A model for CO₂ storage and seismic monitoring combining multiphase fluid flow and wave propagation simulators : The Sleipner-field case

• Autores: Savioli, Gabriela B.; Santos, Juan Enrique; Carcione, José M.; Gei, Davide
• Año de publicación: 2017
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Astronomía; Geofísica; Multiphase fluid flow; CO₂ injection and storage; Wave propagation; Synthetic seismograms
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de La Plata

The main objective of this paper is to use a flow simulator to represent the CO₂ storage and combine it with a wave propagation simulator in order to obtain synthetic seismograms qualitatively matching time-lapse real field data. The procedure is applied to the Utsira formation at Sleipner field. The field data at the site available to us is a collection of seismic sections (time-lapse seismics) used to monitor the CO₂ storage. An estimate of the CO₂ injection rate and the location of the injection point are known. Using these data, we build a geological model, including intramudstone layers with openings, whose coordinates are defined by performing a qualitative match of the field seismic data. The flow simulator parameters and the petrophysical properties are updated to obtain CO₂ saturation maps, including CO₂ plumes, so that the synthetic seismic images resemble the real data. The geological model is based on a porous-media constitutive equation. It considers a poroelastic description of the Utsira formation (a shaly sandstone), based on porosity and clay content, and takes into account the variation of the properties with pore pressure and fluid saturation. Moreover, the model considers the geometrical features of the formations, including the presence of shale seals and fractures. We also assume fractal variations of the petrophysical properties. The numerical simulation of the CO₂-brine flow is based on the Black-Oil formulation, which uses the pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) behavior as a simplified thermodynamic model. The corresponding equations are solved using a finite difference IMPES formulation. Using the resulting saturation and pore-pressure maps, we determine an equivalent viscoelastic medium at the macroscale, formulated in the space-frequency domain. Wave attenuation and velocity dispersion, caused by heterogeneities formed of gas patches, are described with White’s mesoscopic model. The viscoelastic wave equation is solved in the space-frequency domain for a collection of frequencies of interest using a finite-element iterative domain decomposition algorithm. The space-time solution is recovered by a discrete inverse Fourier transform, allowing us to obtain our synthetic seismograms. In the numerical examples, we determine a set of flow and petrophysical parameters allowing us to obtain synthetic seismograms resembling actual field data. In particular, this approach yields CO₂ accumulations below the mudstone layers and synthetic seismograms which successfully reproduce the typical pushdown effect.
Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas