News 2009
December 16, 2009: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Katherine Romanak presents "Modeling shallow groundwater geochemistry for CO2 storage evaluation at an EOR site, West Texas." Berkeley, CA
December 14-18, 2009: American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. Rebecca Smyth is an invited speaker presenting "Shallow Groundwater Monitoring at the SACROC Oilfield, Scurry County, TX: Good News for Geologic Storage of CO2 Despite a Complex Hydrogeologic and Geochemical Setting." Katherine Romanak presents "Soil-Gas Identification of Factors Affecting CO2 Concentrations Beneath a Playa Wetland: Implications for Environmental Monitoring at Carbon Storage Sites." Changbing Yang presents "CO2 Release Experiment in the Shallow Subsurface at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory and Numerical Modeling." Romanak and Yang co-convene the session "Natural and Anthropogenic Fluxes of CO2 from Subsurface Formations: Natural Analogues of Geologic Carbon Sequestration." Jiemin Lu presents poster "Reservoir fluid and gas chemistry during CO2 injection at Cranfield field, Mississippi, USA." San Francisco, CA
December 11, 2009: Bureau of Economic Geology Seminar Series. Katherine Romanak presents "Monitoring the behavior of CO2 in shallow environments: evidence from one natural and two industrial carbon-storage analogue sites." Austin, TX
The visitors to the P-site are (from left to right) Stuart Gilfillan (University of Edinburgh, Scotland) Susan Pfiffner (University of Tennessee) Yousif Kharaka (U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California) Tommy Phelps (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) Kim Gilbert (Ph.D. student, The University of Texas at Austin) and GCCC's Katherine Romanak.
December 6, 2009: Katherine Romanak hosted a tour of Cranfield's P-site, which GCCC researchers have established as a study site for determining how environmental factors affect near-surface monitoring at an engineered location. Romanak demonstrated methods used by BEG scientists to monitor the site and showed the scientists the first soil-gas data set collected.The scientists discussed preliminary interpretations of the data and numerous potential areas of collaboration were suggested.
December 6-8, 2009: UK-Texas CCS Technology and Legislation Seminar and EOR Carbon Management Workshop. Susan Hovorka moderates pre-conference workshop. Tip Meckel gives presentation on developing offshore CCS reservoirs. Rebecca Smyth presents results from groundwater monitoring study. Ian Duncan moderates round table and gives talk on MVA. Scott Tinker presents keynote address. Click here for full story. Houston, TX
Attendees at the UK-TX CCS Technology and Legislation Pre-Workshop Event. From left to right: Catherine Santamaria (British Consulate), Erin Miller (BEG), Dr. Carey King (Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Texas), Dr. May Arkawi (British Consulate), Rebecca Smyth (BEG), Dr. John Olson (Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas), Dr. Susan Hovorka (BEG), Dr. Tip Meckel (BEG), Dr. John Gluyas (University of Durham), Dr (Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas), Nick Huerta (Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas), Ian Havercroft (University College, London), Dr. Mike Stephenson (British Geological Survey), and Stuart Coleman (BEG).
November 17, 2009: Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE NETL) Annual Meeting. Susan Hovorka and JP Nicot attend. Pittsburgh, PA
November 4, 2009: Society of Petroleum Engineers Conference on CO2 Capture, Storage, and Utilization. Rebecca Smyth presents "Sampling and interpretation of groundwater properties near the SACROC CO2 EOR oilfield in west Texas." Susan Hovorka presents "How is monitoring sequestration in an EOR site different from monitoring sequestration in a storage-only site?" Tip Meckel presents "Results from continuous downhole monitoring (PDG) at a field-scale CO2 sequestration demonstration project, Cranfield." JP Nicot attends conference. San Diego, CA
October 29, 2009: University of Texas LAMP (Learning Activities for Mature People) part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Rebecca Smyth presents "The 'S' in Carbon Capture and Storage: An overview of CCS technology and politics in the U.S., with emphasis on geologic storage." Austin, TX
October 21, 2009: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. Ramón Treviño presents a review of SECARB Phases II and III and tours CO2 injection experiment. Potsdam and Ketzin, Germany. To read the full story, click here.
