Major CO2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m
Abstract
Growing interest in offshore geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) motivates evaluation of the consequences of subsea CO2 well blowouts. Herein, we have simulated a hypothetical major CO2 well blowout in shallow water of the Texas Gulf Coast. We use a coupled reservoir-well model (T2Well) to simulate the subsea blowout flow rate for input to an integral model (TAMOC) for modeling CO2 transport in the water column. Bubble sizes are estimated for the blowout scenario for input to TAMOC. Results suggest that a major CO2 blowout in ≥50 m of water will be almost entirely attenuated by the water column due to CO2 dissolution into seawater during upward rise. In contrast, the same blowout in 10 m of water will hardly be attenuated at all. Results also show that the size of the orifice of the leak strongly controls the CO2 blowout rate.
- Authors:
-
[1];
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Geosciences Division
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE), Clean Coal and Carbon Management
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1582373
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1580444
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2152-3878
- Publisher:
- Society of Chemical Industry, Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; CO2well blowout; wellbore modeling; offshore well blowout; buoyant plume; integral plume model; CO2 in water column
Citation Formats
Oldenburg, Curtis M., and Pan, Lehua. Major CO2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1002/ghg.1943.
Oldenburg, Curtis M., & Pan, Lehua. Major CO2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1943
Oldenburg, Curtis M., and Pan, Lehua. Thu .
"Major CO2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/ghg.1943. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1582373.
@article{osti_1582373,
title = {Major CO2 blowouts from offshore wells are strongly attenuated in water deeper than 50 m},
author = {Oldenburg, Curtis M. and Pan, Lehua},
abstractNote = {Growing interest in offshore geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) motivates evaluation of the consequences of subsea CO2 well blowouts. Herein, we have simulated a hypothetical major CO2 well blowout in shallow water of the Texas Gulf Coast. We use a coupled reservoir-well model (T2Well) to simulate the subsea blowout flow rate for input to an integral model (TAMOC) for modeling CO2 transport in the water column. Bubble sizes are estimated for the blowout scenario for input to TAMOC. Results suggest that a major CO2 blowout in ≥50 m of water will be almost entirely attenuated by the water column due to CO2 dissolution into seawater during upward rise. In contrast, the same blowout in 10 m of water will hardly be attenuated at all. Results also show that the size of the orifice of the leak strongly controls the CO2 blowout rate.},
doi = {10.1002/ghg.1943},
journal = {Greenhouse Gases: Science and Technology},
number = 1,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Dec 26 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Thu Dec 26 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
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