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Australian School of Petroleum

The University of Adelaide Australia

Research

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Basin Modelling

Basin modelling is an important tool for understanding petroleum systems in sedimentary basins.

The ASP uses 1D/2D/3D modelling of frontier to mature basins to answer questions about source rocks, migration and type of hydrocarbon charge.

Current Projects

Understanding hydrocarbon generation, migration and charge history of the Bass Basin. Regional controls on hydrocarbon charge in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin.

Previous studies include the Amadeus, Bass, Sorell, Canning and Bonaparte Basins.

People

Staff

Peter Tingate

Student

Natt Arian

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The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies

Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions to the Atmosphere

People

Staff

John Kaldi, Bruce Ainsworth, Mark Bunch, Ric DanielRichard Hillis, Saju Menacherry, Ulrike Schacht,   Nicole Dobrzinzki, Sally Holl, Guillaume Backe, David Haberlah, Simon Mockler

Staff undertaking a PhD degree

Sally-Anne EdwardsMyles Regan and Jacques Sayers

The Australian School of Petroleum is a part of the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC), one of the world's leading collaborative research organisations focused on carbon dioxide (CO2) capture and geological storage (geosequestration).

More than 100 researchers from Australia and New Zealand are collaborating to develop safe and economical CO2 geosequestration technologies that will make deep cuts in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, reduce the potential impact of climate change. The CRC commenced in October 2003, building on an extensive program of geological storage research undertaken by the APCRC GEODISC Program.

CO2CRC staff at the Australian School of Petroleum (ASP), University of Adelaide, are predominantly involved in storage research projects comprising both fundamental and applied areas of research. The prime focus of the research is the selection of storage sites, their adequate characterisation with respect of storage capacity, and an understanding of the physical and chemical processess which will take place during and after injection. In addition, an understanding and selection of the technologies available for monitoring the movement of the stored CO2 and an assessment of the riskes associated with all phases of the process from major components of the research activites.

Key Research Projects, Regional Studies and Demonstration Projects

At the Australian School of Petroleum Researchers are focusing on the following areas

Researchers based at the Australian School of Petroleum are currently or have recently been involved in a number of regional studies

More information about CO2CRC and its projects, including the Otway Geosequestration Research Project in south-western Victoria, is available at www.co2crc.com.au

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Improved Business Performance Group

People

Staff

Steve Begg and Matthew Welsh

PhD Students

Steve Mackie and Bernadus Wahyuputro

Honours Students

Mitchell Oliver (ASP), Anthony Heywood-Smith (ASP), Belinda Bruza (School of Psychology)

The Improved Business Performance Group (IBPG) is a research group within the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide, dedicated to improving economic outcomes in industries such as Oil and Gas that operate under conditions of uncertainty. Our expertise is in the application of economic, psychological and management theory to real world problems faced by industry managers and technical specialists.

Our research is funded by a combination of government grants programs and linkages with industry partners, either through funding for specific programs or generally through their support of our "research club" the Centre for Improved Business Performance (CIBP). We conduct our research in association with staff from the University of Adelaide's Graduate School of Business and School of Psychology and international collaborators from the University of Stavanger in Norway and UC Irvine in the United States.

Information about our current online research projects is available on our Questionnaire and Survey site, along with contact details for the responsible researchers.

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Petroleum Geomechanics Group

The petroleum geomechanics group within the Australian School of Petroleum consists of petroleum geoscientists and engineers with expertise on petroleum geomechanics, tectonics and neotectonics. The group has research funding from the ARC, the petroleum and geothermal industries, state government and the CO2 CRC. Major projects include the 'Australian Stress Map', 'Stress and Neotectonics of Borneo' and 'Geomechanics of CO2 Sequestration'. The group also provides consulting and training on in situ stress determination, stress modelling, wellbore stability, fracture stimulation and seal integrity.

For more information, please visit our website.

People

Staff

Richard Hillis, David Inkster, Rosalind King, Noune Melkoumian, Peter van Ruth, and Mark Tingay (G&G)

PhD Students

Natt Arian, Ella Maria Llanos, Cameron Morelli, Marie Neubauer, Ta Quoc Dung, Claire Rogers, Jacques Sayers

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Reservoir Analogues Research Group (RARG)

People

Staff

Bruce Ainsworth, Kathryn Amos, Ric Daniel, Sally-Anne Edwards, Catherine Gibson-Poole, Carmen Krapf, Boyan Vakarelov, Mario Werner

PhD students

Treena Bron, Kerrie Deller, Blaise Fernandes, Kaia Little, Saju Menacherry, Francisco Monteiro, Sarah Riordan, Marianne Sandstrom, Mark Reilly, Ben Royal, Jess Davies (G&G)

Masters students

Homoud Al Anzi, Amir Hidayat, Emma King, Stephen Wood, Christoph von Hagke (Aachen, Germany)

The main focus of RARG is the documentation of modern and ancient reservoir analogues across a range of depositional environments (dryland, marginal marine, deep water) with the aim of improving hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation techniques. Definition and prediction of stratigraphic architectures and ranges of potential reservoir and heterogeneity geometries are core components of the group's work. The sedimentology and stratigraphy expertise in the group is complimented by seismic and 3D reservoir modelling expertise which permits the direct application of outcrop and subsurface data to hydrocarbon extraction issues.

