Integrated coupled assessment of geostorage and geothermal prospects in the oil fields of Upper Assam Basin

• Published in: Scientific reports 2024-05, Vol.14 (1), p.12390-19, Article 12390
• Main Authors: Dutta, Anupal Jyoti, Gogoi, Nababrot, Hussain, Firdush Zallah, Kulkarni, Sandeep D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/4077; 704/2151; Carbon dioxide; CO2 storage; Earth Sciences; Economic analysis; Geochemometrics; Geothermal energy; Geothermal power; Humanities and Social Sciences; Integrated approach; Monte Carlo simulation; multidisciplinary; Oil and gas fields; Petrography; Risk assessment; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sciences of the Universe; Storage capacity; Upper Assam Basin; Wells
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60292-3

This study proposes an integrated approach of assessing CO 2 storage potential and geothermal energy prospect based on the data of seventeen depleted wells of Upper Assam Basin which could assist the global objective of net zero transition. The petrophysical properties of Tipam, Barail and Lakadong + Therria Formations from the seventeen wells have been utilised to perform the Monte Carlo simulation for probabilistic estimation of the CO 2 storage in the Upper Assam Basin. This preliminary work showed that the mean storage capacity of 18.8 ± 0.7 MT, 19.8 ± 0.9 MT and 4.5 ± 0.8 MT could potentially be stored in the three geological formations of the basin. The corrected bottom hole temperature values for the studied seventeen wells were determined using the well log data and Waples and Harrison method; these values provided a static geothermal gradient for each well, which varies widely from 0.017 to 0.033 °C/m. In order to enable geothermal prospectivity, static formation temperature maps have been generated for the studied wells. The probabilistic assessment of stored heat-in-place and formation temperature maps delimited five prospective sites for the extraction of geothermal energy in the basin. The study also presented a risk assessment for CO 2 storage development in the basin. Further, the study illustrated an economic analysis of the implementation of a CO 2 storage project and geothermal operations in the basin.