PTRC expands its expertise on CO2 storage to shallower reservoirs

ducers to get first-hand experience with the new technologies. These consortia aim to increase the investment in massive deployment of such technologies by producer, hence increasing market uptake.

These programs together have resulted in installing 101 pieces of equipment, including 10 site electrifications, 37 pump optimizations, 26 smart pumps, 14 STD Electrics, 12 Instrument air compressors, one facility of the future, and one new compressor engine design.

ALBERTA UPSTREAM PETROLEUM RESEARCH FUND (AUPRF)

Since inception, the AUPRF program (Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund) has invested $30 M to over 465 projects related to conventional oil & gas activities. The focus areas include the management of emissions, water, ecosystems, land reclamation and well abandonment. In a recent analysis of the program, there was an estimated cost savings of $93 million realized per year for producers with a projected future value of $204 million per year. The savings realized by industry through these studies is often the result of industry best practices and improved policies and regulations.

INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (IRAP)

PTAC also works with SMEs in collaboration with the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). This program provides oil & gas SMEs with innovation support, particularly for demonstrating and deploying near-commercial or deployment-ready technologies that improve environmental performance and reduce costs. Last year alone PTAC completed 55 assessments with the financial help from NRCan/ IRAP and launched 20 consortia to help SMEs achieve economic prosperity.

The Canadian oil & gas industry is an international leader in environmental protection while continuing to provide economic benefits to the country. The existence and demonstrated effectiveness of PTAC is a clear indication of how the industry takes its role in reducing environmental impacts seriously. Also clearly shown is the collaborative and cooperative approach the industry is taking with governments and regulators. Those organizations support the research through funding and volunteering in the various committees.

Canadian companies continue to develop technologies and process to reduce environmental impacts while also developing significant economic opportunity domestically and internationally. Canada will continue to be a leader in the sustainable development of oil & gas through these efforts. v

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PTRC expands its expertise on CO2 storage to shallower reservoirs

For the past 22 years, the Petroleum Technology Research Centre has had a growing reputation for expertise in monitoring and validating the deep subsurface storage of CO2 – both in depleted oil reservoirs and in deep saline formations.

The substantial body of research and data available from the PTRC stretches across its 15 years of research at the Weyburn CO2-EOR project, and most recently at the Aquistore CO2 storage project. This latter research and injection site, which is taking CO2 from SaskPower’s Boundary Dam CCS facility near Estevan and storing it 3.2 kilometres underground in a brine and sandstone formation, has so far permanently stored more than 400,000 tonnes of CO2 underground. That’s the same as taking 100,000 cars off the road for one year.

“What we’ve learned at Weyburn and Aquistore has allowed the companies involved to provide assurance to both the public and to provincial and federal regulators that the CO2 has been permanently and safely stored underground,” notes Ran Narayanasamy, the CEO of the PTRC. “From project conception, through geological characterization, risk assessment and measurement monitoring and verification (MMV), the PTRC has proven itself to be Canada’s expert organization on bringing CCUS projects to reality.”

With the recent announcements by the Government of Canada supporting tax credits for geological storage and CO2 emissions reductions from the oil and gas sectors, PTRC’s expertise is increasingly sought after.

Both of PTRC’s storage projects, situated in southeastern Saskatchewan, are about very deep geological storage of carbon dioxide (between 1.5 and 3.2 kilometres underground). Saskatchewan and Alberta are very fortunate to have several geo-

Well distribution in the heavy oil regions of SK and AB. Black dots are closed wells; red suspended. It is thought some of these suspended wells could be used for CO2 storage. Image composed using GeoScout.

The Aquistore research site is the largest field research lab in the world related to CO2 storage. Here, the CO2 pipeline from Boundary Dam feeds into the injection well, behind and to the left.

logical strata that are capable of storage – many of them with good porosity and permeability that makes storing of significant volumes of captured CO2 possible.

But injected CO2, in order to take up as little space in the reservoir as possible, usually needs to be compressed to a liquid-like status (called super-critical). This compressed CO2 acts like a liquid and becomes miscible with the water, brine, or oil in the formations.

“When injecting CO2 into shallower formations – let’s say around 1,000 metres or even shallower – the challenge is that pressures in the reservoir may not be high enough to keep the injected carbon dioxide in this supercritical state,” notes Erik Nickel, the Director of Operations at the PTRC. “This is a concern for those companies hoping to capture and dispose of their CO2 in areas where the geology only allows for shallower forms of storage. Our research is now addressing this challenge head on.”

Areas of Saskatchewan and Alberta − such as the heavy oil region around Lloydminster, which has significant emissions reduction challenges for both production and refining of oil and gas − could benefit from research into shallow storage in reservoirs above 1,000 metres. There are thousands of suspended oil wells in the region that could act as storage locations, using existing infrastructure that would otherwise go unused. Likewise, the storage and use of CO2 in some of the strata of the Bakken and Viking Formations in Southern Saskatchewan carry emissions mitigation potential.

“Aquistore remains one of the best field laboratories in the world for studying deep geological storage of CO2,” notes Nickel. “We are sharing our findings with industrial and research clients from around the world, but we recognize not all jurisdictions have the ability for deep geologic storage. We are now working in unison with groups like Carbon Management Canada and through our heavy oil research network (HORNET) to find a way to make shallower storage feasible and safe.”

PTRC has published a white paper on CO2 use and storage in the heavy oil regions of Canada. It can be viewed at our website: https://ptrc.ca/pub/docs/OfficialWhitePaper%20Final.pdf. v

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