RARG is the largest sedimentology/stratigraphy research group in the southern hemisphere (15+ active members). Two major company funded research consortiums are run by the group: Lake Eyre Basin Research Group (LEBARG) - focussed on dryland reservoirs; and the WAVE Consortium - focussed on the prediction of reservoir geometries and heterogeneities in wave-influenced marginal marine systems. The group also conducts research into the impacts of depositional architecture on CO2 migration and sequestration.

For more information, please visit our website.

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Reservoir Characterisation at Pore Level

The ASP has staff investigating the petrology and diagenesis of reservoirs associated with petroleum and CO2 sequestration. A mixture of research and consulting work is carried out in the Petrology Lab at ASP.

Current Projects

Investigating CO2-related diagenesis in the Otway, Gippsland and Cooper Basins.

People

Staff

Ulrike Schacht, Peter Tingate and Max Watson

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Seals Research Group

Seals research at the Australian School of Petroleum (ASP) consist of a group of petroleum sedimentologists characterising fine grained sediments in terms of mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) seal capacity , scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-Ray mineralogy and Gamma logs. Research in present day seal analogues are also incorporated into the characterisation to gain a fuller understanding of seal thickness, areal extent and depositional environments.

The principal analytical tool used is an Autopore 9410 mercury injection capillary pressure porosimeter, which is housed at the ASP, is used in the evaluation of reservoir lithologies, cap seals, intra-formational seals and fault seals. MICP measurements may be integrated with seismic to microstructural data to provide a robust basis for interpretation of the reservoir potential, sealing capacity and stability/strength of individual strata.

A range of MICP-based services is offered by the ASP including non-wetting phase directional injection and withdrawal, pore network characterisation, free water level determination, calculation of reservoir efficiency, empirical cuttings to core data correction, calculation of hydrocarbon column heights and integration with scanning electron microscope sample analysis and XRD mineralogy.

People

Staff

Ric Daniel, John Kaldi, Boyan Vakarelov

Students

Marianne Sandstrom

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Centre for Improved Petroleum Recovery (CIPR)

People

Staff

Hemanta Sarma

PhD students

Mohammed Al-Khaldi, Jan Bon, Prashant Jadhawar

Masters students

Shyamol Das

The Centre for Improved Petroleum Recovery (CIPR) is a research group at Australian School of Petroleum, The University of Adelaide; working to improve and enhance reservoir production. The group has research funding from Santos Ltd, Beach Petroleum and in-kind lab support from PetroLab.

Present Projects

  • Modelling of CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Miscibility and Interactions with Oil to Enhance the Oil Recovery in Gas Flooding Processes
  • Technical Evaluation of CO2 flood in Cooper Basin, Australia in Tight Reservoirs through Laboratory and Modelling Studies
  • An Investigation of Carbon Sequestration/Enhanced Coal-Bed Methane Potential in Australian Coals: A Simulation Study for Sydney Coal Basin
  • Reservoir Simulation Studies of Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage Process for EOR
  • Reaction of Organic Acids with Calcite/Dolomite during Well Stimulation in Saudi Arabian Reservoirs
  • Screening of Selected Australian Reservoirs for Air Injection Process and Investigation of its Potential in Tight Light-Oil Reservoirs

Projects Under Consideration

  • Investigation Potential of Microbial EOR Process in Australian Reservoirs
  • Enhanced coal-bed methane recovery using CO2 and N2 (or air)
  • Using CO2 to produce methane from methane-hydrate reservoirs and to sequester green-house CO2 gases
  • Development of tight-gas reservoirs: A study of the reservoir engineering and production aspects
  • Investigation and modelling of asphaltene precipitation and deposition in gas injection processes

Research Facilities

CIPR has access to the following ASP lab facilities, such as:

  • High-pressure high-temperature automated coreflood apparatus
  • Porosimeter, Permeameter, Viscometer, Densitometer
  • Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometer
  • High pressure automated PVT apparatus

Software

  • Full suite of CMG reservoir simulators
  • Full suite of Neotec software for production engineering and multiphase flow
  • Others (Petroleum Experts, Roxar, Schlumberger)

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