Accelerating CCS Technologies. ACT Project. Mid Term Report

The Pre-ACT project is working to define conformance methodologies applicable to CO2 storage at all scales, from pilot projects to mega storage. This rare overview of monitoring methods ensures that the results of the Pre-ACT project are universally applicable, and not limited by scale or geology. Input from our industrial partners has highlighted the need to produce quantitative assessments of conformance based on cost-effective monitoring strategies. The scheme developed in Pre-ACT, the Pre-ACT protocols, has been tested on synthetic models, presented at international conferences and has received positive feedback from industry. The approach compares monitoring data from a suite of synthetic realisations to assess the likelihood that the limited information in an observed data set represents conformance to expected operations. This approach is unique in CO2 research. The development of understanding that Pre-ACT has been able to generate has allowed the methodology to focus on both active and passive monitoring techniques and use observations of subsurface pressure and saturation changes in the subsurface to assess site performance. Pre-ACT will continue to refine the approach, testing it on three case studies, each headed by a different research group and linked to an industrial partner. Pre-ACT has used our industrial partners to clearly target the objectives of a site operator when asking, is my site conforming to expectations? How sure can I be that the behaviour is indicative to conformance? The consequence is a mathematically complex, but intuitively accessible, tool