Quantitative analysis of time-lapse seismic monitoring at the Sleipner CO2 storage operation

The CO2 storage operation at Sleipner in the Norwegian North Sea provides an excellent demonstration of the application of time-lapse surface seismic methods to CO2 plume monitoring under favorable conditions. Injection commenced at Sleipner in 1996 with CO2 separated from natural gas being injected into the Utsira Sand, a major saline aquifer of late Cenozoic age. CO2 injection is via a near-horizontal well at a depth of about 1012 m below sea level (bsl) some 200 m below the reservoir top, at a rate approaching 1 million tonnes (Mt) per year, with more than 11 Mt currently stored.