Global-local graph neural operator for real-time analysis of large-scale CO2 storage
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The project Characterization of Pliocene and Miocene Formations in the Wilmington Graben, Offshore Los Angeles, for Large-Scale Geologic Storage of CO2 is one of 9 site characterization projects that were implemented as part of ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Data from this project was used to improve resolution of data in NATCARB in the area of study. Data related to this study has already been incorporated in NATCARB Atlas. The Los Angeles Basin presents an opportunity for large-scale geologic CO2 storage. Due to its large population and historical and geologic setting as one of the most prolific oil and gas producing basins in the United States, the region is home to more than 12 major power plants and oil refineries that produce more than 5 million metric tons of fossil fuel-related CO2 emissions each year. GeoMechanics Technologies worked to characterize the Pliocene and Miocene sediments in the Wilmington Graben, offshore of Los Angeles, California, for high-volume CO2 storage. The Graben is located offshore of the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor area, making it accessible yet geologically isolated from the nearby Wilmington oilfield and onshore areas. These sediments span more than 5,000 feet of vertical interval with an estimated storage resource of more than 100 million metric tons of CO2. The project team analyzed and interpreted existing geologic data within the region, including detailed exploration well log data and 2-D and 3-D seismic data. New seismic lines were acquired to fill in current data gap areas and two new characterization wells were drilled and logged. This information was integrated with existing geologic interpretations for adjacent onshore areas to help characterize optimal areas for CO2 storage and seals to safely store CO2. Integrated 3-D geologic and geomechanical models for the Wilmington Graben were developed to simulate the fate and transport of injected CO2 in the subsurface and to assess risks. This project contributed to the understanding of injectivity, containment mechanisms, rate of dissolution and mineralization, and storage capacity of the Wilmington Graben and associated analogous basins. This effort also provided greater insight into the potential for offshore geologic formations to safely and permanently store CO2.
The FECM/NETL Offshore CO2 Saline Storage Cost Model (CO2_S_COM_Offshore) estimates costs for a CO2 storage project in an offshore saline formation or reservoir. It is applicable for storage projects located on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of America. The purpose is to model the costs associated with a project, using simplified geo-engineering equations to calculate reservoir values needed to determine costs (such as CO2 plume area and number of injection wells). To use the model, change any of the inputs, which are always in orange cells, to the values you desire. Although there are numerous values that can be changed, the values expected to be of most interest have input cells on the 'Key_Inputs' sheet. Last update: 5/2/2025; Version 1.1 corrects bug in reservoir thickness calculations.
These are slides presented virtually to a class on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) at the University of Wyoming in Laramie WY. The talk was on the basics of carbon storage in saline formations and reviewed basic geology, important physical properties of CO2 and brine, how fluids flow in the subsurface, environmental risks associated with CO2 storage, the regulations governing CO2 saline storage, and high-level design considerations. The FECM/NETL CO2 Saline Storage Cost Model was used to illustrate how geologic properties vary in different regions of the US (PA, IL and WY) and how the performance of CO2 storage and the cost of CO2 CO2 saline storage depends on geology (October 23, 2024).
