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Holden, Nora; Alaei, Behzad; Skurtveit, Elin & Braathen, Alvar
(2024).
The impact of depth conversion on fault geometry and its influence on fault-risk assessment in the Smeaheia storage site
.
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Holden, Nora
(2024).
Hva er CCS - presentasjon til studenter ved Oslo Handels Gym.
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Osmond, J.L.; Holden, Nora; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2023).
Beyond Aurora and Smeaheia; structural traps and seals for additional CO2 storage within Jurassic Horda Platform aquifers.
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Holden, Nora; Alaei, Behzad; Skurtveit, Elin & Braathen, Alvar
(2023).
Uncertainty in fault-risking.
Influence of depth-conversion on fault-geometry and fault-risk assessment in the Smeaheia CO2 storage site
.
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Holden, Nora; Alaei, Behzad; Skurtveit, Elin & Braathen, Alvar
(2023).
Implications of depth-conversion on fault geometries and fault-risk assessment in the Smeaheia CO2 storage site, northern North Sea.
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Holden, Nora; Alaei, Behzad; Skurtveit, Elin & Braathen, Alvar
(2023).
Uncertainty in fault-risk assessment - implications of depth-conversion on fault-risk assessment in the Smeaheia CO2 storage site, northern North Sea.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Sundal, Anja & Braathen, Alvar
(2023).
Structural characterization and across-fault seal assessment of the Aurora CO2 storage site.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Braathen, Alvar & Sundal, Anja
(2022).
Influence of faults on Co2 migration.
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Osmond, Johnathon; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2022).
Past fluid containment and present applications toward future CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, offshore Norway.
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Braathen, Alvar; Skurtveit, Elin; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Haines, Emma Michie; Faleide, Thea Sveva & Osmond, Johnathon
[Show all 10 contributors for this article]
(2022).
Understanding faults and their influence on fluid flow.
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Osmond, Johnathon; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2022).
Quaternary stratigraphy and pockmark mapping in the Norwegian Channel, northern North Sea.
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Osmond, Johnathon; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2022).
Screening traps and seals for CO2 storage expansion in the northern Horda Platform, Norwegian North Sea.
Show summary
Evaluation and development of new and exciting CO2 storage opportunities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf is on the rise. Of note is the Aurora site located in northern Horda Platform of the Norwegian North Sea, where injection is scheduled to commence in 2024 under project Longship. While the planned injection volumes at Aurora are over 1.5 megatonnes per year, many more storage locations are required in order to meet international climate mitigation targets by 2050. Other parts of the northern Horda Platform show CO2 storage potential, but additional subsurface characterization is required. As a contribution towards this effort, I present two possible Jurassic storage complexes (Lower and Upper), where I discuss the presence of available storage aquifers, structural traps, as well as top and fault seals. Overall, our work supports the notion that the northern Horda Platform may be capable of hosting a future CO2 storage hub for northern Europe.
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Osmond, Johnathon; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2022).
Distribution of faulted Mesozoic and Tertiary seals for CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, Norwegian North Sea.
Show summary
This lecture summarizes a recent case study involving the derisking of geological seals for a potential offshore CO2 storage site. In the northern Horda Platform of the northern North Sea, the structural and stratigraphic architecture of the producing Troll East hydrocarbon field is directly analogous to the Alpha CO2 storage prospect in the Smeaheia fault block just to the east of the field. Building on this observation, we have mapped the proven regional seal units of Troll East in order to extrapolate and understand their distribution throughout the northern Horda Platform. Here, we utilize our results to compare Alpha with Troll East, and discuss top and fault seal presence in the context of derisking Alpha’s CO2 storage prospectivity.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Braathen, Alvar & Sundal, Anja
(2022).
Structural characterization and across-fault seal assessment of the Aurora CO2 storage site, northern North Sea
.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Braathen, Alvar & Sundal, Anja
(2022).
Structural characterization and across-fault seal assessment of the Aurora CO2 storage site, northern North Sea.
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Evans, Sian Lianne & Holden, Nora
(2022).
NCCS Consortium Days,Trondheim 2021
Getting to grips with the bigger picture.
