Improving our knowledge of stored carbon dioxide behaviour
Statement from David Byers, Chief Executive Officer, CO2CRC
An important milestone was reached last Friday with the beginning of drilling, coring and wireline logging operations on a new carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at CO2CRC’s Otway Research Facility at Nirranda South in Victoria.
The new Prediction and Verification of Shallow CO2 Migration Project aims to better understand how CO2 behaves around a geological fault, when CO2 is injected and stored deep underground.
The project is being managed jointly between CO2CRC and Geoscience Australia. It involves five of Australia’s leading research institutions as well as several international researchers and industry partners.
In the project’s current phase, two shallow observation wells will be installed and evaluation logs analysed to appraise the site and design the CO2 monitoring program. The next phase will see the injection of between 10 and 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the deepest well (approximately 120m) and surrounding subsurface. From this test, one of the world’s first, scientists will observe how carbon dioxide migrates when it meets a fault. The resulting scientific knowledge will be applied in the development of more effective and accurate near surface monitoring techniques for CO2 storage sites worldwide.
CO2CRC Limited is one of the world’s leading CCS research organisations, having invested more than A$100 million in research to deliver better and more cost-effective technologies for CCS. As owner and operator of the Otway Research Facility (registered as an Asset of ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Significance by the Australian Government), CO2CRC commissions and undertakes research projects with partners worldwide.
– ends –
