Initial 4D seismic results after CO2 injection start-up at the Aquistore storage site

Abstract

The first post-[Formula: see text]-injection 3D time-lapse seismic survey was conducted at the Aquistore [Formula: see text] storage site in February 2016 using the same permanent array of buried geophones used for acquisition of three previous pre-[Formula: see text]-injection surveys from March 2012 to November 2013. By February 2016, 36 kilotons of [Formula: see text] have been injected within the reservoir between 3170 and 3370 m depth. We have developed time-lapse results from analysis of the first post-[Formula: see text]-injection data and three pre-[Formula: see text]-injection data sets. The objective of our analysis was to evaluate the ability of the permanent array to detect the injected [Formula: see text]. A “4D-friendly simultaneous” processing flow was applied to the data in an effort to maximize the repeatability between the pre- and post-[Formula: see text]-injection volumes while optimizing the final subsurface image including the reservoir. Excellent repeatability was achieved among all surveys with global normalized root-mean-square (G nrms) values of 1.13–1.19 for the raw prestack data relative to the baseline data, which decreased during processing to G nrms values of approximately 0.10 for the final crossequalized migrated data volumes. A zone of high normalized root-mean-square ( nrms) values (0.11–0.25 as compared with background values of 0.05–0.10) is identified within the upper Deadwood unit of the storage reservoir, which likely corresponds to approximately 18 kilotons of [Formula: see text]. No significant nrms anomalies are observed within the other reservoir units due to a combination of reduced seismic sensitivity, higher background nrms values, and/or small quantities of [Formula: see text] residing within these zones.