Granted Patent B2

US 12,655,723 · App. 18/658,242 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Hsieh Chen (Cambridge, MA); Bora Yoon (Watertown, MA); Martin E. Poitzsch (Northumberland, NH)

Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY

E21B41/0064E21B47/11E21B49/00G01V9/00G01V20/00

Abstract

Claims (50)

1 . A method for sequestering carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in a formation, the method comprising:

providing an injection well extending into the formation;

injecting at least two tracers into the injection well to the formation, wherein the at least two tracers are selected from the group consisting of a passive tracer, a porosity-sensing tracer, a mineralogy-sensing tracer, and combinations thereof;

collecting injected tracers at a surface of the formation;

obtaining tracer data from the collected tracers;

determining, by a computer system, a geological property with the obtained tracer data and a history matching algorithm;

optimizing a CO 2 injection rate for CO 2 sequestration in the formation based on the determined geological property; and

injecting CO 2 into the formation with the optimized CO 2 injection rate.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 injection rate is optimized by manual adjustment, wherein the manual adjustment comprises:

increasing injection rates to areas in the formation with high CO 2 -reactive minerals for faster CO 2 mineralization.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 injection rate is optimized by manual adjustment, wherein the manual adjustment comprises:

increasing the CO 2 injection rate to areas in the formation with higher porosity to achieve higher injectivity and storage volume.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

holding the injected tracers in the injection well for a period of time prior to obtaining the tracer data; and

returning the injected tracers through the injection well to collect the injected tracers at the surface.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a production well extending into the formation, wherein the production well is spaced apart from the injection well;

applying a pressure in the injection well to inject the tracers a distance into the formation; and

monitoring tracer breakthrough in the production well prior to obtaining the tracer data.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the computer system, the optimized CO 2 injection rate for CO 2 sequestration using an optimization algorithm and the determined geological property; and

transmitting, by the computer system, the optimized CO 2 injection rate to control injection of CO 2 into the injection well.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

generating, by the computer system, initial control parameters;

initiating, by the computer system, a predictive simulation with CO 2 geosequestration site models and the initial control parameters; and

calculating, by the computer system, an objective function from the predictive simulation, wherein the objective function is the total amount of sequestered CO 2 , a total amount of CO 2 storage capacity, or both.

8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

approximating, by the computer system, a gradient;

generating, by the computer system, new control parameters with a steepest ascent algorithm;

generating, by the computer system, the objective function with the predictive simulation, the CO 2 geosequestration site models, and the new control parameters; and

determining, by the computer system, if termination criteria have been met.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating, by the computer system, an initial CO 2 geosequestration site model with geological software;

initiating, by the computer system, a predictive simulation with a prior CO 2 geosequestration site model to predict tracer breakthrough data;

comparing, by the computer system, the obtained tracer data with the predictive simulation to generate an improved CO 2 geosequestration site model; and

determining, by the computer system, if criteria for iteration termination have been met.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the passive tracer does not interact with the formation,

the porosity-sensing tracer is configured to characterize a subsurface formation porosity,

the mineralogy-sensing tracer is configured to relate the distribution of one or more minerals of a subsurface formation, and

the mineralogy-sensing tracer comprises one or more selected from a mineralogy-sensing transformative tracer, a mineralogy-sensing retentive tracer, and combinations thereof.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the passive tracer is one or more selected from the group consisting of dipicolinic acid (DPA), 4,7-bis(sulfonatophenyl)-1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxylic acid (BSPPDA), 2-fluorobenzoic acid, 3-fluorobenzoic acid, 4-fluorobenzoic acid, 2,3-difluorobenzoic acid, 2,4-difluorobenzoic acid, 2,5-difluorobenzoic acid, 3,4-difluorobenzoic acid, sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN), sodium bromide (NaBr), and combinations thereof.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the porosity-sensing tracer is selected from the group consisting of as poly (1-vinyl imidazole-co-4-trifluoromethylstyrene), poly(3-(1-vinyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium-3-yl)propane-1-sulfonate-co-4-trifluoromethylstyrene), poly (3-(1-vinyl -1H-imidazol-3-ium-3-yl)propane-1-sulfonate), and combinations thereof.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mineralogy-sensing tracer is selected from the group consisting of clarithromycin, roxithromycin, pulses of fresh water, pulses of acid, Mg, Ca, Si, Cr, Ni, Cu, methane, hydrogen, potassium acid phthalate, ascorbic acid, imidazole, 2-methylimidazole, 2-methylpyridine, and 3-methylpyridine, and combinations thereof.

14 . A method for determining a geological property of a formation, the method comprising:

injecting at least two tracers into the injection well to the formation, wherein the at least two tracers are selected from the group consisting of a passive tracer, a porosity-sensing tracer, a mineralogy-sensing tracer, and combinations thereof;

collecting injected tracers at a surface of the formation;

obtaining tracer data from the collected injected tracers; and

determining, by a computer system, the geological property with the obtained tracer data and a history matching algorithm.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising optimizing carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sequestration based on a determined mineralogy distribution of the formation.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (27)