Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has worked with several domestic oil companies to develop an advanced reservoir-monitoring technology. Using the supercomputing power of its HPC machines, Livermore and its industry partners developed a technique that integrates separate measurement data to predict subsurface fluid distribution, temperature and pressure. The system obviates the need for numerous observation wells, and the low-cost system works well for oil and gas recovery; carbon capture and sequestration; and geothermal energy.
The system is already in use to track injected carbon dioxide in projects in Wyoming (Anadarko’s Salt Creek field) and Saskatchewan. Additionally, Chevron is employing the approach to increase recovery and improve environmental performance at its enhanced oil recovery projects in California. Through modeling and simulation, private sector participants have improved well recovery and reduced failure risk.
