Call for Abstracts

Call for Abstracts Now Open – Submit Now

Submission Deadline: 24 September 2024

Submit your abstracts for Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) 2025 taking place 3–5 March 2025 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. This event is brought to you by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).

Exciting keynote speakers, topical luncheons, and panels will drive the discussions of the future of energy. Technical speakers will represent research institutions, universities, and industry. The work presented at the meeting will demonstrate the ongoing need for skilled petroleum geologists, geophysicists, and engineers to help define the future of carbon management.

The program committee is seeking abstracts for the technical themes listed below. They have particular interest in abstracts that highlight current CCUS work and tackle related challenges to subsurface storage that help define the future of carbon management and development.

Submit Abstracts  Submission Guidelines

Technical Program Themes

Theme 1: Subsurface Storage and Site Selection

Description: The subsurface storage theme addresses key technical challenges in assessing domestic and international geological reservoirs, estimating storage resources and capacity, injectivity rates, and containment for the permanent and safe storage of CO₂. This includes saline aquifers, depleted reservoirs, tight reservoirs, offshore, and basalt storage, or any other storage options for onshore and offshore applications. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Reservoir Characterization
2. Storage Resources and Capacity
3. Injectivity Challenges
4. Containment
5. Regional Assessments
6. Screening and Site Selection
7. Geochemistry – Rock/Brine/Contaminant Interaction
8. Non-Conventional Storage Reservoirs

Theme 2: Subsurface Modeling

Description: This theme focuses on topics related to subsurface modeling (hydrological, geomechanical, geochemical, thermal) studies for CO₂ storage to understand fate and transport of CO₂ as it relates to storage capacity, trapping, injectivity, and containment. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Analytical Models
2. Dynamic Multiphase Flow Simulations (including coupled flow and thermal modeling)
3. Geomechanical Models and Simulations
4. Pore-Scale Modeling
5. Reactive Transport Modeling (i.e., coupled multiphase flow and geochemistry)
6. Data Assimilation (i.e., incorporating laboratory data, monitoring data, and/or historical data into numerical models)

Theme 3: Subsurface Risk Assessment

Description: This theme aims to address recent advances in the field of subsurface risk assessment, workflows, and mitigation strategies associated with injection and storage and/or utilization of CO₂. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Risk Assessment Workflows
2. Risk Management and Site Performance
3. Leakage Assessments and Shallow Aquifers Risk
4. Heterogeneous and Compartmentalized Reservoir Risk
5. Seal Integrity Risk
6. Geochemistry Related Risk
7. Induced Seismicity Risk
8. Geomechanical Related Risk

Theme 4: Infrastructure and Well Design

Description: This theme intends to explore recent advances and learnings in developing fully integrated CCS projects that include interfacing between capture, transport, and storage sub-systems. This theme also focuses on design elements of surface, and subsurface infrastructure, including wells, that consider regulatory requirements, project needs, and supply chain considerations. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. CCS Hubs – Different CO₂ Composition Streams – Reservoir Compatibility
2. Emerging Technologies for CO₂ Injection and Monitoring Wells
3. Innovative Well Designs for CO₂ Injection and Monitoring
4. Corrosion Resistant Alloy Well Construction-Cost to Benefit
5. Well Coring, Testing, and Logging Considerations
6. Operations and Data Management
7. Drilling and Cementing Lessons Learned
8. Repurposing Existing Wells-Methods and Case Studies

