Abstract
We present a review of numerical studies aimed at understanding the conditions leading to the reactivation of a deep fracture zone, as well as thermal effects, at the In Salah CO2 Storage Project. Numerical simulations carried out with the TOUGH-FLAC coupled fluid flow and geomechanics simulator show that a deep fracture opening can explain the observed deformation at the ground surface. Accounting for a fractured reservoir with stress-dependent permeability allows for a better match of the recorded wellhead pressure. Simulation results including thermal effects show that cooling becomes more significant for long-term storage, causing a decrease in fracture stability.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Office of Natural Gas and Petroleum Technology, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory, under the U.S. Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. V. Vilarrasa acknowledges financial support from the “TRUST” project (FP7, n. 309607) and from “FracRisk” project (H2020, n. 640979). A.P. Rinaldi is currently funded by Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Ambizione Energy grant (PZENP2_160555). The authors would like to thank the In Salah JIP and their partners BP, Statoil, and Sonatrach for providing field data and technical input over the past 10 years as well as for financial support during LBNL’s participation in the In Salah JIP, 2011–2013.
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Rinaldi, A.P., Rutqvist, J., Vilarrasa, V. (2019). Deep Fracture Zone Reactivation During CO2 Storage at In Salah (Algeria) – A Review of Recent Modeling Studies. In: Ferrari, A., Laloui, L. (eds) Energy Geotechnics. SEG 2018. Springer Series in Geomechanics and Geoengineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99670-7_49
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