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Title: Can we treat CO₂ well blowouts like routine plumbing problems? A study of the incidence, impact, and perception of loss of well control

Journal Article · · Energy Procedia (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. WADE, LLC, Washington, DC (United States)
  3. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (United States). Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences.
+ Show Author Affiliations

Risk communication literature suggests that for a number of reasons, the public may perceive a risk to be greater than indicated by its statistical probability. Public concern over risk can lead to significant and costly delays in project permitting and operations. Considering these theories, media coverage of CO₂-related well blowouts in 2013 gave rise to the questions: What is the risk of CO₂ well blowouts associated with CCUS through CO₂ EOR? What is the potential public perception of those risks? What information could be used to respond to public concern? To address these questions, this study aims to: 1) provide a framework for understanding the nature of onshore well blowouts, 2) quantify the incidence of such events for three specific geographic regions of Texas, 3) relate this data to CCUS and findings from other studies, and 4) explore the potential implications for public perception of this risk associated with CCUS projects. While quantifying answers to these questions proved to be challenging, the results from this study suggest that (1) the perceived risk of CO₂ well blowouts may exceed the statistical risk and (2) information that could be used to address this gap could be made more readily available to the greater benefit of industry and stakeholders who support the development of CCUS as an option for addressing anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. The study also suggests approaches to best conduct such data inquiries.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Gulf Coast Carbon Center
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1212375
Journal Information:
Energy Procedia (Online), Vol. 63, Issue C; ISSN 1876-6102
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 6 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (13)

Near-Term Projections of CO2 Utilization for Enhanced Oil Recovery report April 2014
Risk Perception and Communication Unplugged: Twenty Years of Process1 journal April 1995
The Social Amplification of Risk: A Conceptual Framework journal June 1988
Well blowout rates and consequences in California Oil and Gas District 4 from 1991 to 2005: implications for geological storage of carbon dioxide journal July 2008
Trends Extracted From 800 Gulf Coast Blowouts During 1960-1996 conference March 1998
Killing Methods and Consequences of 1120 Gulf Coast Blowouts During 1960-1996 conference April 1999
Evaluation of the Potential for Gas and CO2 Leakage Along Wellbores journal March 2009
Dynamic Kill of an Uncontrolled CO2 Well journal July 1985
Analysis and performance of oil well cement with 30 years of CO2 exposure from the SACROC Unit, West Texas, USA journal April 2007
Experimental assessment of brine and/or CO2 leakage through well cements at reservoir conditions journal July 2009
Utilizing Sustained Casing Pressure Analog to Provide Parameters to Study CO2 Leakage Rates Along a Wellbore
  • Huerta, Nicolas John; Checkai, Dean; Bryant, Steven Lawrence
  • SPE International Conference on CO2 Capture, Storage, and Utilization, All Days https://doi.org/10.2118/126700-MS
conference November 2009
Characteristics of CO 2 -driven cold-water geyser, Crystal Geyser in Utah: experimental observation and mechanism analyses journal February 2013
Design and Execution of a Successful Well Kill on the World's Longest-Running Blow-out conference September 2004

Cited By (3)

Assessment of CO2 Injectivity During Sequestration in Depleted Gas Reservoirs journal May 2019
Major CO 2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m journal November 2019
Risk, Liability, and Economic Issues with Long-Term CO2 Storage—A Review journal July 2016

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Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CO₂ enhanced oil recovery
CO₂ well blowout
risk management
public acceptance
recordkeeping and reporting