Evaluating the potential of depleted oil reservoirs for CO2 sequestration through simulation modeling

Leading to achieve net zero emissions, performing carbon capture and storage (CCS) on a large scale is becoming more necessary, especially for developing countries, which are highly affected by the continuously increasing release of carbon dioxide (CO2). It has also been observed that developing countries does not participate much in the release of CO2 in the atmosphere but are highly influenced by global warming because of geological location. Therefore, addressing challenges of climate changes and its impacts requires high-capacity storage in safe and reliable locations. Depleted oil and gas reservoirs offer a valuable option to store CO2 due to their adequate porosity and permeability. In this research, an effort has been made to provide a simulation study and comprehensive analysis of CO2 storage through reservoir simulation in subsurface oil reservoir. In contrast to prior works, this research article introduces a simulation approach to assess the feasibility of CO2 storage in an oil reservoir. Storage in an oil reservoir was modeled using a commercial compositional simulator. CO2 behavior during injection is examined using gas injection profiles throughout the injection duration and injection rate. Results of the study demonstrate that reservoir pressure changes equally in all layers and grid blocks making the evaluated reservoir suitable for CO2 storage. Bottom hole pressure (BHP) behavior during injection shows the feasibility of CO2 storage. The analysis revealed that continuous injection of CO2 at a rate of 3500 Mscf/ day over a period of 10 years led to a successful storage scenario, with the reservoir reaching its space limit and the injection rate dropping to zero. These results suggest the viability and effectiveness of CO2 storage as a means of mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (c) 2025 The Authors. Publishing services provided by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).