Rock physics, a key component of geological and geophysical characterization, establishes the relationship between rock properties and seismic response (Avseth et al, 2005; Vernik, 2016). By integrating the rock physics information with seismic borehole measurements, we can estimate reservoir properties like porosity, fluid saturation, and lithology. This integration facilitates the identification of potential CO2 storage zones and enables the monitoring of injected CO2 behavior over time.
We proposed a workflow to integrate and gain value of current available borehole data, log, and seismic measurements (VSP) which has a positive impact in assessing the potential of a location, without incurring additional costs that most of the time are difficult to justify, particularly during the assessment phase of a CCS project. This workflow has been applied to a dataset from southwestern Wyoming targeting two different prospective reservoirs.
In areas of data scarcity and exploration, incorporating the use of borehole measurements can be of significant value to understand the changes in the target reservoir(s) when selecting a carbon storage site. Furthermore, the initial associated costs of a project can be offset by integrating exploratory information that was already acquired inside the borehole. Combining log data and borehole seismic measurements can help fill out missing information and provide look ahead insights on the feasibility of a project. We used the available initial well information from the Wyoming Carbon Underground Project (WY-CUSP) which includes recorded log data and a vertical seismic profile, to demonstrate how to carry out a Sequestration Feasibility Study (SFS) that provides step by step understanding of the elastic changes in the subsurface that can be expected during sequestration, specifically focused on properly monitoring the CO2 plume, through a series of synthetic scenarios.
The RSU #1 well is located on the north flank of the Rock Spring Uplift (RSU), as shown in Figure 1. The Rock Spring Uplift (RSU) is an anticline that formed at the end of the Laramide Orogeny (McLaughlin et al., 2013).
