Geological CO2 Storage Characterization

Ronald C. Surdam and co-authors have published 240 articles in refereed scientific journals and books. He has presented more than 300 invited lectures, and he and his students have given more than 250 presentations at scientific meetings, nationally and internationally. In 32 years at the University of Wyoming, Surdam raised $32 million in research support. While at UW, he founded and directed the Institute for Energy Research and directed the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute. Surdam has consulted for many international energy and mineral exploration corporations: this work along with his tenure at UW has given him extensive experience with energy and environmental issues and research around the world. Another accomplishment by Surdam and his colleague Zunsheng Jiao from 1997-2000 was their role in assisting McMurry Oil Company in the rediscovery and development of the giant Jonah gas field (14 TCF reserves). They assisted by developing an innovative discovery technology that substantially reduced risk in detecting and delineating natural gas production sweet spots in anomalously pressured tight-gas sandstone reservoirs. Over the past 45 years, Surdam has focused on oil and gas exploration, oil shale and trona depositional systems, coal and zeolite deposits in the Rocky Mountain Laramide basins of Wyoming and other states, and anomalously pressured natural gas accumulations and geological CO2 storage around the world. He has served the State of Wyoming in numerous capacities, most recently as Director of the Wyoming State Geological Survey. Currently, as Director of the University of Wyoming Carbon Management Institute and Principal Investigator of the Wyoming Carbon Underground Storage Project ($20 million), Surdam is helping lead the effort to accomplish commercial geological CO2 sequestration in the Rocky Mountain region. As a visiting professor at three Chinese universities, he is assisting with carbon storage in the Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces of China.

• Geological Observations Supporting Dynamic Climatic Changes.-The Story of the Wyoming Carbon Underground Storage Project (WY-CUSP), and the Regional Inventory and Prioritization of Potential CO2 Storage Reservoirs in Wyoming.-Legal Framework: Carbon Storage Regulations and Access for the Wyoming Carbon Underground Storage Project (WY-CUSP) .-A Strategy for Designing an Optimal Characterization Study of the Premier Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage Site in Wyoming.-Regional Geologic History, CO2 Source Inventory, and Groundwater Risk Assessment of a Potential CO2 Sequestration Site on the Rock Springs Uplift in Southwest Wyoming.-Detailed Geologic Characterization of Core and Well Data from the Weber and Madison Formations and Associated Seals at a Potential CO2 Sequestration Site in Southwest Wyoming: Defining the Lithologic, Geochemical, Diagenetic, and Burial Histories Relative to Successful CO2 Storage.-Utility of 3-D Seismic Attribute Analysis and VSP for Assessing Potential Carbon Sequestration Targets on the Rock Springs Uplift, Southwest Wyoming.-Reservoir Fluid Characterization of the Weber Sandstone and Madison Limestone on the Rock Springs Uplift in Southwest Wyoming.-Predicting Permeability in the Targeted Geological CO2 Storage Reservoirs on the Rock Springs Uplift, Southwest Wyoming.-Advances in Estimating the Geologic CO2 Storage Capacity of the Madison Limestone and Weber Sandstone in the Rock Springs Uplift by Utilizing Detailed 3-D Reservoir Characterization and Geologic Uncertainty Reduction.-Displaced Fluid Management —the Key to Commercial-Scale Geologic CO2 Storage.-The Carbon Management Institute’s Integrated CO2 Storage/EOR Strategy: the Advantages of Deploying Innovative, Multiple-resource Development Strategies Designed to Foster Sustainability of Energy and Environmental Resources.-A Feasibility Study of the Integration ofGeologic CO2 Storage with Enhanced Oil Recovery (CO2 Flooding) in the Ordos Basin, China.-Summary of the WY-CUSP Characterization Program.