Evaluation of Sequestration Options for Deep Saline Formations and Oil and Gas Fields in Eastern Ohio

Riley, Ronald A.; Solis, Michael P.; Erenpreiss, Matthew S.

A comprehensive characterization of geologic sequestration options in eastern Ohio and the upper Ohio River Valley area is being developed by the Ohio Geological Survey in cooperation with Battelle. This project is partially funded by the Ohio Coal Development Office. Eastern Ohio is a crucial area in which carbon sequestration options must be fully explored so that stakeholders may understand the potential options and costs of future carbon capture and storage technology. The primary task is to compile, assimilate, and interpret the most current geologic data pertinent to CO2 sequestration for eastern Ohio. This project includes both deep saline formations and oil and gas reservoirs that may have CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) potential.

Eastern Ohio contains numerous deep saline formations that have limited well penetrations, thus their lateral extents and injectivity properties are not well defined. Yet this region has one of the largest concentrations of large CO2 point sources in the United States. In Ohio, oil and gas fields hold the potential to store large amounts of CO2 while simultaneously producing hundreds of millions of barrels of additional oil through EOR.

To evaluate CO2 sequestration opportunities, updated maps and databases have been generated identifying the locations of all well cuttings, cores, oil and gas geophysical logs, porosity and permeability data, formation and well pressure data, brine geochemistry data, and injection wells. Subsurface horizons with high-data density also have been mapped to ascertain structural trends that are reflected at multiple horizons. These new maps include structure contours on the top of the Silurian Dayton Formation, the Devonian Onondaga Limestone, and the Berea Sandstone. Recent key investigations, such as the deep stratigraphic Precambrian test in Tuscarawas County and the East Canton oil field CO2-EOR project in Stark County, also have been incorporated into this project.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90163©2013AAPG 2013 Annual Convention and Exhibition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 19-22, 2013