Impact of Permeability Heterogeneity Coupled with Well Placement Strategy on Underground Hydrogen Storage Reservoir Simulation

Abstract

AbstractThe world is experiencing a transition from traditional to renewable and sustainable clean energy sources. One of the biggest hurdles for this transition is the storage of the excess electricity generated by wind or solar power. Hydrogen has been recognized as a clean-burning fuel that could overcome the barriers to meet this transition. However, there are many challenges associated with hydrogen energy since it requires vast storage volumes. Several new technologies have been proposed to store and produce hydrogen efficiently. One of the most promising storage technologies is Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS). Reservoir simulation is a critical tool for understanding hydrogen behavior in geological porous media. This study examines the effect of permeability heterogeneity coupled with well placement strategy on several fundamental properties. The simulations are based on a 3D heterogeneous aquifer model with one well as injector/producer. Fifteen-permeability data sets were generated using the Gaussian sequential method using Dykstra-Parson's coefficients (VDP) of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7, with several realizations. Additionally, the impacts of the well placement strategies in terms of orientations, such as vertical and horizontal configurations, and their locations are investigated. The properties examined are reservoir pressure, hydrogen volume in place and cumulative hydrogen volume recovered. The study uses a real field geological model and a compositional reservoir simulator to conduct these simulations. The published measured hydrogen properties and H2/water relative permeability and capillary pressure curves are incorporated in these simulations. Results indicate that reservoir pressure, the amount of hydrogen in place, and cumulatively produced hydrogen are highly dependent on the heterogeneity of the reservoir and the injection/production well placement. Models with less heterogeneity (i.e., relatively low VDP) show more consistent results on multiple realizations when the well location and orientation are kept constant. On the other hand, high VDP models showed significantly higher variations with different realizations. This paper provides new insights on how to model UHS projects to get the maximum return possible in terms of injected and recovered hydrogen.