Inverse modeling of ground surface uplift and pressure with iTOUGH-PEST and TOUGH-FLAC: The case of CO2 injection at In Salah, Algeria

Rinaldi, Antonio P.; Rutqvist, Jonny; Finsterle, Stefan; Liu, Hui-Hai

doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2016.10.009

Inverse modeling of ground surface uplift and pressure with iTOUGH-PEST and TOUGH-FLAC: The case of CO2 injection at In Salah, Algeria

Journal Article · Mon Oct 24 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Computers and Geosciences

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2016.10.009· OSTI ID:1379381

Rinaldi, Antonio P. ^[1]; Rutqvist, Jonny ^[2]; Finsterle, Stefan ^[2]; Liu, Hui-Hai ^[3]

Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology, Zurich (Switzerland); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Aramco Research Center, Houston, TX (United States)

Ground deformation, commonly seen in storage projects, carries useful information about processes occurring in the injection formation. The Krechba gas field at In Salah (Algeria) is one of the best-known sites for studying ground surface deformation during geological carbon storage. At this first industrial-scale on-shore CO₂ demonstration project, satellite-based ground-deformation monitoring data of high quality are available and used to study the large-scale hydrological and geomechanical response of the system to injection. In this work, we carry out coupled fluid flow and geomechanical simulations to understand the uplift at three different CO₂ injection wells (KB-501, KB-502, KB-503). Previous numerical studies focused on the KB-502 injection well, where a double-lobe uplift pattern has been observed in the ground-deformation data. The observed uplift patterns at KB-501 and KB-503 have single-lobe patterns, but they can also indicate a deep fracture zone mechanical response to the injection.The current study improves the previous modeling approach by introducing an injection reservoir and a fracture zone, both responding to a Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. In addition, we model a stress-dependent permeability and bulk modulus, according to a dual continuum model. Mechanical and hydraulic properties are determined through inverse modeling by matching the simulated spatial and temporal evolution of uplift to InSAR observations as well as by matching simulated and measured pressures. The numerical simulations are in agreement with both spatial and temporal observations. The estimated values for the parameterized mechanical and hydraulic properties are in good agreement with previous numerical results. In addition, the formal joint inversion of hydrogeological and geomechanical data provides measures of the estimation uncertainty.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1379381

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1495609

Journal Information:: Computers and Geosciences, Journal Name: Computers and Geosciences Vol. 108; ISSN 0098-3004

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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