Initial evaluation of advantageous synergies associated with simultaneous brine production and CO2 geological sequestration

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Mitigation of global atmospheric carbon emissions requires a worldwide ramping up of CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) implementation in the next decades. While CCS could be deployed in isolation, there is also the possibility to consider CO2 injection within a much broader framework of reservoir and resource management including active water (brine) management. The goal of this study is to provide an initial analysis of three identified synergies related to active brine management in CCS operations. The potential advantages of coupling simultaneous brine production to a large-scale CO2 geological sequestration operation are explored through three separate modeling studies. Our results demonstrate that brine production can provide important pressure-control benefits, including increased injectivity potential through reduction of the injection well pressure, significant reduction of the extent of the Area of Review, within which operators must procure property rights and monitor and remediate potential leakage pathways, and reduction in the risk of CO2 and brine leakage. The latter is especially important in reservoirs, like many in North America, where a significant number of potential leakage pathways, particularly abandoned wells, may exist within the Area of Review. We also observe that brine production has minimal impact on the overall shape of the CO2 plume, with plume shape and extent strongly governed by formation parameters.