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A geochemical perspective and assessment of leakage potential for a mature carbon dioxide–enhanced oil recovery project and as a prototype for carbon dioxide sequestration; Rangely field, Colorado

¹ Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado; rklusman{at}mines.edu

Ron Klusman received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Indiana University in 1964 and a Ph.D. in geology and geochemistry from Indiana University in 1969. During graduate studies, he was employed as an instrumental analyst at the Indiana Geological Survey. From 1969 to 1972, he was an assistant professor of geosciences at Purdue University. From 1972 to 2001, he was associate professor and professor of chemistry and geochemistry at the Colorado School of Mines, retiring in 2001. The Rangely research culminates an extensive research record in soil gas, and the Rangely work was primarily done in retirement.

Measurements of CO₂ and CH₄ soil gas concentrations and gas exchange with the atmosphere at a large-scale CO₂-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operation at Rangely, Colorado, United States allowed assessment of the microseepage potential. Shallow and deep soil gas concentrations and direct transport of CO₂ and CH₄, complemented by carbon isotopes, have demonstrated an estimated microseepage rate to the atmosphere of approximately 400 t CH₄/yr from the 78-km² area of the Rangely field. Preliminary estimates of deep-sourced CO₂ losses are in the range of 170 to less than 3800 t/yr. Several holes as much as 9 m deep for nested sampling of gas composition, stable carbon isotopic ratios for CO₂ and CH₄, and carbon-14 measurements on CO₂ indicate that deep-sourced CO₂ microseepage loss was detected. Methanotrophic oxidation of microseeping CH₄ to CO₂ in soils demonstrates significant contribution to soil gas CO₂ in high CH₄ flux areas, necessitating a revision of the estimated direct CO₂ microseepage rate to less than 170 t/yr over the Rangely field.

An evaluation of produced water quality from pre-CO₂-EOR to 1999 demonstrates an increase in some parameters, particularly of Ca²⁺ and HCO₃^–, indicating dissolution of ferroan calcite and ferroan dolomite in the Weber Formation. Inverse computer modeling suggested carbonate mineral sequestration was possible within the constraints of evolution of produced water quality. X-ray analyses of well scales, however, do not support the presence of significant mineral sequestration. Instead, modeling indicates that the bulk of the CO₂ that has been injected since 1986 is sequestered as dissolved CO₂.

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