The Hermiston, Oregon Basalt CarbonSAFE Phase II project (HERO CarbonSAFE) seeks to accelerate the deployment of commercial carbon dioxide (CO2) storage projects in basaltic rocks. Basalt CO2 storage has several advantages to conventional saline storage reservoirs including 1. The potential for rapid mineralization of CO2, 2. Associated decreases in pressure and CO2 migration risks, 3. Reduced long-term monitoring requirements with respect to plume tracking, 4. Widespread geographic distribution and, 5. Large storage potential due to thickness, porosity, and CO2 interactions with basalt. And for locations such as the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, Iceland, India and Japan, basalts may offer the only economically feasible option for local CO2 storage. However, there are limited field-scale assessments of CO2 storage in basalt, and current carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) permitting and regulatory frameworks were developed for conventional saline reservoirs. HERO CarbonSAFE is designed to address research gaps and uncertainties associated with basalt storage. Specifically, the project will assess the feasibility of CO2 injection in the deep layered basalts, long-term storage (mineralization), practical approaches for large-scale implementation (50+ million metric tons of CO2 over 30 years), lithology-specific risks, and the technoeconomic potential for CO2 storage in basalts. The HERO CarbonSAFE project will assess feasibility of developing a commercial-scale (50+ million metric tons of CO2) geological storage complex within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), a layered continental flood basalt complex that underlies Calpine’s natural gas-fired Hermiston Power Project (HPP) in Hermiston, OR (Figure 1). Under this 2-year CarbonSAFE Phase II project, the HERO team will conduct a data acquisition campaign that includes drilling a stratigraphic well to a total depth of ~1,500 m into the thick layered basalts proximal to HPP. A comprehensive well logging and hydrologic testing program will be augmented with new core collected from flow zones and sealing units, and comprehensive laboratory testing to help refine the kinetic rates of mineralization. The newly acquired information will be integrated with existing data from regional wells to correlate basalt injection zone properties to develop storage hub/commercial-scale models. Using these models, the project team will evaluate injection scenarios to define the technical and economic potential for storing a minimum of 50 million metric tons of CO2 over a 30-year period, along with a robust sensitivity analysis on key parameters governing reservoir viability for sustainable injection over a commercial project lifetime. Specific technical objectives of HERO are: (1) assessing the reservoir response of a series of stacked layered reservoir flowtop sequences occurring in this area of the CRBG to commercial-scale injection volumes; (2) extending prior efforts by the project team to characterize the deep layered basalts encountered in regional studies, to leverage prior investments by U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Carbon Storage program; (3) leveraging DOE’s mineralization characterization efforts to advance model parametrization for commercial scale injection of CO2 in basalts; (4) conducting risk assessments associated with scaling up to commercial storage hub injection goals, while validating DOE’s National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP) tools, to identify potential constraints that would prevent the CRBG from serving as a commercial-scale storage complex; (5) developing mitigation plans to address identified risks; (6) developing a commercial-scale injection and monitoring, verification and accounting (MVA) strategy; (7) utilizing computational models to define and minimize, if possible, the Area of Review (AoR) under Class VI regulations; and (8) developing a robust CO2 management strategy for CRBG that also considers a regional source/sink approach that is responsive to stakeholder needs and industrial demand. Specific institutional objectives are: (1) identifying and developing plans to mitigate the nontechnical challenges associated with the build-out of a commercial-scale storage complex within the CRBG with integrated CO2 sources; (2) implementing the community outreach plan; (3) conducting regulatory research, including a survey of issues related to pore space ownership, MVA and long-term assurance of mineralization-based storage, to support an eventual application for a UIC Class VI permit; (4) advancing the project’s plan for CO2 liability management; and (5) continuing to refine and update the project’s economic model. The final objective is the preparation of a comprehensive Site Characterization Plan that draws upon the technical and institutional feasibility assessments to prepare the project for future commercialization efforts.
This poster presents the results of using the FECM/NETL CO2 Saline Storage Cost Model (CO2_S_COM) to evaluate the cost of saline storage in potential storage formations in the lower 48 U.S. states. Costs were calculated for 314 saline storage formations in the CO2_S_COM geologic property database. These results were used to generate national and regional cost-supply curves. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was performed that quantified how modifying several input variables in CO2_S_COM affected the costs. Poster presented (virtual) at the 2024 AGU Conference, December 9-13, 2024, Washington, D.C.
ABSTRACT: Effective management of induced seismicity is critical for safe and sustainable CO2 storage. This study evaluates fault slippage risks in the Delaware Basin (Texas) and Basin and Range Province (Utah), integrating geological, operational, and geomechanical parameters to assess fault stability and seismic hazard mitigation. In the Delaware Basin, two sites were analyzed under an injection rate of 20,000 bbl/day over 25 years. One site showed low fault slip risk, while the other exhibited higher reactivation potential due to proximity to critically stressed faults. Sensitivity analysis revealed that increased pore pressure significantly heightened slip potential, highlighting the necessity of precise pressure control and real-time monitoring. In the Basin and Range Province, fault stability was evaluated at Neck of the Desert, Escalante Desert, Parowan, and Beaver sites under injection rates of 8,750 bbl/day per site over 30 years. Minimal fault slip risk was observed at Neck of the Desert and Escalante Desert sites, whereas Parowan and Beaver sites exhibited elevated slip potential due to semi-critically stressed faults sensitive to modest pore pressure increases. The findings demonstrate that fault slippage analysis, combined with sensitivity analysis of pore pressure and friction coefficients, is essential for understanding seismic risks. Continuous monitoring, adaptive injection management, and rigorous geomechanical analysis are key strategies for minimizing induced seismicity in CO2 sequestration projects.