October 4, 2009: National Ground Water Association Theis Conference: Groundwater and Climate Change. Susan Hovorka presented "Managing Risk to Groundwater from Large Volume CO2 Sequestration." Boulder, CO
September 29-30, 2009: Southwest Regional Partnership for Carbon Sequestration Annual Meeting. Rebecca Smyth presented a talk summarizing the GCCC's work at SACROC (Scurry Area Canyon Reef Operators oilfield). Socorro, NM
September 29, 2009: Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security. Susan Hovorka presented "Questions from CO2 Injection Field Tests—Dense Data in Search of Analysis." Austin, TX
September 25, 2009: Carbon Capture and Sequestration Public Workshop at California State Bakersfield. Susan Hovorka gave overview of field projects entitled "Carbon Capture & Sequestration: Key Field Studies and Conclusions." Bakersfield, CA
September 23, 2009: GCCC graduate student Silvia Solano received one of four awards from the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) under its inaugural scholarship program. The scholarship provides tuition funding for the 2009-2010 academic year.
GCCC researchers JP Nicot and Ramon Treviño meet with Veronica Brieno Rankin.
September 14, 2009: GCCC hosted Veronica Brieno Rankin from GeoSeq International who presented "Geological Sequestration: What is the Current Status of the Legal and Regulatory Environment with the U.S. and Ongoing Issues that Need Reconciliation?" Austin, TX
September 11, 2009: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics. Tip Meckel presented UTIG Seminar "Monitoring of Carbon Sequestration." Austin, TX
September 11, 2009: Bureau of Economic Geology Fall Seminar Series. Susan Hovorka presented "Big Science and Big Funding - BEG Research Addressing CO2 Injection and Retention in the Deep Subsurface." Austin, TX
September 10, 2009: Innovative Technology for Energy and Environmental Sustainability for Americas Energy Coast. Ian Duncan and Charles Gibson of Denbury Resources addressed a leadership hearing on "Leveraging CO2 for Energy Production and Environmental Benefits." Gibson discussed the extent and nature and Denbury's EOR enterprise and Duncan gave an overview of CO2 issues in the Gulf Coast and some specifics on the aims of the SECARB Cranfield injection project. Both speakers were extensively questioned by members of the group's leadership committee that included members from Shell and Chevron as well as a number of environmental groups. New Orleans, LA
August 23-29, 2009: GCCC student Stuart Coleman attended the IEA Greenhouse Gas Programme Summer School in Lorne, Victoria, Australia hosted by CO2 CRC. As part of the IEAGHG Summer course, Coleman visited Otway Basin Project, Australia's first carbon capture and storage demonstration plant. Coleman presented his team's project "Can CCS be part of an integrated, sustainable and secure energy system?". Coleman's team was awarded first place among all the groups in the program.
August 27, 2009: University of Texas GCCC receives awards for three projects involving carbon sequestration technology and education by DOE/NETL. To read the full story, click here.
August 21, 2009: COAL-GEN 2009. Rebecca Smyth was a panelist in a session on carbon sequestration project and submitted the abstract "GCCC and CCS" to the meeting. Charlotte, NC
July 23, 2009: Carbon Sequestration Development and Finance Summit. Tip Meckel presented a talk "Monitoring large-volume EOR injection, Cranfield, MS." Ian Duncan served on the panel "Sequestration Technology Risk." Houston, TX
July 22, 2009 : GCCC Participates in Recovery Act. The Gulf Coast Carbon Center (GCCC) is joining with many of their partners to compete for awards that will fund key research in carbon sequestration under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. To read the full story, click here.
July 21, 2009: Texas Passes Significant CCS Legislation. In the spring of 2009, the 81st Texas Legislature passed landmark legislation to increase the options for Texas industries to reduce their carbon emissions through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). To read the full story, click here.
