Permanent disposal of CO_2 in geologic formations, especially in oil and gas reservoirs, is thought to be a safe and effective carbon sequestration strategy. Additional R&D efforts are needed to fully understand geologic sequestration of CO_2 because of the complex interactions between CO_2 and the geologic formations. The United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory is funding this project to better understand, predict and monitor the migration and fate of injected CO_2 in a depleted, sandstone oil reservoir. The project combines geologic, flow and reaction path modeling and simulations, injection of CO_2 into an oilproducing reservoir, geophysical monitoring of the advancing CO_2 plume and laboratory experiments to measure and predict reservoir changes with CO_2 flooding. Advanced modeling and flow simulation techniques were used to develop a geologic model of the site and to verify the feasibility of CO_2 injection into that reservoir. Compositional flow simulations were run using this data to simulate the thermodynamic interactions that occur during injection and migration of CO_2 in the depleted oil reservoir. The proposed experiment of soaking and venting was simulated. Effects of injection conditions and oil compositions on state of injected CO_2 were also studied. These simulations are being used to guide geophysical survey parameters and to bound test conditions for lab experiments.
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