IEAGHG Modelling and Risk Management Network Meeting 18th-22nd June 2018, Grand Forks, North Dakota

IEAGHG, together with hosts the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC), has just held another combined Modelling and Risk Management Network meeting, in Grand Forks, North Dakota.EERC is part of the University of North Dakota, and is an active participant in CCS research, notably the lead organisation of the PCOR Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership.The meeting attracted over 70 delegates from six countries including Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK as well as the USA.

The meeting covered a wide variety of topics including: modelling at reservoir and formation scale; upscaling from core to reservoir; modelling pressure management in the near wellbore environment; and NRAP model assessment.New topics were introduced to these Networks notably modelling risks associated with untraditional reservoirs.These formations include CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) and CO₂ storage in Residual Oil Zones and in the low permeability oil producing Bakken Formation that extends across the west of the state.Other new themes included Bayesian modelling and associated risk assessment, approaches to early stage project development, induced seismicity plus active pressure management at basin scale.

EERC has been an important contributor to IEAGHG’s portfolio of research reports particularly in CO₂ storage capacity estimates in formations that extend across entire basins.