[Internet].
https://www.mn.uio.no/geo/english/research/projects/nccs-geo.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2022).
Structural traps and seals for expanding CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, North Sea.
Show summary
Full-scale CO2 storage within the Norwegian Continental Shelf is scheduled to commence in 2024 at the Aurora site under project Longship and the Northern Lights JV. While tens of megatons of injected CO2 are anticipated over the coming years, many more storage locations are required in order to meet international climate mitigation targets by 2050. In the event of success at Aurora, the northern Horda Platform region could be further developed into a North Sea CO2 storage hub, but more subsurface evaluation is needed to identify prospective sites. Here, I present two possible Jurassic storage complexes (Lower and Upper), and discuss the presence of available storage aquifers, structural traps, as well as top and fault seals based on the latest 3D seismic and wellbore data. Our results indicate that both storage complex aquifers are preserved throughout the study area, and we have identified a total of 95 Lower and 64 Upper Jurassic fault-bound traps. Mapping, modeling, and formation pressure analyses suggest that top seals are sufficiently thick over the majority of identified traps, and provide vertical pressure barriers between storage aquifers. While across-fault juxtaposition seals appear to dominate the Upper Jurassic storage complexes, Lower Jurassic aquifers are often up-thrown against Middle and Upper Jurassic aquifers, posing a potential risk to CO2 containment for many Lower Jurassic footwall traps. However, I go on to show that apparent across fault pressure differentials and shale gouge ratio values >0.15 correlate at such juxtapositions, suggesting fault rock membrane seal presence. Moreover, I illustrate that aquifer self-juxtapositions are likely zones of poor fault seal within the study area. Overall, our work provides added support that the northern Horda Platform represents a promising location for CO2 storage expansion, carrying the potential to become a future storage hub for northern Europe.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Leon, Elias H.; de La Cruz, Erika H. & Würtzen, Camilla Louise
[Show all 9 contributors for this article]
(2022).
Containment derisking of a potential CO2 storage hub in the Horda Platform, Norwegian North Sea.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Leon, Elias H.; de La Cruz, Erika H. & Würtzen, Camilla Louise
[Show all 9 contributors for this article]
(2021).
Structural traps, seals, and other geologic adventures — entertaining CO2 storage exploitation of the northern Horda Platform, North Sea
.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Braathen, Alvar & Sundal, Anja
(2021).
Structural characterization and across-fault seal assessment of the Aurora CO2 storage site.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Braathen, Alvar & Sundal, Anja
(2021).
Across-fault seal assessment of the Aurora CO2 storage site, northern North Sea.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Braathen, Alvar & Sundal, Anja
(2021).
Structural characterization and across-fault seal assessment of the Aurora CO2 storage site, northern North Sea.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2021).
Structural derisking for CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, Norwegian North Sea.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Leon, Elias H.; de La Cruz, Erika H. & Würtzen, Camilla Louise
[Show all 9 contributors for this article]
(2021).
Containment derisking of a potential CO2 storage hub in the Horda Platform, Norwegian North Sea
.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Holden, Nora; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2021).
Regional containment derisking for future CO2 storage in the Horda Platform, Norwegian North Sea.
Show summary
Full-scale CO2 storage within the Norwegian Continental Shelf is scheduled to commence in 2024 at the Aurora site under project Longship and the Northern Lights JV. While tens of megatons of injected CO2 are anticipated over the coming years, many more storage locations are required in order to meet international climate mitigation targets. In the event of success at Aurora, the remaining Horda Platform region could be further developed into a larger North Sea CO2 storage hub, but more subsurface evaluation is needed to identify prospective sites. Here, I present two possible Jurassic storage complexes (reservoirs and seals) and discuss some of my ongoing PhD work related to derisking traps, seals, and overburden geology in the region. It is hoped that these results can later be leveraged for more site-specific analyses so that new prospects can be matured to help supplement the storage volumes at Aurora site and to further develop CCS operations in the North Sea.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Leon, Elias H.; Holden, Nora; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin & Faleide, Jan Inge
[Show all 7 contributors for this article]
(2021).