The project Characterization of the Triassic Newark Basin of New York and New Jersey for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide is one of 9 site characterization projects that were implemented as part of ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Data from this project was used to improve resolution of data in NATCARB in the area of study. Data related to this study has already been incorporated in NATCARB Atlas. Sandia Technologies, LLC, and co-investigator Conrad Geoscience Corporation, examined the potential for large-scale, permanent CO2 storage in sedimentary strata within the Newark Rift Basin. The Newark Rift Basin underlies an industrialized, developed region comprising parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The project characterized and investigated the suitability of Triassic age sedimentary formations for potential geologic CO2 storage. The project team drilled and cored two test wells to define the sedimentary geologic formations underlying the basin and to document or reach basement rock. With this geologic characterization phase, an integration of seismic, geologic, borehole, and formation core results provided a higher resolution assessment of CO2 storage potential. The Stockton Formation is known to be a potentially favorable geologic storage formation in the basin. In 2011, the 1-NYSTA Tandem Lot stratigraphic test well was drilled to a depth of 6,855 feet in the northern portion of the Newark Basin in southern New York State. Approximately 9 miles south-southeast on the Lamont Doherty Campus, TW-4 was drilled and cored in 2013 to a depth of 1,802 feet and contacted apparent igneous basement at a depth of 1,712 feet. Both wells penetrated the Palisades Sill ranging from 800 feet thick in the eastern well to approximately 1,800 feet in thickness at the 1-NYSTA Tandem Lot deep drill site. A diabase sill can provide an excellent seal and dense confining layer for potential CO2 storage reservoirs and flow layers that are situated beneath it within the Stockton Sandstone. The Stockton Sandstone was encountered beneath the sill in the TW-4 well on the Lamont campus, and data integration suggests that it was likely observed near total depth in the deep 1-NYSTA Tandem Lot well. The test wells confirm and define reservoirs are present beneath the sill and offer CO2 storage potential. The integration of geologic and reservoir characterization of well logs, formation cores, and formation fluids indicated Triassic age lacustrine playa lake and mudbank shales of the Upper Passaic Group can provide an effective seal for the porous and permeable underlying sandstone reservoir layers. This project acquired seismic data, drilled borehole well logs, acquired core samples, and integrated these findings to provide a better understanding of the subsurface geologic formations in the Newark Rift Basin. These findings have contributed to a higher degree of accuracy in predicting potential geologic storage opportunities, while refining geologic storage capacity estimates for the indicated reservoirs and flow units.
The project Characterization of Most Promising Sequestration Formations in the Rocky Mountain Region is one of 9 site characterization projects that were implemented as part of ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act). Data from this project was used to improve resolution of data in NATCARB in the area of study. Data related to this study has already been incorporated in NATCARB Atlas. The Rocky Mountain Carbon Capture and Storage (RMCCS) project investigated multiple geologic formations and characterized a local site on the Colorado Plateau for future CCS opportunities. The RMCCS project focused on the Cretaceous Dakota, Jurassic Entrada, and Pennsylvanian Weber Sandstones, the three largest regional formations. All formations in this project are potential CO2 storage resources for future power plants, natural gas processing plants, cement plants, and oil shale development projects. The area adjacent to Craig, Colorado, (Sand Wash Basin) was the area selected for detailed geologic characterization on the RMCCS project. The basin was selected in part because the geology can be extrapolated to other sites on the Colorado Plateau. Field mapping and seismic surveys were conducted to identify and evaluate the basin's structural configuration. A 9,745-foot deep characterization well was drilled to collect 131 feet of core and a suite of geophysical well log data. Petrophysical tests on samples of core were used to calibrate geophysical log data, which can be used to obtain storage resource estimates and evaluate associated uncertainty as well as simulate the hydrologic behavior of injected CO2. A detailed analysis of the primary formations (Dakota, Entrada and Weber sandstones) yielded a more accurate CO2 storage resource assessment for these formations within the Colorado Plateau; RMCCS estimates indicate a total CO2 storage resource of more than 38,000 million metric tons. The characterization of the Sand Wash Basin (2-D seismic surveys, multiple well logs and lithological, petrophysical and geochemical analyses) allowed for a detailed 3-D model to be constructed. The model served as the framework for analyses ranging from CO2 storage resource, injectivity, and subsurface flow to uncertainty estimates to evaluation of risk.
