Life-of-Field monitoring for CO2 storage – an effective solution for validating containment and analysing storage performance
Max Watson A * and Hadi Nourollah AA
Max Watson is the Senior Manager for Technology Development at CO2CRC Ltd. He has over 24 years of experience in developing industry-relevant, low-emission technologies, including carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and, more recently, hydrogen storage. Max has worked in academia, industry, and research and development management sectors, gaining insights from a variety of countries and business types. He was Australia’s Delegate for the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, a ministerial-level international climate change initiative. Max completed his PhD at The University of Adelaide. |
Hadi Nourollah is CO2CRC’s Subsurface Lead, with 20 years of experience in petroleum and CCS industries. Hadi received his Master’s degree in Petroleum Geosciences at Imperial College London, and completed his PhD in Geophysics at Curtin University. He has worked for national oil companies in the Middle East, operators in Southeast Asia and directed an international consultancy in Australia prior to joining CO2CRC. |
Abstract
Geological carbon storage (GCS), though established now for decades, is sometimes viewed as unproven and complex, leading to heightened public and stakeholder inquiry. Monitoring systems that effectively demonstrate containment and regulatory compliance are therefore crucial for mitigating stakeholder concerns. Further, an effective monitoring system can enable the timely identification of a GCS operation’s performance, enabling commercially optimised use of the subsurface resource. ‘Life-of-Field’ (LoF) monitoring is a technically advanced surveillance approach that provides continuous or on-demand GCS data with high accuracy and resolution. This method rapidly delivers insights into carbon dioxide (CO2) subsurface behaviour, ensuring containment and regulatory compliance. Additionally, it achieves these benefits with lower operational costs and reduced site disruption, making it an ideal solution for GCS monitoring throughout the entire operational phase. LoF monitoring has recently been successfully demonstrated at CO2CRC’s Otway International Test Centre during the Otway Stage 3 Project, providing on-demand confirmation of containment and CO2 behaviour. Current Otway Stage 4 operations expand on this success, extending fibre-optic-based seismic data usage to quantitatively understand CO2 saturation distribution – performance data that can be used to inform decisions for improving operational efficiencies.
Keywords: assurance, compliance, effective, geological storage CO2, In Salah, Life-of-Field, monitoring, Otway, performance, risk, seismic, Sleipner, verification.
Max Watson is the Senior Manager for Technology Development at CO2CRC Ltd. He has over 24 years of experience in developing industry-relevant, low-emission technologies, including carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and, more recently, hydrogen storage. Max has worked in academia, industry, and research and development management sectors, gaining insights from a variety of countries and business types. He was Australia’s Delegate for the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, a ministerial-level international climate change initiative. Max completed his PhD at The University of Adelaide. |
Hadi Nourollah is CO2CRC’s Subsurface Lead, with 20 years of experience in petroleum and CCS industries. Hadi received his Master’s degree in Petroleum Geosciences at Imperial College London, and completed his PhD in Geophysics at Curtin University. He has worked for national oil companies in the Middle East, operators in Southeast Asia and directed an international consultancy in Australia prior to joining CO2CRC. |
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