The Otway International Test Centre
CO2CRC owns and operates the Otway International Test Centre – a world class test facility and the centrepiece of CCUS technology advancement in Australia and internationally for more than 15 years
Current operational services
The Otway International Test Centre provides:
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- Seven purpose drilled CO2 storage wells (>1.5km deep), within a ~1 km area, for CO2 injection and monitoring activities.
- Readily available supply of CO2 from an in-situ CO2 gas field.
- Variety of storage reservoir types, structures and seals.
- State-of-the-art seismic monitoring array for observing and benchmarking subsurface technologies and processes.
- All necessary regulatory approvals and support of local communities to complete CCUS investigations.
CCUS demonstration
The Otway International Test Centre gives industry and academia the opportunity to investigate and overcome engineering challenges and assess technical performance under operational conditions, prior to embarking on a commercial CCUS projects. CO2CRC provides leadership in managing multidisciplinary project teams across collaborating research organisations.
CO2CRC uses projects at the research facility to understand the impact of CCUS solutions in a global, economic, environmental and societal context. We demonstrate CO2 being securely separated, transported, stored and monitored. This enables project partners, political leaders, government officials, regulators and community to see and learn about CCUS in action.
CO2 storage validation
Several major CO2 storage trials between 2008 and 2020 injected over 95,000 tonnes of CO2 into a depleted gas field and saline formations. The storage of this CO2 is being monitored using an internationally renowned program to test advanced technologies and techniques. The monitoring program is the most comprehensive of its type in the world and aims to demonstrate how the cost of plume monitoring can be significantly reduced.
The Otway International Test Centre is used to demonstrate and verify:
Fundamental storage processes – CO2 trapping processes within depleted reservoirs and saline formation storage systems.
Integrity and assurance monitoring – monitoring technologies for stored CO2 behaviour, assuring freshwater aquifers and near surface/surface environments are protected.
Large scale storage options – depleted reservoirs and saline formations for storing globally significant volumes of CO2 .
Long term stabilisation – monitoring and modelling the CO2 plume stabilszation process.
Regulatory compliance – the CCUS regulatory approval pathway and regulatory compliance.
Variety of storage reservoir types, structures and seals
Major technologies trialled at the OITC
3D seismic imaging of the subsurface with Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) using surface and downhole fibre optics
Purpose: Acoustic measurement of the storage system to ensure safe injection and confirm CO2 flow behaviour.
Permanent pressure tomography and inversion monitoring
Purpose:Continuous pressure monitoring of the reservoir and/or above zone to ensure safe injection and confirm CO2 flow behaviour.
U-tube (low invasive) sampling system
Purpose: Fluid sampling of the CO2 storage formation.
Array of residual & dissolution trapping characterisation techniques
Purpose: Cost effective evaluation of secondary trapping potential and confirmation of CO2 flow behaviour
Tracers (noble, isotopic, organic)
Purpose: Creates a unique ‘fingerprint’ of the injected CO2 to track migration and assure containment.
Re-purposing existing wells
Purpose: Cost effective alternative to drilling new wells
Downhole pressure analysis
Purpose: Pressure measurements of reservoir and above zone to ensure safe injection and confirmation of CO2 flow behaviour
Time lapse CO2 saturation logging
Purpose: Rapid high-resolution measurement of CO2 saturation downhole to confirm CO2 flow behaviour
Assurance monitoring
Purpose: Cost effective assurance monitoring of CCS operations from a health, safely and the environment perspective
An array of permanent, low profile seismic sources combined with monitoring wells equipped with high definition fibre optics deliver time lapse seismic monitoring
Purpose: Continuous acoustic monitoring of the storage system to ensure safe injection and confirm CO2 flow behaviour
Distributed temperature sensing using down hole fibre optics
Purpose: Along-well temperature measurements to characterise reservoir properties and confirm CO2 containment, validate well integrity over the life of the project and to inform the operator of the performance of the well during injection or production operations.