3.3.4 Other anthropogenic leakage events

Hydraulic fracturing is a method which is commonly used in shale gas production and is also used in methane production from coal seams (e.g. Wo et al., 2005). The method is applied to artificially create fractures in the reservoir rock (in that case a shale or coal seam) in order to increase its permeability. The risks of fracturing in relation to geological storage of CO2 are somewhat different in the two applications. These are therefore treated separately below.

It is possible that the reservoir of a shale gas producing geological unit is part of the caprock of a geological storage of CO2. Hydraulic fracturing in connection to shale gas exploration and extraction is an example of conflict of interest since hydraulic fracturing will increase the permeability of the caprock. Therefore, an increased risk of leakage from the CO2 storage site might be expected, if there is gas shale production in the caprock.

Methane production and/or geological storage of CO2 in deep coal seams may include fracturing of the coal bed in order to increase the permeability. During this process there is a risk that fractures could extend into the caprock, decreasing cap rock integrity. However, hydraulic fractures are artificially created, and their extension can therefore to some extent be controlled. The vertical extension of hydraulic fractures is dependent on in-situ stress state of the bedrock, elastic moduli of the bedrock, fracture toughness, formation leak-off pressure and fluid flow. The growth of vertical fractures can be modelled using linear elastic fracture models and the risks can be reduced if the propagation of the fractures can be monitored (Wo et al., 2005).

During methane production, methane is desorbed from the coal. This process may cause shrinkage of the coal reservoir volume and affect the overlying bedrock integrity (Wo et al., 2005), which may either be the caprock of a coal seam CO2 storage site or form part of the sealing formations for CO2 storage in, for instance, a deep saline aquifer.

If the amount of injected CO2 is greater than the storage capacity of the reservoir, dissolute CO2 may be transported from the storage complex by natural fluid flow to areas where the geological conditions are less well known and potential leakage pathways may not have been identified. This migration event may happen if storage capacity of the reservoir has been grossly underestimated during the initial site characterisation process. However, a well-functioning monitoring program during injection will detect if the movements of the CO2 plume goes beyond the anticipated reservoir and injection can be stopped. The CGS Europe Key Report 1 provides an extensive review of monitoring techniques. However, it should be noted that through the detailed geoscientific surveys undertaken during the site characterisation stage of the storage life cycle, storage capacity and the minimum capacity in particular should be well known so migration out of the storage complex should not occur.