This paper presents three design case studies for implementing large-scale geologic carbon storage in the Appalachian Basin region of the midwestern United States. While the Appalachian Basin has a challenging setting for carbon storage, the three case studies detailed in this article demonstrate that there are realistic options for implementing carbon storage in the basin. Carbonate rock formations, depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, and moderate-porosity sandstones can be utilized as carbon-storage reservoirs in the Appalachian Basin. While these are not typical concepts for CO2 storage, the storage zones have advantages such as defined trapping mechanisms, multiple caprocks, and defined boundaries that are not always present in thick, permeable sandstones being targeted for many carbon-storage projects. The geologic setting, geotechnical parameters, and hydrologic setting for the three case studies are provided, along with the results of reservoir simulations of the CO2 injection-deployment strategies. The geological rock formations available for CO2 storage in the Appalachian Basin are more localized reservoirs with defined boundaries and finite storage capacities. Simulation results showed that accessing carbon-storage resources in these fields may require wellfields with 2–10 injection wells. However, these fields would have the capacity to inject 1–3 million metric tons of CO2 per year and up to 90 million metric tons of CO2 in total. The CO2 storage resources would fulfill decarbonization goals for many of the natural-gas power plants, cement plants, hydrogen plants, and refineries in the Appalachian Basin region.
Abstract. Safe and secure carbon dioxide (CO2) storage is likely to be critical for mitigating some of the most dangerous effects of climate change. In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in activity associated with reservoir characterization and site selection for large-scale CO2 storage projects across the globe. These prospective storage sites tend to be selected for their optimal structural, petrophysical, and geochemical trapping potential. However, it has also been suggested that storing CO2 in reservoirs within the CO2 hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), characterized by high pressures and low temperatures (e.g., Arctic or marine environments), could provide a natural thermodynamic barrier to gas leakage. Evaluating the prospect of commercial-scale, long-term storage of CO2 in the GHSZ requires reservoir-scale modeling capabilities designed to account for the unique physics and thermodynamics associated with these systems. We have developed the HYDRATE flow mode and the accompanying fully implicit parallel well model in the massively parallel subsurface flow and reactive transport simulator PFLOTRAN to model CO2 injection into the marine GHSZ. We have applied these capabilities to a set of CO2 injection scenarios designed to reveal the challenges and opportunities for commercial-scale CO2 storage in the GHSZ.
The Hermiston, Oregon Basalt CarbonSAFE Phase II project (HERO CarbonSAFE) seeks to accelerate the deployment of commercial carbon dioxide (CO2) storage projects in basaltic rocks. Hermiston is located near the center of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), which is one of the largest basalt flows in the US. Basalt CO2 storage has potential advantages to conventional saline storage reservoirs including 1. The potential for rapid mineralization of CO2, 2. associated decreases in pressure and CO2 migration risks, 3. reduced long-term monitoring requirements with respect to plume tracking, 4. widespread geographic distribution and, 5. large storage potential due to thickness, porosity, and CO2 interactions with basalt. For locations such as the Pacific Northwest (PNW), Hawaii, Iceland, India and Japan, whose localities are isolated from large sedimentary basins offering conventional saline storage options, basalt may offer the only feasible option for local CO2 storage. However, mineralization/basalt storage still has many uncertainties, as there are limited field-scale assessments of CO2 storage in basalt. There are significant uncertainties hindering the effective implementation of carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) in basalt. These include the lack of proven storage capacities, challenges in methodologies for modeling the area of review in igneous formations, limited understanding of mineralization kinetics and timing, and uncertainties in injectivity. Additionally, the domestic availability of specialized services and drilling expertise is constrained, and existing CCUS permitting and regulatory frameworks, originally developed for conventional saline reservoirs, may not adequately address the unique requirements of basalt systems. HERO CarbonSAFE is designed to address major research gaps and uncertainties associated with basalt storage. Specifically, the project will assess the feasibility of CO2 injection in the deep layered basalts of the CRBG, long-term storage (mineralization), practical approaches for large-scale implementation (50+ million metric tons of CO2 over 30 years), lithology-specific risks, and the technoeconomic potential for CO2 storage in basalts.
