5.3.3 Pressure response

The effects of the underlying and overlying mud rocks on the reservoir pressure during CO2 injection based on rock and fluid compressibilities have been studied using a commercial numerical simulator called CMG-GEM by Chang et al., 2011. The geological characteristics of a typical oil field near a salt diapir in the Gulf Coast basin in the Southern United States are used in this theoretical study. The authors proposed that compressible mudrock layers surrounding a target formation would increase the compressibility of the whole storage system, thus resulting in a lower pressure increase than would otherwise be. Consequently, the risk of failure/reactivation of pre-existing weak or discontinuous structures would be reduced. Moreover, vertical pressure diffusion into the compressible mudrock is shown to result in slower lateral pressure propagation.