Dissimilar properties within a carbonate-reservoir's small fault zone, and their impact on the pressurization and leakage associated with CO2 injection

This paper focuses on a small fault zone (too small to be detected by geophysical imaging) affecting a carbonate reservoir composed of porous and low-porosity layers. In a gallery located at 250 m depth, the hydraulic properties of a 20 m thick section of the reservoir affected by the studied fault are characterized by structural measurements and hydraulic injection into boreholes. We conducted electrical tomographies before and after an 18 hour-long injection, to image the fluid flow through the fault zone. Our main finding is that the damage zone displays contrasting permeability values (up to two orders of magnitude) inherited from the differential alteration of the intact rock layers. To characterize the impact of these hydraulic-property variations on the fluid flow, we carried out numerical simulations of water and supercritical CO2 injections, using the TOUGH2 code. Two damage-zone models were compared, with heterogeneous (Model 1) and homogeneous (Model 2) hydraulic properties. In Model 1, injected fluids cannot escape through the fault zone; they generate a high fluid overpressure, located in the damage-zone layers having the highest permeability and storativity. In Model 2, fluids can easily migrate; the overpressure is lower and located in the host rock along the fault zone.

► Damage zone of small faults are characterized by more or less fractured layers. ► Damage zone is composed by level acting as drain or barrier for fluid flow. ► The hydraulic properties variations influence the pressurization of the fault zone.