield Site via 

pipeline and delivered to the center of Cranfield where the 

CO2 is accurately measured at the purchase pump. Injection 

pressure is boosted to a constant 2,900 psi and the CO2

distributed across the field via a buried pipeline system. 

Injection volumes and pressure is measured several times daily 

at each wellhead. Injection initiation was phased across the field. 

Injection began in the “High Volume Injection Test” (HiVIT) in a 

few wells in 2008 as part of the Validation Phase field project, 

and the 1 million metric tons per year rate for the HiVIT was 

obtained in December 2009 when the Detailed Area of Study 

(DAS) well injection rate was stepped up. The 1.5 million 

metric tons stored goal was reached in early 2011 (Figure 5). 

CO2 injection for the Cranfield Site commenced in April 2009. 

Citronelle Site

The CO2, once captured, will be dehydrated and compressed 

to approximately 2,000 pounds per square inch gauge (psig). 

It will be transported over a short distance (~12 miles) via 

4-inch carbon steel pipe to the injection site at Citronelle, 

Alabama. Three new wells have been drilled for the project—a 

reservoir characterization well, a characterization/observation/

backup injection well, and a dedicated CO2 injection well. 

The fully integrated project began operations on August 20, 

2012. As of October 29, 2013, more than 100,000 metric tons 

of CO2 have been injected and stored at the site. In addition 

to the new wells, the project utilizes several existing oilfield 

wells surrounding the CO2 injection site to monitor injection 

operations and to ensure public safety.

Simulation and Monitoring of CO2

SECARB will adhere to a vigorous monitoring, verification, 

accounting (MVA) and assessment program during the 10-year 

Development Phase project. Each site will be well instrumented 

with multiple sensor arrays. For the Cranfield Site, sweep 

efficiency is monitored by saturation measurements along 

well bores, crosswell measurements, and vertical seismic 

profiling (VSP) and/or surface seismic methods. Proposed 

monitoring activities for the Citronelle Site includes: well bore 

integrity assessed through Ultrasonic Imaging Tool (USIT) 

logging, annular pressure monitoring, and tracer injection; 

assessment of areal extent of the plume through drilling 

and monitoring up-gradient wells, seismic surveys (3-D and 

VSP), and Reservoir Saturation Tool (RST) logs in observation 

wells; monitoring for formation leakage through RST logging 

and using the VSP geophones to map and trace potential 

CO2 leakage; and potential CO2 seepage through shallow 

subsurface monitoring for CO2, carbon isotopes, and tracers. 

To help predict plume movement and assess the ultimate 

fate of the injected CO2, the project team utilized Computer 

Modeling Group’s GEM-GHG reservoir flow simulator.

Goals and Objectives 

The primary objective of the DOE’s Carbon Storage Program 

is to develop technologies to safely and permanently store 

CO2 and reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions without 

adversely affecting energy use or hindering economic 

growth. The Programmatic goals of Carbon Storage research 

are: (1) develop and validate technologies to ensure for 99 

percent storage permanence; (2) develop technologies 

to improve reservoir storage efficiency while ensuring 

containment effectiveness; (3) support industry’s ability 

to predict CO2 storage capacity in geologic formations 

to within 30 percent; and (4) developing Best Practices 

Manuals (BPMs) for monitoring, verification, accounting 

(MVA), and assessment; site screening, selection, and 

initial characterization; public outreach; well management 

activities; and risk analysis and simulation. SECARB’s overall 

goal is to validate the efforts of the public outreach, research, 

and field activities implemented under the Characterization 

and Validation Phases. Specific objectives include: 

• Conducting a large-volume, high-pressure injection field 

project that benefits from existing CO2 infrastructure and 

reasonable CO2 costs. 

• Assessing the viability and logistics of injecting over 1 

million metric tons (1.1 million tons) of CO2 per year into a 

regionally significant saline formation in the Gulf Coast.

• Achieving a more thorough understanding of the science, 

technology, regulatory framework, risk factors, and public 

opinion issues associated with large-scale injection 

operations. 

Figure 5– The Early Test’s Detailed Area of Study.
• Executing a geologic storage field project that covers all 

aspects of capture, separation, and storage, while fulfilling 

technical, regulatory, social, and economic considerations. 

• Refining capacity estimates of the formation using results 

of the field project. 

Accomplishments

Cranfield Site

Major field tests in Cranfield were completed by the end of 

January 2011, though monitoring operations are on-going.

The remaining 2012 technical activities include data compilation, 

interpretation, intensive modeling, compilation of lessons 

learned, and application to next projects as well as long term 

pressure and soil gas, groundwater, and reservoir geochemistry.

Public outreach and technical knowledge sharing remain focus 

areas also.

HiVIT (High Volume Injection Test): 

• RITE installed six seismometers (Tokyo Sokushin threecomponent broadband geophone) 288 feet deep in an 

array of active, idle, and in-development parts of the field 

to collect continuous seismic data over the duration of the 

project. No local events have been detected

• A milestone of storing 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 in the 

HiVIT was met early in 2011. As production increases in 

updip parts of the HiVIT, the volume stored will increase 

more slowly with time because of gas production and 

recycling. Current team efforts are focused on obtaining 

good quantification of recycle gas which is complicated by 

variable density because of entrained methane. 

