USGS develops way of sizing CCS reservoirs

The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a new method for estimating the capacities of potential carbon sequestration reservoirs in underground rock formations. Using a statistical analysis of various rock parameters, the method assesses the volume of pore space into which carbon dioxide can be injected for storage for many thousands of years. And the statistical approach enables the uncertainty and variability in the assessment to be estimated.

“The methodology we just developed is quite a new approach and much more robust than what’s out there,” Brenda Pierce, program coordinator for the USGS energy resource program, told Petroleum News June 8.

The article “Theory and practice in CCS technology” in the June 7 edition of Petroleum News used a diagram from the report, which is available on the USGS Web site at pubs.usgs.gov/of/2009/1035/ofr2009-1035.pdf.

—Alan Bailey