The Southwestern Regional Partnership on CO2 Sequestration is conducting an Enhanced Coalbed Methane (ECBM)/Carbon Storage Pilot in the San Juan Basin as part of the ongoing DOE/NETL Carbon Capture and Storage Program. The primary goal of this pilot is to demonstrate the efficacy of using CO2 to enhance coalbed methane recovery particularly near reservoir abandonment pressure while also evaluating the suitability of coal seams for longer-term carbon storage. Successful demonstration results will be directly scalable to a large portion of the basin for significant, low-cost CO2 sequestration. ConocoPhillips' Pump Canyon pilot is located within the highly productive San Juan Basin Fruitland “Fairway”. The combination of high permeability and low water production at low reservoir pressure are well suited to assessing issues related to injectivity loss related to matrix swelling associated with CO2 injection. Basic geologic models of the coal seams are being developed from well logs in the area. Production histories from several surrounding CBM wells are also available. Seismic surveys and tiltmeter arrays are being utilized to monitor the injection of up to 75,000 tons of CO2 beginning September 2007.

Larger-scale geo-hydrodynamic simulations are being utilized to develop a regional model for the fluid dynamics of the northern San Juan Basin. Smaller-scale reservoir simulations, incorporating available lab and field data, are being utilized to develop an improved understanding of reservoir dynamics within the specific 640-acre pilot area. Both modeling scales are critical to assessing the suitability of deploying commercial carbon storage programs throughout the basin. Reservoir characterization results will be presented on the optimization of total CO2 injection volume, injection rate over time, and how CO2 is expected to disperse after injection.