An Integrated Decision Support System for Management of CO₂ Geologic Storage in the Weyburn Field

Abstract

Geologic storage of CO₂ in depleted oil reservoirs is considered to be an effective approach for both facilitating GHG sequestration and enhancing oil recovery. However, as a potential problem in the long run, risks associated with geological storage of CO₂, such as leakage to the groundwater and atmosphere, might pose significant threats to local communities and surrounding environment. Identification and evaluation of such risks are essential for the long-term management of CO₂ storage. Doing so requires a set of advanced technologies in order to well understand the long-range transportation of CO₂ and its impact mechanisms. This study developed an integrated decision support framework for the Weyburn Field. This system included modules of data management, inexact hybrid numerical simulation, optimization for CO₂ EOR processes, hybrid fuzzy-stochastic risk assessment, and post-modeling analysis. A user-friendly interface was designed through visual language programming. Such an effort would provide project managers with a collection of measures for analyzing and visualizing operations and development of different applicable technologies. Valuable information can be provided to EOR project operators about what might be required for new projects or project expansions and how to go about gathering and using the data they will need.

Keywords:

• CO₂ sequestration
• decision support system
• reservoir modeling
• Weyburn

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of MOST (2005CB724200 and 2006CB403307) and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.