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Carbon and Energy Storage, Emissions and Economics (CESEE) Active

By Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center March 16, 2021

Carbon Dioxide Storage Assessments and Research

The USGS provides national carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery and associated carbon dioxide storage information

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Associated Energy Gases

The USGS characterizes and evaluates the resource potential of energy-related gases such as carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, and hydrogen sulfide

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Microseismic Monitoring at Decatur, IL

The USGS monitors microseismic activity to better understand the possible hazard associated with deep-well injection of carbon dioxide at Decatur

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Above-ground Infrastructure for Storing Excess Energy

Subsurface natural gas storage in the Hutchinson Salt Member in Reno County, Kansas

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Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is utilized by industry to enhance oil recovery. Subsurface CO2 storage could significantly impact reduction of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, but the economics and potential risks associated with the practice must be understood before implementing extensive programs or regulations. Utilization of other energy-related gases such as helium (He), if separated and concentrated from the produced natural gas stream, can make otherwise low-thermal (un-economic) natural gas deposits a viable part of the national natural gas resource base. Geologic energy storage options require additional investigation and assessments of available storage resources.

 

Federal Lands Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sequestration in the U.S.

Federal Emissions report cover photo

The USGS has produced estimates of the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the extraction and end-use combustion of fossil fuels produced on Federal lands in the United States, as well as estimates of ecosystem carbon emissions and sequestration.

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Downloadable Geologic Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Spatial Data

CO2 sequestration assessment interactive map

A list of downloadable geologic carbon dioxide sequestration spatial data and associated geologic reports is available here.

Our interactive web map includes investigated basins, assessed areas, stratigraphic columns, and well density information.

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Geologic Carbon Dioxide Utilization Topics

The Carbon and Energy Storage, Emissions and Economics (CESEE) project conducts science to:

  • Estimate how much oil can be produced by injecting CO2 into reservoirs for enhanced oil recovery
  • Estimate the amount of CO2 that could be stored in geologic reservoirs nationwide
  • Assess the environmental risks of storing CO2 in underground reservoirs, including the potential for CO2 leakage, impacts to drinking water, and induced seismicity
  • Evaluate the origin, distribution, and resource-potential of non-hydrocarbon natural gases
  • Evaluate subsurface geologic energy storage options including natural gas storage, compressed air storage, pumped hydroelectric storage, and geothermal storage

During the course of the Carbon and Energy Storage, Emissions and Economics (CESEE) project, the following research and assessment topics are being investigated:

Slideshows Associated with Project Member Talks:

  • National Unplugged Orphan Oil and Gas Well Database - Presentation [.pdf] [3.71 MB]
  • Carbon Dioxide Mineralization Feasibility in the United States [.pdf] [3.91 MB]
  • Subsurface Carbon and Energy Storage Resource Assessments [.pdf] [1.74 MB]
  • Federal lands greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration – a modified EPA methodology [.pdf]
  • A Pressure-limited Model to Estimate CO2 Injection and Storage Capacity of Saline Formations: Investigating the Effects of Formation Properties, Model Variables and Presence of Hydrocarbon Reservoirs [.pdf] [1.2 MB]
  • Enhanced Oil Recovery and Residual Oil Zone Studies at the U.S. Geological Survey [.pdf] [2.0 MB]
  • Overview of USGS Carbon Sequestration - Geologic Research and Assessments Project [.pdf] [2.1 MB]
  • Microseismicity Monitoring at the Decatur, IL, CO2 Sequestration Demonstration Site [.pdf] [8.9 MB]
  • Status Report: Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels produced from Federal lands [.pdf] [1.2 MB]
  • A Probabilistic Assessment Methodology for Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery and Associated Carbon Dioxide Retention [.pdf] [.67 MB]
  • A Database and Probabilistic Assessment Methodology for Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery and Associated Carbon Dioxide Retention in the United States [.pdf] [1.7 MB]
  • Enhanced Oil Recovery and CO2 Resource Studies at the U.S. Geological Survey [.pdf] [1.2 MB]
  • Induced Seismicity Monitoring at the Decatur, IL, CO2 Sequestration Demonstration Site [YouTube]
  • U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources and Associated Research [.pdf] [2.3 MB]
  • U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources and Associated Research [.pdf] [2.6 MB]
  • National Assessment of Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resources - Results [.pdf] [2.2 MB]
  • Development Philosophy of an Assessment Methodology for Hydrocarbon Recovery Potential Using CO2-EOR Associated with Carbon Sequestration [.pdf] [.57 MB]
  • U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resource Assessment of the United States - 2012 Project Update [.pdf] [3.9 MB]
  • Examining Salinity Restrictions for CO2 Storage: Suggestions from Basin to Reservoir Scales [.pdf] [1.9 MB]
  • Using ArcGIS to Identify Environmental Risk Factors Associated with CO2 Storage [.pdf] [1.7 MB]
  • A Probabilistic Assessment Methodology for the Evaluation of Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage [.pdf] [1.4 MB]
  • CO2 Fluid Flow Modeling to Derive the Time Scales of Lateral Fluid Migration [.pdf] [1.2 MB]
  • U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Carbon Dioxide Storage Resource Assessment of the United States - Project Update [.pdf] [3.3 MB]

