An Overview of Advanced Subsurface and Surface Measurements for CCUS Project

Monitoring and surveillance (M&S) is one of the key requisites for assessing the effectiveness and success of any CCS/CCUS projects. It will help understand, track, monitor, and predict the Injectant plume migration, flow paths, and breakthrough times. The M&S helps in quantifying sequestered injected gas and any inadvertent leakage. It provides a good understanding of the remaining oil saturation (ROS) and its distribution in the reservoir. A comprehensive and advanced monitoring and surveillance (M&S) program was developed and is currently being deployed to address CCS/CCUS project objectives. The advanced M&S plan incorporates conventional, advanced, and emerging novel technologies for wellbore and inter-well measurements. These include advanced time-lapse pulsed neutron, resistivity, diffusion logs, and bore-hole gravity measurements, cross-well geophysical measurements, water and gas tracers, geochemical, compositional and soil gas analyses, and 4D seismic and surface gravity measurements. Results from monitoring and surveillance technologies provide a better understanding of the reservoir dynamics within the subject area. The results can be used to refine the reservoir simulation model and fine tune its parameters. This paper reviews some proven best practices and draws examples from ongoing projects and related novel technologies being deployed. It will then look at the new horizon for M&S technologies for CCS and CCUS.