June 25, 2009: Junior Statesmen of America 75th Annual Meeting. Becky Smyth gave overview of CCS in the House Chambers of the Texas State Capitol. Austin, TX
June 24, 2009: American Association of State Geologists. BEG Director Scott Tinker presented a poster prepared by Becky Smyth and Ramon Treviño. The poster is an overview of the GCCC's current research with emphasis on SECARB and SWP. Park City, UT
June 9, 2009: American Association of Petroeum Engineers Society for Sedimentary Geology (AAPM SEPM) Annual Convention. Susan Hovorka presents "Risks and Benefits of Geologic Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide—How Do the Pieces Fit?" Denver, CO
June 9, 2009: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Society for Sedimentary Geology (AAPG SEPM) Annual Convention. Ramon Treviño presents "Sequence Stratigraphy of the Tuscaloosa at Cranfield Field, Mississippi—A Carbon Sequestration Study in an Enhanced Oil Recovery Operation." Denver, CO
June 9, 2009: American Association of Petroeum Engineers Society for Sedimentary Geology (AAPM SEPM) Annual Convention. Tip Meckel presents "Continuous Real-Time Pressure Monitoring During a CO2-EOR Project from Cranfield, MS and Relevance for Geologic Sequestration." Denver, CO
June 2-3, 2009: Research Review Meeting for the Luminant Carbon Management Program. Katherine Romanak and Changbing Yang attended. Changbing Yang gave a presentation. Austin, TX
June 1-5, 2009: IEA GHG Research and Development Program, Monitoring Workshop. Susan Hovorka served as part of the organizing committee and presented an update on progress of the US regional Carbon Sequestration partnerships program, including results at Cranfield. Tokyo, Japan
May 31, 2009: IEA GHG Research and Development Program, Review of the Otway Pilot Project. Susan Hovorka served as a reviewer Tokyo, Japan
May 24-27, 2009: American Geophysical Union meeting. Katherine Romanak gave a presentation. Toronto, ON Canada
May 20, 2009: GCCC hosted meeting with Kinder Morgan. All GCCC staff in attendance and Ian Duncan, Susan Hovorka, Becky Smyth, and Katherine Romanak gave presentations. Austin, TX
May 12-13, 2009: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Trade Fair. Becky Smyth gave a presentation. Click here to view [PDF]. Austin, TX
May 5-7, 2009: DOE/NETL 8th Annual Conference. Ramon Treviño gave presentations on the results of SECARB Phase II "Stacked Storage" at Cranfield and phase III progress and plans. JP Nicot presented a poster "Results of Numerical Investigations at SECARB Cranfield, MS Field Test Site." Pittsburgh, PA
April 28, 2009: GCCC hosted Brian Strazisar and Donald Martello from the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOE/NETL). Austin TX
April 20, 2009: Ramon Treviño gave a presentation on general geology and an introduction to CCS to Boy Scout Troop 385. Kingsville, TX
April 6-9, 2009: Southwest Partnership, Phase III Kick-off meeting. Katherine Romanak attended. Utah
March 26, 2009: Johns Hopkins University. Susan Hovorka presented the BEG Centennial Lecture as part of the Bureau's centennial celebration. She will present the lecture three more times around the country throughout 2009. A trip report is posted on the GCCC Forum. Baltimore, MD
March 23, 2009: GCCC hosted visitors from China from the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Production (RIPED). Ian Duncan, Susan Hovorka, Tip Meckel, Becky Smyth, Changbing Yang and Jiemin Lu attended and gave presentations. Jiemin Lu served as a guide for a tour of Cranfield field hosted by Denbury. Austin, TX/ Natchez MS
March 16-18, 2009: South Central Geological Society of America meeting. Becky Smyth attended and gave a presentation on SACROC , Dallas, TX
GCCC student Alex Urquhart amazes a crowd with soap bubbles floating on CO2 gas, showing that gas is real, although invisible. [Photo by Changbing Yang].
March 7, 2009: Seven GCCC staff presented a booth showing "What to do with CO2" at Explore UT, the annual University of Texas at Austin public open house. More than 10,000 Students, teachers, and adults were in attendance, and all those who attended the GCCC presentation were quite engaged.
March 5 and 6, 2009: Sue Hovorka joined an expert review panel to contribute an overview of results from field studies at an informational workshop organized by National Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense. The first day focused on providing information to financial and insurance stakeholders and was hosted by Bloomberg, in Manhattan. The second day was in Washington DC hosted in the House office building.
March 2- 3, 2009: Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) 2009 Stakeholder Meeting. Ramon Treviño attended and gave overview and status presentations on SECARB Phases II and III. Atlanta, GA
Feb 10-17, 2009: Sue Hovorka presented at IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme network meeting proposing establishment of a modeling network . Her paper discussed the intersection of modeling with monitoring, highlighting the difficulty of making a unique history match from monitoring data that was convincing in a regulatory environment and able to document that the reservoir is performing correctly. She then went to visit the British Geological Survey CCS group in Nottingham, to visit Stuart Haszeldine's group at University of Edinburgh, and returned to visit the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in Westminster.
February 9, 2009: Ramon Treviño, Project Manager, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin, gave a presentation on "Overview of Carbon Dioxide Storage (Sequestration)" at the Coastal Bend Bays Foundation Coastal Issues Forums. www.baysfoundation.org. Truan Natural Resources Center, Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, Texas.
January 14-15, 2009: The GCCC convened it's 2008 Review/2009 Planning meeting at the Bureau of Economic Geology with more than 40 in attendance. Among other topics, attendees received a review of GCCC efforts during the previous year, including outreach, training, funding, publications, and a summary of legislative activities. The second day's activities were focused on planning for the consortium's efforts during 2009, ending with approval of a plan for action items in the coming year.
