The role of the oil and gas sector in decarbonisationPhilip Ringrose

Equinor & NTNU - Trondheim, Norway

Bryan Lovell Meeting – January 2019Role of geological science in decarbonisation

Open

Upper Paleolithic depiction of aurochs, horses and deer, Lascaux Caves, Dordogne France

Lascaux Cave paintingsCollapse of human civilization?

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Age of sustainability … ?

Decarbonisation trajectories:

(1) reduction already achieved

(2) potentially underway

(3) still to be achieved

Can human society decarbonise rapidly enough?

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Industrial age

Ringrose (2017) – Sustainability and Physics

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Societal needs

Industrial challenge

What will the future of energy look like?

A modified oil and gas energy sector is most likely to deliver this:

1. Large and long-term investment projects needed

2. CO2 management and disposal at industrial scales

3. Subsurface resource management skills and tools

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Human society needs a massive shift:

• Rapid growth in RE

• Dramatic improvements in energy efficiency

• Rapid decarbonisation of energy, industry and food supply

But this will need:

• Public-private partnerships

• Societal and political engagement in the solution

Yappy dog

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What does large-scale CCS look like?

• 150km seabed CO2 transport pipeline from LNG plant

• Saline aquifers c. 2.5km deep adjacent to gas field

• CO2 stored initially in the Tubåen Fm. (2008-2011) and then in the Stø Fm. (2011-)

Gas

CO2

LNG plant (Melkøya)

Snøhvit Project: First onshore capture - offshore storage project

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Monitoring the subsurface at Snøhvit

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Down-hole data:Downhole flow log Down-hole pressure data

Time-lapse seismic(Amplitude difference)

Fluvio-delta ic reservoir Sha llow ma rine

• Rising pressure due to geological barriers led to well intervention • Integrated use of geophysical monitoring and down-hole gauges• Deployed back-up option in the injector well

Successful well intervention guided by monitoring data

Hansen et al. 2013; Pawar et al., 2015

Demonstrates value of flexible well design

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The Norwegian CCS Demonstration project

Norcem Cement Factory, Brevik

EGE Energy Recycling plant, Oslo

OSLO

Storage sites

• Project currently in the planning stage• CO2 storage partnership comprises

Equinor, Shell and Total

Development solution is subsea wellhead connected via pipeline to an onshore intermediate storage port

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Norwegian CO2 Storage: Future potential

Allows stepwise development of CCS from more regional hubs

Reduces risk and threshold for othersEnables additional CO2 storage

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Basis for emerging CO2 value chains:• Natural gas to hydrogen • CO2 EOR

Norway CO2 storage hub: Possible catalyst for roll-out of CCS in Europe?

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Norway CO2 storage in numbers

How much is 1Mt of CO2?

• Annual emissions from 330,000 cars (assuming 200g/km)

• 5 million passenger air kilometres

• 100 million tonnes/km of maritime shipping

• One tenth of Norwegian road traffic emissions in 2014

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Rate of CO2 sequestration

Annual rate of gas injection in all Equinor-operated oilfields (NCS)

• ~35 Gsm3/year (methane)

• Which is equivalent to 64.8Mt CO2

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Ringrose, 2018

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H21 North of England Project (Transport and Storage part)Engineering concept study for a 17-20 Mtpa storage scheme for H21 (UK storage option):

• Assessed 3 Triassic Bunter sandstone structures in UK Southern North Sea

• Solution involves 12 sub-sea wells drilled from 4 templates

• Baseload and seasonal fluctuations assessed

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Model scenario for H21 UK storage scheme with ramp-up and seasonal load

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Remember those early “oil gusher wells” (e.g. California oil rush)

• Natural pressure depletion

Since then the oil industry has used pressure management and water/gas injection to maximize recovery

• Secondary and Tertiary recovery

Large-scale CO2 storage will also require pressure management

• Re-pressurization technology

Oilfield with natural

buoyancy pressure

Domain for large-scale storage

re-pressurization

The Pressure Management story

Ringrose & Meckel (work in progress); minimum stress data from Bolaas and Hermanrud (2003)

Depressurization pathways?