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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Below are publications associated with this project.

Filter Total Items: 96

Zone identification and oil saturation prediction in a waterflooded field: Residual oil zone, East Seminole Field, Texas, Permian Basin

Recently, the miscible CO2-EOR tertiary process used in the main pay zone (MP) of suitable reservoirs has broadened to include exploitation of the underlying residual oil zone (ROZ) where a significant amount of oil may remain. The objective of this study is to identify the ROZ and to assess the remaining oil in a brownfield ROZ by using core data and conventional well logs with probabilistic and
Authors
Jacqueline Roueche, C. Özgen Karacan
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Federal lands greenhouse emissions and sequestration in the United States—Estimates for 2005–14

In January 2016, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior tasked the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with producing a publicly available and annually updated database of estimated greenhouse gas emissions associated with the extraction and use (predominantly some form of combustion) of fossil fuels from Federal lands. In response, the USGS has produced estimates of the greenhouse gas emi

Authors
Matthew D. Merrill, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Philip A. Freeman, Jinxun Liu, Peter D. Warwick, Bradley C. Reed
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Estimating the pressure-limited CO2 injection and storage capacity of the United States saline formations: Effect of the presence of hydrocarbon reservoirs

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) national assessment of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage capacity evaluated 192 saline Storage Assessment Units (SAUs) in 33 U.S. onshore sedimentary basins that may be utilized for CO2 storage (see USGS Circular 1386). Similar to many other available models, volumetric analysis was utilized to estimate the initial CO2injection and storage capacity of these SAUs based
Authors
Hossein Jahediesfanjani, Peter D. Warwick, Steven T. Anderson
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Material balance approach for determining oil saturation at the start of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery

Oil producers have been using enhanced oil recovery methods, including (1) thermal recovery for heavy oil and (2) carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) for medium or light oil, to maximize oil recovery from existing reservoirs. The CO2-EOR method is widely used for recovering additional oil after waterflood, which leaves behind a large volume of oil in the reservoir. Completing a CO2-EOR
Authors
Mahendra K. Verma
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Economics, helium, and the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve: Summary and outlook

In 2017, disruptions in the global supply of helium reminded consumers, distributors, and policy makers that the global helium supply chain lacks flexibility, and that attempts to increase production from the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve (the FHR) may not be able to compensate for the loss of one of the few major producers in the world. Issues with U.S. and global markets for helium include inelast
Authors
Steven T. Anderson
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center

Using mercury injection pressure analyses to estimate sealing capacity of the Tuscaloosa marine shale in Mississippi, USA: Implications for carbon dioxide sequestration

