CO2 Storage Site Analysis, Screening, and Resource Estimation for Cenozoic Offshore Reservoirs in the Central Gulf of Mexico

The storage potential of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) makes future development of CO2 storage projects in those areas promising for secure, large-scale, and long-term storage purposes. Focusing on the producing and depleted hydrocarbon fields in the continental slope of the central GOM, this paper analyzed, assessed, and screened the producing sands and evaluated their CO2 storage potential. A live interactive CO2 storage site screening system was built in the SAS® Viya system with a broad range of screening criteria combined from published studies. This offers the users a real-time assessment of the storage sites and enables them to adjust the filters and visualize the results to determine the most suitable filter range. The CO2 storage resources of the sands were estimated using a volumetric equation and the correlation developed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). The results of this study indicate that 1.05 gigatons of CO2 storage resources are available in the developed reservoirs at the upper slope area of the central GOM. The Mississippi Canyon and Green Canyon protraction areas contain the fields with the largest storage resources.