When: 4pm on Monday, September 1st, 2014
Where: DIAS Merrion Square Library

Speaker: Jim Craven, Geological Survey, Ottawa

Title: The Aquistore Project: Baseline Seismic and EM Studies of Commercial-Scale CO2 Storage in a Saline Aquifer in Saskatchewan, Canada
Description: The Aquistore project is a large-scale carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture and sequestration initiative, taking place in southern Saskatchewan, Canada.  Emissions of CO₂ generated from SaskPower’s nearby Boundary Dam Power Station are to be captured and injected, in liquid form, deep into stable sedimentary packages of the Williston Basin for long-term storage and use in enhanced oil and gas recovery. The overall aim of the project is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions coming from a fixed source of CO₂ discharge, while demonstrating the effectiveness of using geological formations as a sequestration reservoir. 

The Aquistore reservoir will be the Cambro-Ordovician aquifer system of the Deadwood and Winnipeg Formations of the Williston basin which forms part of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. The primary target is at 3400 m depth, which is deep in comparison to other CO₂ site studies. The reservoir at Ketzin is at 635-650 m depth, at Hontomín it is at 1350-1460 m, and at Kevin Dome it is at 3000 m. The challenging depth of investigation has led to the development of a number of novel data acquisition technologies, particularly those deployed within a nearby observation well drilled to similar depths as the injection well. This talk will review baseline surface and downhole seismic and (controlled and natural source) EM studies conducted prior to injection expected in late October or November 2014.