Evaluating CO2 Storage Potential of Offshore Reservoirs and Saline Formations in Central Gulf of Mexico by Employing Data-driven Models with SAS Viya

Abstract

The SECARB offshore partnership project seeks to screen deep saline aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs in the central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) for CO2 sequestration and CO2-driven enhanced oil and gas recovery and estimate the corresponding CO2 storage resources for select reservoirs. To this end, three major objectives have been completed: managing geological data from different sources, building a reservoir screening platform for CO2 storage, and ranking the reservoirs based on the estimated storage potential. First, the major geological characteristics of both shelf and deep-water areas of the central GOM were examined and compared to define the appropriate reservoir screening criteria. Consequently, the CO2 storage resources of the screened reservoirs were calculated and reported at the BOEM field level to identify fields with the highest storage potential. In the project's current phase, the assessment is being expanded to saline formations. Correlations are being identified, tested, and developed for a broad range of rock and fluid properties, including thickness, porosity, permeability, fluid saturation, and fluid chemistry. These correlations are developed for interfacial tension and CO2 saturated brine viscosity to improve the storage estimates and consider the capillary trapping and solubility of CO2 in reservoir fluids. SAS Viya software is used to make visualizations of these properties of the offshore reservoir and make comparisons and draw similarities between the experimental and estimated correlated measures. Using interactive plots, different conditions could be screened, making the analysis more attractive from a user's point of view.