Sanding phenomena vulnerability observations due to CO2 injection at the Air Benakat reservoir in South Sumatera

Carbon sequestration using carbon capture storage (CCS) is one of the most important operational activities in the oil and gas industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase hydrocarbon production. Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage (CCUS) can be utilized for both enhancing oil recovery (CO2-EOR), as well as gas recovery (CO2-EGR) by injecting CO2 into the reservoir. However, the CO2 injection into reservoir rock can raise potential sanding problems in both injection and production wells. The phenomena of sanding may be induced dominantly due to carbonic acid injection in the reservoir. The reaction between CO2 and water will form carbonic acid in the reservoir, which can cause the dissolution of rock minerals, especially carbonate cementation (such as calcite and dolomite). We have investigated the sanding effect when CO2 was injected into the reservoir using several laboratory-scale measurements and observations on the Air Benakat reservoir sample in South Sumatera. The sanding vulnerability was measured by observing pore structure, changes in elastic properties, and rock strength through Rock Physics and Rock Mechanics measurements. XRD analysis showed the presence of CaMg(CO3)2 (dolomite) minerals in the Air Benakat sandstone sample, which resulted in the possibility of a chemical reaction of the sample, either matrix or pores. The pore structure dissolution was detected from microscale images when the rock was injected with CO2 dissolved in brine water. The changes in rock’s pores due to the dissolution process were also clearly observed from measurements of the changes in rock mass during the injection process of carbonic acid fluid into rock samples from time-to-time measurement.