The South West Hub In-Situ Laboratory – A Facility for CO2 Injection Testing and Monitoring in a Fault Zone

Abstract

The In-Situ Laboratory Project entails a configuration of wells at approximately 400 m depth for monitoring a small volume of CO2 for testing purposes in a fault zone at the South West Hub CCS Flagship project in Western Australia. This is one of four wells drilled to obtain data from a greenfield site for potential commercial scale geological storage of carbon dioxide. The Harvey-2 well intersects a major fault zone with a maximum throw up to 1,000 m. This provides an opportunity to establish a complementary monitoring well configuration around the original well to conduct a deeper, more complex shallow release test than others conducted in Australia to date. The purpose of the In-Situ Lab project is to evaluate the ability to monitor and detect unwanted leakage of carbon dioxide from a storage complex at the South West Hub CCS site, a site which will contribute to broadening the global portfolio of shallow CO2 release tests. The project will develop the first part of an enduring research facility at the South West Hub to enable further research of the characterisation of CO2 migration in fault zones and the shallow groundwater environment.