Tracers – Pilot versus Commercial Scale Deployment for Carbon Storage

Abstract Tracer compounds have been used in a number of applications in near- and sub-surface environments. In the case of the oil and gas sector, they are used to address specific questions such as the determination of compartmentalization in larger fields during production, or quantify the amount of residual oil remaining in a depleted reservoir. These questions are quite specific to the location and production problem encountered. To date, similar approaches to understanding pilot and demonstration scale carbon storage projects have also been used, but as yet, there have been no commercial scale operations that have entered into large scale tracer programs. The reasons for this are numerous and we attempt to provide some information on the key research questions in this particular area of carbon storage applications.