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Background to the Meeting

 

A combined Modelling and Monitoring network meeting was hosted by the National Coal Research Center for Coal and Energy (NCRCCE), West Virginia University at Morgantown on 5th - 7th August.  The meeting brought over 60 delegates from eight countries including Australia, Canada, France Germany, Japan as well as the UK and USA.  The three day meeting focussed on the theme of reducing uncertainty with the application and effectiveness of monitoring and modelling.

Summary

 

The conclusions included that:

 

  • Pressure monitoring is providing a lot of information at many sites in terms of reservoir performance and overburden monitoring, and is likely to be an early indicator of leakage. 
  • Microseismicity has distinct benefits.  Data from current projects is reducing uncertainty by highlighting small scale structures within reservoirs and reducing uncertainty.
  • The application of tracers may be possible to detect the origin of CO2 in the overburden, but there is uncertainty over their effectiveness.
  • Recent advances in seismic using a P-cable configuration are providing high resolution on shallow overburden off the coast of Texas. 
  • Seismic surveys applied offshore can be cheaper than onshore per unit area.
  • There is a need for benchmarking and more accurate commercial sensors for near-surface monitoring.
The report is free to download.