Finite Element Simulations of Fluids Leakage through the Faulted Reservoir

Abstract

Carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and storage (CCS) in geological formation as a supercritical fluid is a viable option to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the density difference between CO2 and formation fluid, CO2 shows a buoyant tendency. Thereby, if CO2 migrates towards the fault in a compromised faulted reservoir, it may escape the storage reservoir. Therefore, it is essential to predict fluids leakage through the faulted reservoir into the aquifer, associated pressure development, and fluids properties over time to assess associated risk and quantification of leakage. We present finite element simulations of miscible fluids flow through the faulted reservoir to elucidate this behavior. There are very few attempts to model multicomponent fluids non-isothermal model during phase change including the Equation of State (EoS) which we addressed by coupling the mass balance equation of fluids, the fractional mass transport, and the energy balance equation. To obtain fluids mixture thermo-physical properties, we used the Peng-Robinson EoS. For validation of the coupled formulation, we compared the simulation results with Ketzin Pilot project field monitoring data, which shows good agreement. A faulted reservoir comprised of five layers is used to investigate fluids leakage through a compromised reservoir. These layers are a CO2 storage reservoir, overlain by alternating caprocks and aquifers. We also considered three different CO2 injection rates to study the injection rate effect to assess the pressure buildup during injection process. We present the thermal effect by comparing the isothermal and the non-isothermal conditions. For the latter case, we assumed three different thermal gradients. Additionally, to assess the fault aperture effect, we studied three different apertures. We observed that developed pressure and fluids properties have effects on injection rates, temperature gradient, and fault aperture. Additionally, such responses in the near-field and the far-field from the injection well are critical to assess the risk, which we discussed in this paper.