The Otway International Test Centre
The CO2CRC Otway International Test Centre (OITC) is a globally unique research facility as it has its own source of CO2 on site with the Buttress gas well, plus seven purpose drilled CO2 storage wells (>1.5km deep), within a ~1 km2 area, for CO2 injection and monitoring activities.
Over more than a decade of leading-edge research the many projects undertaken at the facility have made a significant contribution to an emerging global CCS industry, demonstrating that:
- CO2 can be safely stored and monitored in depleted gas reservoirs as well as unconfined saline formations;
- CO2 plume migration can be confidently predicted;
- Long-term plume stabilisation can be verified for small injections;
- Clear seismic detection thresholds can be established; and
- Confidence of regulators, landowners and the wider community can be established and maintained.
As CO2 storage projects require monitoring operations at the CO2 storage site to understand the behaviour (location, attribution and quantification) of the CO2 plume, including the assurance that “leakage” of the CO2 has not occurred, the research projects’ monitoring programs were designed to measure the CO2 plume behaviour with wide spatial coverage, good spatial resolution, and high temporal frequency, and subsequently for continuous monitoring in the geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere.
The projects provide ongoing technical information on CCS processes, technologies and monitoring and verification regimes that continue to inform public policy and industry decision-makers while also providing assurance to the community.