When Storage Capacity Isn’t the Limitation: Understanding Injectivity and Containment Risk in CCS

The Challenge: An operator needed to know whether a deep saline aquifer could sustain decades of commercial CO₂ injection before committing to major infrastructure. 

With no production history, uncertain geology, complex faults, and variable injection compositions, the risk associated with injecting CO2 into the subsurface was considerable.

This project focused on several key questions:

• Can the reservoirs sustain commercial-scale injection rates?
• How sensitive is injectivity to geological uncertainty?
• How will plume migration interact with nearby faults?
• What impact do CO₂ impurities have on storage performance?
• How should wells be placed and managed over time?
• What surface conditions are needed for stable, year-round injection?