Characterization of a World Class Carbon Dioxide Storage Complex in Kemper County, Mississippi, USA

The southeastern United States contains the nation’s largest CO₂ emission point-sources, and the regional geology hosts a suite of structures with considerable CO₂ storage potential. The Project ECO₂S storage site encompasses 12,000 hectares adjacent to Mississippi Power Company’s (MPC) Kemper County energy facility in Mississippi, U.S.A. The stratigraphy of the site consists of stacked storage reservoirs and baffles with thick overlying seals. A comprehensive research team was assembled from 17 universities, national laboratories, non-profit institutes, and private companies to assess the storage potential and petrophysical parameters at the site.

The project focuses on assessing a broad suite of reservoir and confining properties for the Paluxy Formation, the Washita-Fredericksburg interval, the Lower Tuscaloosa Group ‘Massive Sand’ and the ‘Marine’ Tuscaloosa from three characterization wells drilled in the summer of 2017. Project objectives focus on: 1) confirm storage reservoir volumetric properties and develop a dataset on flow parameters; 2) advanced core tests; 3) caprock studies; 4) descriptions of depositional facies, rock types, and mineralogies of storage reservoirs and caprocks; 5) rock mechanics modelling; 6) fluid-rock geochemical interaction modelling; and 7) an evaluation of existing 2D seismic data.

In conjunction with geotechnical assessment of study area, the successful development and execution of a large-scale CO₂ storage project necessitates a strong risk management plan. A workshop was conducted to identify and evaluate the principal risks. Identifying and evaluating every important source of risk is of key interest to future owners/operators of such a project. The results of these analyses will inform a reservoir simulation of commercial scale CO₂ storage and a project risk assessment.

Project ECO₂S is part of the CarbonSAFE Program and is financially supported by the USDOE-NETL and Mississippi Power Company. The project is managed by the Southern States Energy Board. Technical Support is provided by Southern Company Research and Development.