Integrated study for Geologic Carbon Storage in the Texas Coast

This paper presents a site-specific reservoir characterization and feasibility assessment of CO 2 monitoring for the Miocene stratigraphic interval offshore Jefferson County, Texas. The study addressed two main objectives: (1) to develop a geological model that captures subsurface heterogeneity using seismic-derived reservoir properties to understand the migration of CO 2 in the reservoir, and (2) to evaluate the feasibility of cost-effective seismic methods, specifically walkaway Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP), for long-term CO 2 plume monitoring. Our methodology integrated rock physics models and prestack seismic inversion to estimate facies and porosity volumes, which were then used to populate the geological model. A reservoir simulation was performed, injecting 2.5 Mt of CO 2 per year for 15 years, followed by a 100-year migration period. Results indicate that 37.7 Mt of injected CO 2 can be successfully contained within the targeted reservoir. Comparative analysis shows significant differences in plume distributions between models using seismic-derived properties and those based solely on well data. The monitoring feasibility assessment, performed using Reverse Time Migration and time-lapse Full Waveform Inversion, demonstrates that both methods are effective for imaging and tracking the temporal evolution of the CO 2 plume in the reservoir.