• Repeat 3-D seismic survey of HiVIT occurred in October 

2012, including the DAS and adjacent areas including part 

of depleted gas cap. Image especially distribution of downdip extent of CO2. 

DAS (Detailed Area Study)

• SECARB injection into brine leg below and east of oil-water 

contact started in November 2009 and is on-going. High 

frequency real-time CO2 mass, bottom-hole injection 

well pressure, and temperature are being continuously 

monitored.

• High frequency real-time observation well parameters have 

been on-going since the start of the project, including 

bottom-hole pressure and temperature at the injection 

zone (before instrument failure), tubing pressure, and 

temperature at surface, casing pressure and temperatures, 

casing deployed bottom-hole pressure and temperature 

at the above-zone monitoring interval (AZMI).

• On-going casing-deployed cross-well Electrical Resistance 

Tomography detects strong changes in conductivity believed 

to be attributed to replacement of brine by CO2. 

• Natural and introduced geochemical program with U-tube 

sampler was implemented between November 2009 - May 

2010 to observe evolving flow field as plume matured 

and injection rate increased. Methane exsolved as CO2

dissolved, which is an important indicator of CO2-brine 

contact and dissolution. CO2 developed preferred nonradial flow paths following sinuous channels.

• Maximum injection rates at field pressure (3,000 psi) were 

achieved between March and May 2011. Rates were limited 

by tubing diameter. Bottom-hole pressure remained stable 

and was not limiting injection rate.

• A repeat cross-well seismic tomography occurred in 

October 2010 in a three-well array, resulting in an imaged 

lateral variability in the plume. 

• A repeat offset and walk-away VSP survey, as well as a 3D 

VSP survey was conducted in November 2010. 

• Recovery of semi-permanent downhole instrumentations 

in December 2010 allowed the project team to troubleshoot 

several instrument failures in receiver strings for abovezone acoustic monitoring CASSM and bottom-hole pressure 

gauges and reinstall bottom-hole gauges and to assess 

U-tube component survivability.

• In 2012, 4D seismic analysis images CO2. Signal is small 

compared to noise.

• In 2012, successful inversions of ERT data produce “movies” 

of daily changes in CO2 saturation.

• Repeat reservoir fluid sampling in July 2013 showed subtle 

increase in reactivity and still small perturbation.

Figure 6 - CO2 injection well at Citronelle Site.
• Since 2011, microseismic data collection was performed by 

RITE with no local events detected.

• In 2013, geomechanical analysis extracts deformation 

signal from pressure response in above the AZMI.

Citronelle Site

• A major geologic characterization effort was conducted on 

the injection reservoir and confining units using existing 

well data. Detailed maps of the Paluxy Reservoir sand units 

and multiple overlying confining units were created.” 

• Drilling of the project’s first characterization/observation 

well began in December 2010 and was completed in 

January, 2011. Reservoir data gathered from this well 

are being used to refine the geologic model, reservoir 

and simulation and injection operations. All observation 

and injection well drilling activities were completed by 

February 28, 2012.

• The Environmental Assessment prepared for the project 

to fulfill the requirements of the National Environmental 

Protection Act resulted in a Finding of No Significant 

Impact.

• The Underground Injection Control permit application was 

submitted to the Alabama Department of Environmental 

Management in December 2010. The ADEM UIC Class V 

Permit was issued on November 22, 2011. Permission to 

operate the injection pilot was requested from ADEM on 

April 2, 2012, and granted on August 8, 2012.

• A meeting was held in January 2011 with Det Norske Veritas 

(DNV) to begin assembly of the project’s Risk Registry, 

documenting the risk assessment and risk mitigation 

strategies employed at the project site. The Risk Registry 

was reevaluated in June 2012 prior to injection and again 

in May 2013 after nine months of injection.

• The CO2 stream from Plant Barry was sampled as baseline 

for injection on March 13, 2012.

• Completed all baseline MVA efforts by August 20, 2012.

• Began injection of CO2 on August 20, 2012.

• Completed one year of CO2 injection on August 20, 2013. 

The annual CO2 injection totaled 75,133 metric tons. 

Benefits

The lower Tuscaloosa Formation, which is representative of 

the Gulf Coast geology, could be used to store 50 percent of 

the CO2 produced in the SECARB region during the next 100 

years—an estimated 50 billion metric tons. The Gulf Coast 

Wedge includes the largest saline storage reservoir (in terms 

of areal extent and capacity) for the SECARB region, as well 

as the United States. Annual stationary point source emissions 

of CO2 have been estimated to be 1 billion metric tons. Using 

the range of reported capacity, the Gulf Coast Wedge can 

accommodate these emissions for approximately 300 to 

nearly 1,200 years, using capture and storage technologies. 

These volumes are sufficient to support commercialization of 

this CO2 storage reservoir and demonstrate that CO2 capture and 

sequestration can be a viable option for mitigating the region’s 

GHG emissions.
NT42590, October 2013