Basin-scale impacts of industrial-scale CO2 injection on petroleum and groundwater resources in the Gippsland Basin, Australia

The Latrobe aquifer in the Gippsland Basin in southeastern Australia is a potential candidate for large-scale CO2 geological storage. The Latrobe Group forms a major freshwater aquifer in the onshore Gippsland Basin and contains hydrocarbon reservoirs in the offshore parts of the basin up to 6000 in below the seafloor. Therefore, it is a prime example of the emerging need to manage for multiple resource use in sedimentary basins. The emphasis of the current modeling effort was to examine the impact of CO2 injection on the regional flow and displacement of formation water and to identify regions with potential interactions with other basin resources. It was not intended for simulating detailed plume migration or storage capacity. CO2 injection and petroleum production operating independently can result in significant over- or underpressuring in the basin, potentially causing land uplift/subsidence or contamination of groundwater. However, the simulation results suggest that, given the right injection concept, unwanted pressure changes and associated impacts could he significantly reduced when CO2 injection and petroleum production operated conjunctively. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.