Numerical investigation of CO₂ storage in hydrocarbon field using a geomechanical-fluid coupling model

Abstract

Increasing pore pressure due to CO₂ injection can lead to stress and strain changes of the reservoir. One of the safely standards for long term CO₂ storage is whether stress and strain changes caused by CO₂ injection will lead to irreversible mechanical damages of the reservoir and impact the integrity of caprock which could lead to CO₂ leakage through previously sealing structures. Leakage from storage will compromise both the storage capacity and the perceived security of the project, therefore, a successful CO₂ storage project requires large volumes of CO₂ to be injected into storage site in a reliable and secure manner. Yougou hydrocarbon field located in Orods basin was chosen as storage site based on it's stable geological structure and low leakage risks. In this paper, we present a fluid pressure and stress-strain variations analysis for CO₂ geological storage based on a geomechanical-fluid coupling model. Using nonlinear elasticity theory to describe the geomechanical part of the model, while using the Darcy's law to describe the fluid flow. Two parts are coupled together using the poroelasticity theory. The objectives of our work were: 1) evaluation of the geomechanical response of the reservoir to different CO₂ injection scenarios. 2) assessment of the potential leakage risk of the reservoir caused by CO₂ injection.

Keywords

CO₂ geological storage / Depleted oil field / Numerical modeling / Geomechanics / Geomechanical-fluid coupling model

Acknowledgments

The research is financially Supported by Natural Science foundation of China (Grant No. 51174170) and National Science and Technology support Program Project under Grant No. 2012BAC26B05.

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