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Event
SPE Permian Basin - Section Meeting
Midland Petroleum Club
Nov 11, 2021
11:30am to 1:00pm
De-risking Secure CO2 Storage
Steve Melzer (Melzer Consulting)
Abstract
Much attention has been focused recently on the gas emission streams caused during the production of industrial processes. Control of excess emissions has become a passion of society. Worries over breathing in of gases and the growing volumes of emissions from the earths expanding population has led to curbs placed on the emissions from industrial companies providing the essential gases and other products for todays world.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions currently dominate the headlines and the focus usually comes back to the venting and combustion of hydrocarbons, clearly an irreplaceable source of reliable energy for todays societies. The rapidly growing use of hydrocarbons is a direct function of their availability, mobility, their efficiency for creating heat, electricity and other forms of modern use. But combustion of hydrocarbons leads to the emission of CO2 and those emissions are heightening the concentration of natural CO2 in the atmosphere. The natural atmospheric CO2 and other so-called greenhouse gases (GhGs), have always aided life by helping create a warming blanket in the earths atmosphere. As populations and the enormity of energy uses have grown, reducing GhG emissions has become a worldwide priority.
There are several ways to approach limiting GhG emissions. The one receiving considerable public and governmental support in the form of subsidies is what is referred to as renewable energy replacements. These include wind turbines to capture energy from the atmospheric wind fluctuations and another form of the renewables is solar panels that convert the Suns energy to electricity. Both transiently capture the energy to be transported into the electric grid. And each are being scaled up with the help of governmental support in the developed nations. Direct carbon dioxide capture from the air is yet another approach but one that has seen limited industrial use for the last several decades. Scaling that use up to a meaningful size is beginning to be viewed as a viable and, perhaps, economic approach for GhG emission reductions and all are receiving Federal incentives in the U.S.
If one captures the CO2, one must also find a permanent home out of the atmosphere. What to do with the captured CO2 emission streams is the subject of this talk. Fortunately, there is a large precedent. Storage underground is not only being done today but has been done for a century. However, the capture volumes will be immense and coming quickly. A large scale-up of underground storage is a challenge and the lessons learned in storage of all gases underground needs to be reviewed and analyzed to provide a significant volumetric solution to mounting GhG emission streams. Not all CO2 emission capture sources will be located in regions with low-risk storage sites. Education on the appropriate storage site attributes needs to happen very quickly and the experienced geotechnical community must be central to storage in secure subsurface formations. The 40+ years of experience of the CO2 EOR industry is invaluable and the incidental storage of CO2 while producing oil is the paramount example of proven, geologically secure sites
Bio
Steve Melzer is a consulting engineer in Midland, Texas specializing in reservoir properties, CO2 injection projects, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and horizontal well reservoir depressuring projects. He also provides engineering and business planning services for a variety of U.S. and International commercial clients in the oil and gas, industrial gas, coal and power sectors as well as advising policy makers and non-governmental organizations on the subject of CO2 EOR and carbon capture and storage. He has also originated and operated many exploration and production projects in the oil and gas sector. He has conducted research on the origin and distribution of residual oil zones and their commercial exploitation through the use of both CO2 EOR and horizontal wells.
He is the director of the annual CO2 Flooding Conference and assists in organizing the EOR Carbon Management Workshop held each year in December in Midland, Texas. These two events were held this past year in December in celebration of 25 years of the Conference. He has served on the Governors FutureGen Board, as a past Director of The University of Texas of the Permian Basins Petroleum Industry Alliance, and several out of state Technical Advisory Boards.
Steve resides in Midland, Tx. He has a BS in geological engineering from Texas A&M and a MS degree in Engineering from Purdue University.
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LocationMidland Petroleum Club (View)
501 W Wall St
Midland, TX 79701
United States
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| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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