Testing the efficacy of active pressure management as a tool to mitigate induced seismicity

Kroll, Kayla A.; Buscheck, Thomas A.; White, Joshua A.; Richards-Dinger, Keith B.

doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.102894

Testing the efficacy of active pressure management as a tool to mitigate induced seismicity

Journal Article · Mon Dec 30 04:00:00 EST 2019 · International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.102894· OSTI ID:1763192

Kroll, Kayla A. ^[1]; Buscheck, Thomas A. ^[1]; White, Joshua A. ^[1]; Richards-Dinger, Keith B. ^[2]

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)

Manipulation of subsurface stresses through fluid injection/extraction may induce seismicity through modulation of overpressure along faults. Globally, most industrial operations do not induce significant earthquakes. However, the possibility of inducing moderate to large earthquakes is recognized as a significant risk for basin-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) storage operations (Niass et al., 2017). One possible method to reduce the occurrence of induced seismicity is to maintain only small (or zero) fluid overpressure changes in the subsurface through extraction of formation brine. For active pressure management (APM), operators may employ different procedures including extraction of various brine volumes and different configurations of injection/extraction well locations. However, the impact each these operational procedures on induced seismicity must be understood in order to develop management strategies. Here, we describe a numerical modeling workflow to evaluate the efficacy of APM techniques, that when applied to a specific site may be used to inform operational management strategies. We couple the multiphase reservoir model, NUFT, with the earthquake simulator, RSQSim and simulate seismicity induced by CO₂ injection into a hypothetical brine saturated reservoir. Reservoir overpressure is modified by co-extraction of brine at various fractions of the injected CO₂ volume from five potential wells. Our goal is to understand how the well-pair configuration and the extracted brine volume impact the total number and the maximum event magnitude. Additionally, the performance of each scenario is also evaluated in terms of the volume of CO₂ that can be stored before an earthquake above a tolerance threshold is induced.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1763192

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--755444; 941859

Journal Information:: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Journal Name: International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control Vol. 94; ISSN 1750-5836

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (27)

