ABSTRACT

Geological carbon storage (GCS), though established now for decades, is sometimes viewed as unproven and complex, leading to heightened public and stakeholder inquiry. Monitoring systems that effectively demonstrate containment and regulatory compliance are therefore crucial for mitigating stakeholder concerns. Further, an effective monitoring system can enable the timely identification of a GCS operation’s performance, enabling commercially optimised use of the subsurface resource. ‘Life-of-Field’ (LoF) monitoring is a technically advanced surveillance approach that provides continuous or on-demand GCS data with high accuracy and resolution. This method rapidly delivers insights into carbon dioxide (CO₂) subsurface behaviour, ensuring containment and regulatory compliance. Additionally, it achieves these benefits with lower operational costs and reduced site disruption, making it an ideal solution for GCS monitoring throughout the entire operational phase. LoF monitoring has recently been successfully demonstrated at CO2CRC’s Otway International Test Centre during the Otway Stage 3 Project, providing on-demand confirmation of containment and CO₂ behaviour. Current Otway Stage 4 operations expand on this success, extending fibre-optic-based seismic data usage to quantitatively understand CO₂ saturation distribution – performance data that can be used to inform decisions for improving operational efficiencies.