InSAR Monitoring of Ground Deformation due to COsub2/sub Injection at an Enhanced Oil Recovery Site, West Texas

Qian Yang, Wenliang Zhao, Timothy H. Dixon, Falk Amelung, Weon Shik Han, Peng Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) measurements have been used to measure ground deformation associated with fluid injection/production at an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) field in Scurry County, West Texas. 100 million tons (Mt) of supercritical CO 2 have been sequestered here since 1972, of which about half has been sequestered since 2004. InSAR data show surface uplift up to 10 cm in the field between January 2007 and March 2011. We evaluated data concerning injection and production of CO 2 , water, oil and hydrocarbon gas from 2004 to 2011 to investigate causes of the observed uplift. An analytical model is used to calculate reservoir pressure change and surface displacement. Our simulations show up to 10 MPa pressure buildup in the reservoir over four years of net injection and production. Surface displacement predictions agree well with the InSAR observations. Water injection alone cannot explain the 2007–2011 surface uplift because the net injected water (∼1 Mt) is negligible compared to the net injected CO 2 (∼24 Mt). The predicted total pressure buildup (up to 10 MPa) consists of net CO 2 injection (up to 12 MPa), net water injection (up to 2 MPa), and oil and gas production (up to −0.4 MPa). Hence, observed ground uplift was mainly caused by CO 2 injection.

Original languageAmerican English
JournalInternational Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control
Volume41
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2015

Keywords

  • CO2-EOR
  • Ground surface deformation
  • InSAR
  • Modeling

Disciplines

  • Earth Sciences

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