Bureau of Economic Geology Recent News and Events

September, 2009

The Bureau of Economic Geology Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) is currently conducting a $34-million, multiyear field study of sequestration and monitoring strategies for long-term storage of carbon dioxide, having recently completed two 10,700-ft wells into the Lower Tuscaloosa Formation in Cranfield field, Mississippi. The first of its kind in smart-well construction, the project has allowed Bureau collaboration with four national labs, as well as the U.S. Geological Survey. Denbury Resources in Plano is hosting the project, which began in July 2008 andwill be part of a large 1,000,000-metric ton/year sequestration of CO2 for 1½ years. GCCC is monitoring the injection project to document that CO2 is effectively retained in the reservoir and plans to use these data to increase confidence and decrease costs of monitoring future geologic carbon sequestration projects. DOE NETL is funding the project, which is part of a Southeast Regional

Carbon Sequestration (SECARB) partnership led by the Southern States Energy Board. Dr. Sue Hovorka, GCCC program PI, will be the first speaker of the Bureau's Fall Seminar Series on Friday, September 11. Her talk, "Big Science and Big Funding - BEG research addressing CO2 Injection and retention in the deep subsurface," will be at 8:30am in the Bureau's Main Conference Room.

Three BEG scientists were recently notified by the Department of Energy (DOE) that their proposed research projects will be funded, with grant totals potentially exceeding $4.3 million. Bob Hardage has

been selected by DOE to investigate “Improving the Monitoring, Verification, and Accounting of CO2 Sequestered in Geologic Systems with Multicomponent Seismic Technology and Rock Physics Modeling,” with a 3-year program scheduled to begin in November 2009. Ian Duncan, Associate Director for Earth and Environmental Systems, was selected by DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratories for his proposed 4-year research program, “Developing Comprehensive Risk Assessment Frameworks for Geological Storage of CO2,” also scheduled to begin in November 2009. Steve Laubach’s proposal, “Predicting Fracture Porosity Evolution in Sandstone,” was selected by DOE’s Basic Energy Sciences group for funding—a 3-year program that will start in December 2009. Congratulations one and all!

On August 20th, the Bureau hosted a Centennial Lecture half-day seminar at the Houston Research Center. Four of the Bureau’s Distinguished Lecturers gave presentations: Dr. Steve Ruppel (“Understanding Black Shale Successions: Lessons and Questions from the Barnett and other Paleozoic Mudrocks”), Dr. Bob Loucks (“Geology of the Mississippian Barnett Shale-Gas Play in Texas: Regional Setting, Sedimentology, and Pore Networks”), Dr. Charlie Kerans (“A Global Perspective on Carbonate Hydrocarbon Reservoirs: Challenges and Potential”), and Dr. Lesli Wood (“Deltas on Mars: A Martian History of Standing Water and Moving Sediments”). More than 50 people from companies that support Bureau research attended the event. Thanks to HRC employees Randy McDonald, Darrell Haynes, and Richard Gutierrez for providing key logistical support.