This work used mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) analyses of the Tuscaloosa Group in Mississippi, including the Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS), to assess their efficacy and sealing capacity for geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration. Tuscaloosa Group porosity and permeability from MICP were evaluated to calculate CO2 column height retention. TMS and Lower Tuscaloosa shale samples hav
Authors
Celeste D. Lohr, Paul C. Hackley
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Microbial community composition of a hydrocarbon reservoir 40 years after a CO2 enhanced oil recovery flood

Injecting CO2 into depleted oil reservoirs to extract additional crude oil is a common enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) technique. However, little is known about how in situ microbial communities may be impacted by CO2 flooding, or if any permanent microbiological changes occur after flooding has ceased. Formation water was collected from an oil field that was flooded for CO2-EOR in the 1980s, incl
Authors
Jenna L. Shelton, Robert S. Andrews, Denise M. Akob, Christina A. DeVera, Adam C. Mumford, John E. McCray, Jennifer C. McIntosh
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Reston Microbiology Laboratory

Geologic framework for the national assessment of carbon dioxide storage resources—Atlantic Coastal Plain and Eastern Mesozoic Rift Basins

This chapter presents information pertinent to the geologic carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration potential within saline aquifers located in the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Eastern Mesozoic Rift Basins of the Eastern United States. The Atlantic Coastal Plain is underlain by a Jurassic to Quaternary succession of sedimentary strata that onlap westward onto strata of the Appalachian Piedmont physiograp
Authors
William H. Craddock, Matthew D. Merrill, Tina L. Roberts-Ashby, Sean T. Brennan, Marc L. Buursink, Ronald M. Drake, Peter D. Warwick, Steven M. Cahan, Christina A. DeVera, Philip A. Freeman, Mayur A. Gosai, Celeste D. Lohr
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center

3D Pressure‐limited approach to model and estimate CO2 injection and storage capacity: saline Mount Simon Formation

To estimate the carbon dioxide (CO2) injection and storage capacity of saline formations, we used Tough2‐ECO2N simulation software to develop a pressure‐limited (dynamic) simulation approach based on applying three‐dimensional (3D) numerical simulation only on the effective injection area (Aeff) surrounding each injection well. A statistical analysis was performed to account for existing reservoir
Authors
Hossein Jahediesfanjani, Peter D. Warwick, Steven T. Anderson
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Overview of a compre­hensive resource database for the assessment of recoverable hydrocarbons produced by carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery

A database called the “Comprehensive Resource Database” (CRD) was prepared to support U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessments of technically recoverable hydrocarbons that might result from the injection of miscible or immiscible carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The CRD was designed by INTEK Inc., a consulting company under contract to the USGS. The CRD contains data on the l
Authors
Marshall Carolus, Khosrow Biglarbigi, Peter D. Warwick, Emil D. Attanasi, Philip A. Freeman, Celeste D. Lohr
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Physical properties of sidewall cores from Decatur, Illinois

To better assess the reservoir conditions influencing the induced seismicity hazard near a carbon dioxide sequestration demonstration site in Decatur, Ill., core samples from three deep drill holes were tested to determine a suite of physical properties including bulk density, porosity, permeability, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and failure strength. Representative samples of the shale cap ro
Authors
Carolyn A. Morrow, J. Ole Kaven, Diane E. Moore, David A. Lockner
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Earthquake Hazards Program, Earthquake Science Center, Geologic Hazards Science Center

Mantle and crustal gases of the Colorado Plateau: Geochemistry, sources, and migration pathways

The Colorado Plateau hosts several large accumulations of naturally occurring, non-hydrocarbon gases, including CO2, N2, and the noble gases, making it a good field location to study the fluxes of these gases within the crust and to the atmosphere. In this study, we present a compilation of 1252 published gas-composition measurements. The data reveal at least three natural gas associations in the
Authors
William H. Craddock, Madalyn S. Blondes, Christina A. DeVera, Andrew G. Hunt
By
Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center

Below are data or web applications associated with this project.

Below are news stories associated with this project.

Below are FAQ associated with this project.

Below are partners associated with this project.

Archer Daniels Midland

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

DOE-National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC)

Illinois State Geological Survey

Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology (IRIS)

Stanford Center for Carbon Storage

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)