Geological derisking of a potential CO2 storage hub for Europe in offshore Norway
.
Show summary
A Norwegian demonstration of the full-scale CCS value-chain is scheduled to commence in 2024. Carbon-dioxide captured from industrial sites in eastern Norway will be transported west, processed, and injected into the subsurface at the Aurora site in the northern North Sea. While Aurora represents a sizeable CO2 storage location, many more are needed in order to significantly reduce global emissions and meet climate mitigation goals. Ideally, developing additional storage sites within the vicinity of Aurora would expand on its soon-existing infrastructure, and create a potential CO2 storage hub for Norway and northern Europe. However, geological risks to CO2 containment must be identified and assessed before such a development could take place. Here, a summary of ongoing subsurface characterization work is presented in support of the storage hub concept in this region.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin & Braathen, Alvar
(2021).
Top and lateral seals for CO2 storage in Jurassic saline aquifers of the Horda Platform.
Show summary
Full-scale CO2 storage within the Norwegian Continental Shelf is scheduled to commence in 2024 at the Aurora site under project Longship and the Northern Lights consortium. While tens of megatonnes of injected CO2 are anticipated over the project lifespan, many more storage locations are required in order to meet international climate mitigation targets. In the event of success at Aurora, the Horda Platform could be further developed into a larger North Sea CO2 storage hub. Lower and Upper Jurassic sandstone aquifers offer ample pore space for sequestration, and structural mapping within the region reveals a collection of possible storage traps distributed within three large-scale fault blocks. As it is imperative to characterize seals enveloping potential CO2 storage traps, we have undertaken a regional screening of top seal presence and lateral seal types associated with Lower and Upper Jurassic intervals of the Horda Platform. The solitary top seal formation above the Lower Jurassic aquifer thins considerably to the northwest, lowering confidence in seal presence above traps in those parts of the study area. In contrast, a culmination of several top seal formations provide a relatively thick regional seal above the Upper Jurassic aquifer. Fault-bound traps in the study area exhibit two lateral relationship types; 1) fault juxtapositions where the envisaged storage aquifer is in contact with downthrown top seals or 2) juxtapositions where the storage aquifer is in contact with sandstone aquifers above the top seal. Though the first type represents simple juxtaposition seal, the second implies that fault membrane seal is required at sandstone-to-sandstone contacts. Type two relationships are prevalent along Lower Jurassic traps, but SGR analyses and recent aquifer pressure measurements in the region suggest that such faults may enjoy some membrane seal potential. All Upper Jurassic faulted traps express type one relationships, and are perceived to possess lower-risk seals based on analogous relationships observed at nearby hydrocarbon fields (e.g., Troll East). However, fewer Upper Jurassic traps are readily available for CO2 storage due to the risk of up-dip contamination of hydrocarbon accumulations, and are therefore restricted to the eastern-most fault block until the end of production.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Holden, Nora; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2021).
Top and lateral seal characterizations for CCS in Jurassic saline aquifers, Horda Platform, Northern North Sea.
Show summary
Capture of industrially sourced CO₂ and transport to the Aurora subsurface storage site in the northern North Sea are approved to commence in 2024 under the direction of the Longship and Northern Lights projects. Results from well 31/5-7 drilled in early 2020 within exploitation license EL001 confirmed suitable parameters at Aurora (e.g., porosity, injectivity, etc.). While the geology of the site proves promising for CCS, it remains imperative to mature additional locations in order to meet current climate mitigation targets and establish the Horda Platform as a European storage hub.
Planned injection and containment at Aurora will be hosted by the Lower Jurassic Dunlin Gp stratigraphic storage complex (storage aquifer and seals), however, the Upper Jurassic Viking Gp represents an additional storage complex. Moreover, Aurora is located in the western-most of three large, basement-rooted fault blocks, each showing storage potential. Hundreds of thick- and thin-skinned faults create two- and three-way structural traps for both storage complexes in all three fault blocks. Some Viking Gp traps contain hydrocarbons (e.g., Troll field), providing direct analogs, but should be avoided for CO₂ storage until the end of their production life around 2050. Nevertheless, the remaining structural traps currently make the most attractive storage prospects, as they can focus injected CO₂ in a predicable fashion, particularly during the early stages of the sequestration process before other trapping mechanisms take over (e.g., residual trapping).
