Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) technologies are critical for putting energy systems around the world on a sustainable path. Although the importance of CCUS for achieving a clean energy transition is clear, deployment has been slow to take off with ~35 commercial CCUS operations worldwide (IEA, 2023).
Nevertheless, momentum is building with governments around the world establishing and communicating their ambitions for utilising CCUS to achieve their net-zero goals.
To achieve goals related to CCUS commercialisation, it is crucial for companies to fast-track exploration of suitable CCUS locations, and seismic data is a critical tool in enabling this. Seismic data will enable companies to significantly improve their knowledge of the subsurface, this, in turn, will enable them to experience benefits such as de-risking of “pre-drill” decisions during the exploration phase, improved overall safety, compliance, and effective monitoring of the subsurface during injection and post-injection, to avoid the loss of integrity.
We sat down with, Nick Tranter, who heads up our new energy seismic solutions division to learn more about the common challenges he has seen CCUS operators come up against in their quest for exploration of suitable CCUS locations and to understand how new seismic data and acquisition techniques can help overcome these...
The common challenges
Storage Integrity
"Primarily, we need to ensure the long and short-term safety of any project. For the long term, the CO2 injected needs to remain in the subsurface permanently. With operators being responsible for this, all risks of CO2 escape need to be understood and evaluated. In the short term, drilling risks need to be mitigated to avoid expensive mistakes. Seismic data provides knowledge and increased understanding of the subsurface, leading to better decisions and actions during the project lifespan."
Commercial challenges
"Ensuring CCUS projects are economically feasible is a big challenge to the sector due to issues associated with high drilling costs and tight margins. Financial support in the form of government grants, subsidies, or tax incentives, can help get projects off the ground, however, for most countries, these funds are either non-existent or very limited, as governments grapple with how to support the CCUS sector on their drive to net-zero.
"With limited budgets available during the exploration phase, legacy seismic data can be seen as an affordable, go-to, first-pass data source for exploring the subsurface to pinpoint viable CCUS well locations, but this data is often sparse and doesn’t have the detailed resolution to make informed decisions.
"STRYDE has developed a low-cost seismic sensor technology which has proven to reduce seismic acquisition costs by more than 50%, allowing new, high-resolution, and reliable seismic data acquisition to be feasible for the CCUS sector earlier in the exploration process, speeding up, and de-risking the project cycle."
Environmental and permitting challenges
"Most CCUS sites are located in close proximity to CO2 producers, like heavy industry plants. This throws up various challenges, from navigating around challenging environments with existing infrastructure to difficulty in obtaining permits, accessing sites, and many more.
"In recent times there has been an increased emphasis on sustainable and low environmental impact subsurface exploration. Whether this be limiting the environmental impact and disruption on agricultural fields in North America or operating discretely in heavily populated and busy urban spaces of Europe.
"As subsurface characterisation and modelling are key to getting CCUS applications approved, STRYDE technology, especially when operated together with low-environmental impact source technology, offers a unique, low carbon seismic solution. This supports the permitting process by demonstrating how companies will acquire the subsurface data required to get projects approved, whilst minimising land disruption and lowering the environmental footprint of seismic operations during the exploration phase. Further enabled by reducing project durations, operating with smaller crews and fewer vehicles when compared to conventional surveys.”
What does STRYDE’s solution to acquiring new seismic look like for the CCUS market?
"STRYDE Nodes™ are the world's smallest, lightest, and most affordable onshore seismic sensors on the market today. They can be used for all survey types, from 2D and 3D surveys to microseismic monitoring, the technology is adaptable to various survey sizes and geographic areas, allowing new seismic to be acquired:
- Quickly
- Cost-effectively
- With less environmental footprint
“For companies with limited internal resources, we also offer full turn-key seismic solutions, which include an end-to-end onshore seismic imaging solution comprising of survey planning, survey design, and optimisation, delivery of seismic acquisition programs using cutting-edge technology and techniques, and fast-track seismic data processing solutions – designed to deliver high-resolution, interpretation ready seismic data, faster than ever before.”
How has the CCUS market benefited from STRYDE?
"Over the past 2 years, we have enabled 10 seismic surveys for CCUS in the US and Canada, where we have helped companies acquire high-resolution seismic to explore optimal well locations for CO2 storage and ensure integrity throughout the project lifecycle, ranging from regional 2D scouting surveys and high-density 3D subsurface characterisation, to long-term monitoring of seismicity on CCUS operations.
"One high profile project we have been involved in was an ultra-high-density seismic data acquisition at the Carbon Management Canada site in Alberta, where the use of STRYDE broke a new world record for seismic trace density, at 257 million traces per sq. km. The dataset acquired is being used to drive new research into how we can further support imaging of the subsurface for the CCUS sector."
What would be your advice to CCUS operators looking to develop a CCUS site?
“To gain project approval for a CCUS site, the fundamental question of whether the CO2 can be safely stored in the subsurface must be answered and new seismic data is seen as the gold standard for proving this, by drastically enhancing the subsurface image resolution, and in turn, our knowledge.
“Gain as much data as you can. For CCUS, permitting is complex, project economics are tight, and long-term storage integrity responsibilities are the norm. Each aspect of this can be de-risked during the exploration lifecycle through seismic data.
“No matter the question (e.g., Is it geologically sound to store the CO2? How will the injection and plume evolve over time? What infrastructure needs to support this? How can we demonstrate the reservoir is a long-term safe solution and gain stakeholder's support?), it is the knowledge of what lies beneath the surface that will ultimately help drive projects forward, and legacy data lacks the level of granularity required to truly de-risk investment decisions.”
”The STRYDE solution has been meticulously designed to help operators overcome common challenges associated with onshore exploration by enabling companies to significantly reduce costs, de-risk ‘pre-drilling’ decisions and monitor safety risks through the project lifecycle. We offer a range of survey types including Scouting (regional 2D), Baseline (HD 3D – subsurface characterization), Monitoring (plume tracking), Monitoring (seismicity), and Baseline repeat (+3-5 years post-injection) – all enabled by our low-cost seismic technology that makes new seismic imaging affordable for the CCUS market."