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Pressure management for contrasting injection projects

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Pwell

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Formation re-pressurization case

Case of injection under pressure depletion

CO2 in gas phase

Keys factors we need to understand or control:

• Injection pressure, Pwell• Fracture pressure, Pfrac• Acceptable injection

pressure limits

• Plume expansion (site conformance)

• Phase behavior

• Geological uncertainties

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Gt-scale injection under pressure depletionExamples from Nazarian et al. (2019), GHGT-14 Conference

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Building confidence using advanced monitoring solutionsSummary from Ringrose et al. (2019), GHGT-14 Conference

Advanced cost-effective monitoring is key to storage confidence:

• Blend of marine-streamer seismic acquisition, supplemented by sparse seabed-node system

• Use of fibre-optic downhole monitoring wherever possible• Environmental monitoring - optimised/targeted• Use advanced data analysis methods (go digital)

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Value proposition – Norway offshore reference case:

Lifetime cost of monitoring programme:

~42 Million Euro (M€) or ~2€/tonne

Key storage project cost items:

1. Offshore injection well ~50-100M€

2. Major well intervention programme ~10M€Cost vs. benefit

Open

Conclusions

1. Urgent need for rapid decarbonisation of energy, industry and food supply

2. A modified oil and gas industry has the skills/tools/dimensions needed

3. CO2 storage in saline aquifers has huge potential:

1 Sleipner injector well = Emissions of 100 million tonnes/km of maritime shipping

4. Large-scale CCS will need basin-scale pressure management approach

Need to consider basin/formation pressure limits

Could utilize ‘depletion space’ from oilfield history

5. Although CCS is a ‘large ticket’ item… the societal value is undeniable

Cost of avoided emissions per €/$/£ is excellent value for money

Ready to move forward in support of the H21 Hydrogen project

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References• Bolås, H. M. N., & Hermanrud, C. (2003). Hydrocarbon leakage processes and trap retention capacities offshore Norway. Petroleum Geoscience,

9(4), 321-332

• Hansen, O., Gilding, D., Nazarian, B., Osdal, B., Ringrose, P., Kristoffersen, J. B., ... & Hansen, H. (2013). Snøhvit: The history of injecting and storing 1 Mt CO2 in the fluvial Tubåen Fm. Energy Procedia, 37, 3565-3573

• Nazarian, B., Thorsen, R & Ringrose, P. 2018, Storing CO2 in a reservoir under continuous pressure depletion – a simulation study, GHGT-14 Conference Proceedings, Melbourne, Australia.

• Pawar, R. J., Bromhal, G. S., Carey, J. W., Foxall, W., Korre, A., Ringrose, P. S., ... & White, J. A. (2015). Recent advances in risk assessment and risk management of geologic CO 2 storage. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 40, 292-311

• Ringrose, Philip S. "Principles of sustainability and physics as a basis for the low-carbon energy transition." Petroleum Geoscience 23.3 (2017): 287-297.

• Ringrose, P. S. (2018). The CCS hub in Norway: some insights from 22 years of saline aquifer storage. Energy Procedia, 146, 166-172.• Ringrose, P., Furre, A-K, Bakke, R., et al., 2018. Developing optimised and cost-effective solutions for monitoring CO2 injection from subsea wells,

GHGT-14 Conference Proceedings, Melbourne, Australia.

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Philip Ringrose

The role of the oil and gas sector in decarbonisation

Acknowledgements• The Northern Lights project partners: Equinor, Shell and Total • Many colleagues at Equinor R&T Future Value Chains

The role of the oil and gas sector in decarbonisationSlide Number 2Can human society decarbonise rapidly enough?What will the future of energy look like?What does large-scale CCS look like?Monitoring the subsurface at SnøhvitThe Norwegian CCS Demonstration projectNorwegian CO2 Storage: Future potentialNorway CO2 storage in numbersH21 North of England Project (Transport and Storage part)Model scenario for H21 UK storage scheme with ramp-up and seasonal loadThe Pressure Management storyPressure management for contrasting injection projectsGt-scale injection under pressure depletion�Examples from Nazarian et al. (2019), GHGT-14 ConferenceBuilding confidence using advanced monitoring solutions�Summary from Ringrose et al. (2019), GHGT-14 ConferenceConclusionsReferencesThe role of the oil and gas sector in decarbonisation