As both top and lateral seals must completely envelop the storage aquifer, understanding the distribution and nature of the seals is critical for predicting subsurface CO₂ containment. In order to provide insight towards additional CCS potential in the Horda Platform, we present a summation of top and lateral seal mapping, modeling, and observations for the Dunlin and Viking Gp storage complexes in the three major fault blocks.
For the Dunlin Gp storage complex, interpretation of its top seal distribution from 3D seismic and wellbore data confirm seal presence in all three fault blocks, including that of the Aurora site. The majority of small thin-skinned faults at the Jurassic stratigraphic level and create aquifer juxtapositions against the top seal, while larger thick-skinned faults must provide membrane seals along the largest closures. In these latter cases, the Dunlin Gp sandstone aquifer is up-thrown and juxtaposed against the overlying Viking Gp sandstone aquifer, but shale gouge ratio analysis and regional aquifer pressures suggest favorable membrane fault seal potential. Top seal formations above the Viking Gp aquifer are determined to be present throughout the Horda Platform, but only the eastern-most fault block is currently prospective for CO₂ storage, given the high risk of contaminating producing fields in adjacent fault blocks. Fault seals in this case appear to be juxtaposition-controlled, even for thick-skinned faults, which are analogous to Troll East. Considering the availability of structural traps for expanding storage activities in the Horda Platform, our work infers that the presence top and lateral seals is probable for both the Dunlin and Viking Gp storage complexes.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Holden, Nora; Leon, Elias H.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin & Faleide, Jan Inge
[Show all 7 contributors for this article]
(2021).
Top and lateral seal characterizations for CO2 storage in Jurassic saline aquifers of the Horda Platform.
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Holden, Nora; Osmond, Johnathon L.; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Sundal, Anja & Skurtveit, Elin
(2021).
Structural characterization of the Aurora prospect, a potential CO2 storage site in the northern North Sea.
Show summary
Significant uncertainties occur through varying methodologies when interpreting faults using seismic data. These uncertainties are carried through to the interpretation of how faults may act as baffles/barriers or increase fluid flow. How fault segments are picked when interpreting structures, i.e. what seismic line spacing is specified, as well as what surface generation algorithm is used, will dictate how detailed the surface is, and hence will impact any further interpretation such as fault seal or fault growth models. We can observe that an optimum spacing for fault interpretation for this case is set at approximately 100 m. It appears that any additional detail through interpretation with a line spacing of ≤50 m simply adds further complexities, associated with sensitivities by the individual interpreter. Hence, interpreting at a finer scale may not necessarily improve the subsurface model and any related analysis, but in fact lead to the production of very rough surfaces, which impacts any further fault analysis. Interpreting on spacing greater than 100 m often leads to overly smoothed fault surfaces that miss details that could be crucial, both for fault seal as well as for fault growth models.
This contribution is a case example showing how different picking strategies influence analysis of a bounding fault in terms of CO2 storage assessment. This is an example from the Horda Plaform: the Smeaheia potential storage site, 20 km East of Troll East. This is a fault bound prospect, and hence this bounding fault is required to have a high seal potential and a low chance of reactivation upon CO2 injection, increasing the pore pressure.
Uncertainty in the seismic interpretation methodology will follow through to fault seal analysis, specifically for analysis of whether in situ stresses combined with increased pressure through CO2 injection will act to reactivate the faults, leading to up-fault fluid flow / seep. We have shown that changing picking strategies significantly alter the interpreted stability of the fault, where picking with an increased line spacing has shown to increase the overall fault stability. Surprisingly, differences in picking strategy show little influence on the overall fault seal (i.e. shale gouge ratio) of the fault.
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Osmond, Johnathon L.; Holden, Nora; Mulrooney, Mark Joseph; Skurtveit, Elin; Faleide, Jan Inge & Braathen, Alvar
(2020).
Ongoing top and lateral seal characterizations for CO2 storage in the Horda Platform.