Increased stream discharge after the 3 September 2016 M _w 5.8 Pawnee, Oklahoma earthquake : Stream Response to an Induced Earthquake Manga, Michael; Wang, Chi-Yuen; Shirzaei, Manoochehr Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071268	journal	November 2016
Sensitivity of Induced Seismic Sequences to Rate-and-State Frictional Processes: EFFECTS OF RSF ON INDUCED SEISMICITY Kroll, Kayla A.; Richards-Dinger, Keith B.; Dieterich, James H. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Vol. 122, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014841	journal	December 2017
Earthquake Recurrence in Simulated Fault Systems Dieterich, James H.; Richards-Dinger, Keith B. Pure and Applied Geophysics, Vol. 167, Issue 8-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-010-0094-0	journal	April 2010
The role of disorder and stress concentration in nonconservative fault systems Hainzl, S.; Zöller, G. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Vol. 294, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-4371(01)00104-2	journal	May 2001
Linking microseismic event observations with geomechanical models to minimise the risks of storing CO2 in geological formations Verdon, J. P.; Kendall, J. -M.; White, D. J. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 305, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2011.02.048	journal	May 2011
Public risk perspectives on the geologic storage of carbon dioxide Singleton, Gregory; Herzog, Howard; Ansolabehere, Stephen International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2008.07.006	journal	January 2009
Active CO2 reservoir management for carbon storage: Analysis of operational strategies to relieve pressure buildup and improve injectivity Buscheck, Thomas A.; Sun, Yunwei; Chen, Mingjie International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2011.11.007	journal	January 2012
Impact-driven pressure management via targeted brine extraction—Conceptual studies of CO2 storage in saline formations Birkholzer, Jens T.; Cihan, Abdullah; Zhou, Quanlin International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2012.01.001	journal	March 2012
Assessing induced seismicity risk at CO2 storage projects: Recent progress and remaining challenges White, Joshua A.; Foxall, William International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.03.021	journal	June 2016
Pre-injection brine production in CO2 storage reservoirs: An approach to augment the development, operation, and performance of CCS while generating water Buscheck, Thomas A.; Bielicki, Jeffrey M.; White, Joshua A. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 54 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2016.04.018	journal	November 2016
Improving pressure-limited CO2 storage capacity in saline formations by means of brine extraction Jahediesfanjani, Hossein; Anderson, Steven T.; Warwick, Peter D. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, Vol. 88 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2019.06.009	journal	September 2019
On the geometry of homogeneous turbulence, with stress on the fractal dimension of the iso-surfaces of scalars Mandelbrot, Benoit B. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 72, Issue 03 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022112075003047	journal	December 1975
Response of streamflow to multiple earthquakes: STREAMFLOW AND EARTHQUAKES Manga, Michael; Brodsky, Emily E.; Boone, Michael Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 30, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL016618	journal	March 2003
Effects of Fault Roughness on Coseismic Slip and Earthquake Locations Allam, A. A.; Kroll, K. A.; Milliner, C. W. D. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, Vol. 124, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JB016216	journal	November 2019
Spatio-temporal complexity of slip on a fault Rice, James R. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 98, Issue B6 https://doi.org/10.1029/93JB00191	journal	January 1993
Managing geologic CO ₂ storage with pre-injection brine production: a strategy evaluated with a model of CO ₂ injection at Snøhvit Buscheck, Thomas A.; White, Joshua A.; Carroll, Susan A. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 9, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5EE03648H	journal	January 2016
A New Equation of State for Carbon Dioxide Covering the Fluid Region from the Triple‐Point Temperature to 1100 K at Pressures up to 800 MPa Span, Roland; Wagner, Wolfgang Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, Vol. 25, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.555991	journal	November 1996
The Viscosity of Carbon Dioxide Fenghour, A.; Wakeham, William A.; Vesovic, V. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, Vol. 27, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.556013	journal	January 1998
Earthquake triggering and large-scale geologic storage of carbon dioxide Zoback, M. D.; Gorelick, S. M. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 109, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1202473109	journal	June 2012
Gas injection may have triggered earthquakes in the Cogdell oil field, Texas Gan, W.; Frohlich, C. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 47 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1311316110	journal	November 2013
High-rate injection is associated with the increase in U.S. mid-continent seismicity Weingarten, M.; Ge, S.; Godt, J. W. Science, Vol. 348, Issue 6241 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aab1345	journal	June 2015
Fractional Brownian Motions, Fractional Noises and Applications Mandelbrot, Benoit B.; Van Ness, John W. SIAM Review, Vol. 10, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1137/1010093	journal	October 1968
How faults wake up: The Guthrie-Langston, Oklahoma earthquakes Schoenball, Martin; Walsh, F. Rall; Weingarten, Matthew The Leading Edge, Vol. 37, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1190/tle37020100.1	journal	February 2018
RSQSim Earthquake Simulator Richards-Dinger, K.; Dieterich, J. H. Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 83, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1785/0220120105	journal	November 2012
Modeling Injection‐Induced Seismicity with the Physics‐Based Earthquake Simulator RSQSim Dieterich, James H.; Richards‐Dinger, Keith B.; Kroll, Kayla A. Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1785/0220150057	journal	June 2015
Surface Monitoring of Microseismicity at the Decatur, Illinois, CO ₂ Sequestration Demonstration Site Kaven, J. O.; Hickman, S. H.; McGarr, A. F. Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1785/0220150062	journal	June 2015
Poroelastic Properties of the Arbuckle Group in Oklahoma Derived from Well Fluid Level Response to the 3 September 2016 M _w 5.8 Pawnee and 7 November 2016 M _w 5.0 Cushing Earthquakes Kroll, Kayla A.; Cochran, Elizabeth S.; Murray, Kyle E. Seismological Research Letters, Vol. 88, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1785/0220160228	journal	May 2017

Similar Records

Integrated CO ₂ Storage and Brine Extraction

Journal Article · Fri Aug 18 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Energy Procedia (Online) · OSTI ID:1398932

Sensitivity of Induced Seismic Sequences to Rate-and-State Frictional Processes

Journal Article · Wed Nov 08 23:00:00 EST 2017 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth · OSTI ID:1420284

Cyclic Injection Leads to Larger and More Frequent Induced Earthquakes under Volume-Controlled Conditions

Journal Article · Fri Apr 19 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Seismological Research Letters · OSTI ID:2377896

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES

Testing the efficacy of active pressure management as a tool to mitigate induced seismicity

Citation Formats

References (27)

Similar Records

Related Subjects