To assist building heating electrification, this paper numerically investigates a load flexible heat pump system for commercial buildings. The system consists of a CO2 vapor compression cycle, a sensible thermal storage tank, and an air handling unit. The thermal storage medium is inexpensive, non-toxic and stable anti-freeze solution (30% potassium acetate). The air handing unit has an indoor coil and a ventilation coil. The system can be used to manage building electric load. During peak hours, the heat pump is off and the hot solution water is discharged from the tank to heat up the indoor air and ventilation air. During the hour of charge, the heat pump delivers hot solution water to the tank and to the air. The tank can also stand by while the heat pump provides space heating directly. We selected a medium sized office building located in Minnesota as the representative building and used EnergyPlus to obtain its 24 hour load data. We designed three storage tank volumes assuming 50 degrees C, 65 degrees C and 80 degrees C tank temperatures to independently provide the building load for 4 hours in the morning. The higher the tank temperature, the smaller the required volume, and thus higher energy density. The effective energy density is 78 with an 80 degrees C tank, and 40 kWhth/m3 with 50 degrees C. We simulated the tank integrated heat pump performance subjected to the 24-hour building load profile and ambient data. The baseline is the same system without storage tank. There was a trade-off between the storage energy density and the charging COP. The charge hour COP was 2.77 to charge the tank to 80 degrees C, and 3.01 to 50 degrees C. The proposed system could shift building load from the peak hours (8:00 - 12:00) to off-business hour (23:00 - 7:00+1). It eliminated 100% compressor electricity use during the peak hours, and avoided a peak electric power of 34 kW. The 65 degrees C tank saved 9.5 kWhe (4%) considering all day operation, which was the best balance between energy density and the system operation efficiency among the three options.
An NRAP funded code development for CO2 storage. This code converts reservoir simulations to seismic properties for underground CO2 storage.
Interest in underground CO2 storage has increased significantly over the last decade, driven by growing concern about global warming and rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Given that CO2 accounts for 80% of these greenhouse gases, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is considered one of the most direct approaches to achieving the net-zero carbon target. Although CO2 storage in deep saline aquifers and depleted gas reservoirs has been studied extensively, most studies use commercial simulators that model faults/fractures by simply modifying the transmissibility in the direction perpendicular to the fault surfaces. This work shows that this simplistic approach ignores the accelerated flow in the directions parallel to the fault plane, leading to significantly higher leakage along the fault surface. To accurately model CO2 flow in faulted reservoirs, we present the first transient embedded discrete-fracture model for corner-point grids (tEDFM-CPG). By comparing the tEDFM-CPG results with high-resolution reference solutions, we show that this approach is accurate and efficient at predicting CO2 flow in faulted/fractured reservoirs. In conclusion, this work presents the use of mixed reality (MR) to efficiently observe CO2 gas migration in the interior of these corner-point grid systems.
The objective of the Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative (MRCI) project is to implement a collaborative Regional Initiative (RI) to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture, and storage (CCS) in the Midwest-Northeastern quadrant of the United States. This report is a Technical Summary report describing work performed on Tasks 2.4 (Conducting Regional/Subregional Analysis) and 2.5 (Assessing and Managing Risk) during the MRCI project. In Task 2.4, detailed numerical reservoir simulation models were developed for selected carbon storage (CS) systems identified under Task 2.1 (Battelle, 2021a) in the MRCI study area. The objective of Task 2.4 is to demonstrate a dynamic modeling methodology for evaluating the suitability of the (selected) CS systems in the MRCI region for hosting a commercial-scale storage project. In this study, CO2 injectivity was evaluated for different CS systems with an annual injection rate of 1 million metric tonnes (MMT) of CO2 considered as the minimum requirement for a commercial scale project. The objective of Task 2.5 is to assess key risks associated with storing CO2 in the different CS systems across the MRCI region and to demonstrate a method(s) for assessing these risks that may be used by developers of future CO2 storage projects in the region. The risk analysis was limited to evaluating two types of leakage risks (i.e., wellbore leakage, flow across unfractured caprock) at three modeled sites considered in Task 2.4.