Theme 5: EOR, Injection, and Utilization

Description: The EOR, Injection, and Utilization theme aims to highlight the use of CO₂ for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery and associated storage in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs, focusing on the learnings from operators on injecting and monitoring enhanced oil/gas recovery (EOR/EGR) projects. In addition, we are eager to hear about utilization of CO₂ for other purposes such as feedstock for sustainable aviation fuels, cement manufacturing, and other technologies. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. CO₂ injection modeling studies in fields or labs
2. Geochemical insights from CO₂ injection in EOR/EGR fields
3. Monitoring, reporting, and verification of CO₂ in EOR/EGR fields
4. Studies on wellbore and facilities integrity for EOR/EGR projects
5. Co-optimization of EOR/EGR and storage
6. Economic evaluations of CO₂ EOR/EGR projects and for transitioning fields from “EOR Business as Usual” Class II to Class VI permanent storage
7. Regulatory and permitting insights for CO₂ EOR and Utilization
8. Utilization of CO₂ for non-EOR applications: synthetic fuels, energy storage, power generation, and other technologies
9. Surface and Subsurface mineralization technologies for carbon storage
10. Novel ideas to enhance storage during EOR/EGR (foam, formate, tight/shale among others)
11. Direct sequestration vs. utilization – which makes sense based on policies and economics

Theme 6: Subsurface Monitoring

Description: Subsurface monitoring of injected CO₂ is required by regulators in the U.S. and other countries to confirm that the injected CO₂ stays where it is put. Monitoring is also important for determining the location of the pressure plumes because such plumes can elevate the risk for faulting, seismicity, and reservoir containment issues as well as affect injectivities at other regional injection operations. Lastly, monitoring is required by some regulators to validate that claimed CO₂ injection volumes have been permanently stored to unlock earned financial incentives. This theme welcomes submissions on monitoring technologies, how to evaluate which technologies are fit-for-purpose for a particular site, and how to use these technologies to demonstrate conformance with flow modeling simulations. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Low-Cost Monitoring
2. Integrated Monitoring
3. Emerging Technologies
4. Monitoring Plan Optimization

Theme 7: Financial, Economics, and Regulatory Framework

Description: While technical challenges with CCUS have been the mainstay of R&D over the years, near-term commercial deployment also hinges on the resolution of non-technical challenges such as legal access to pore space, UIC permitting, long-term liability, policy, and regulations, economic drivers, and economic tools, methods, and models. This session will address these issues in an ever-evolving landscape and sense of urgency with the development and deployment of CCUS technologies. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Project Financial Risk
2. Best Practices and Lessons Learned from Current CO₂ Storage Permitted Projects
3. Regulatory Risk
4. Risk of Meeting GHG Mitigation Targets
5. Class VI Permitting and Standards
6. 45Q, LCFS and Carbon Markets
7. Drivers for Profitability
8. Economic Tools, Methods and Models
9. CCUS Market Projections
10. Non-U.S. Regulatory Frameworks
11. Surface and Subsurface Ownership

Theme 8: ESGs and Stakeholder Engagement

Description: Environment, sustainability, and governance (ESGs) and stakeholder engagement are critical components to successful development of commercial scale storage programs. Public perception and communication can make or break the advancement of a project. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Stakeholder Engagement
2. Lessons Learned
3. Environmental, Energy, and Social Justice
4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
5. Intersection with Sustainability and SDGs
6. Societal Considerations
7. Community Outreach
8. Application of Computational Systems to Sustainability
9. Field Engagement Outreach and Community Development Strategies
10. Socioeconomic Advancement to ESGs and Stakeholder Engagements in Developing Counties
11. Building Strong Networks

Theme 9: ML and Data Analytics Applications

Description: This theme seeks contributions to new concepts, workflows, and applications of data analytics and machine learning in the whole lifecycle of CCUS. We are looking for relevant submissions on data access, preparation, denoising, interpretation, modeling, monitoring, natural language processing applications, machine learning misadventures and lessons learned, case studies (for example, US Department of Energy SMART initiative), technology readiness, and field implementation of machine learning tools. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. ML in Subsurface Interpretation, Modeling, and Integration
2. ML in Subsurface Monitoring
3. Generative AI and Natural Language Processing Applications to CCUS
4. ML Misadventures: Applications to CCUS
5. ML Beyond Synthetic Data: Technology Readiness and CCUS Field Implementation
6. Data Science Applications to CCUS Lifecycle

Theme 10: Case Studies

Description: Real-world examples and applications are important to help understand the feasibility of using the subsurface to safely and permanently store carbon dioxide and develop methods for commercial deployment. These case studies will provide key technical information to accelerate large-scale storage of CO₂. Topics could include, but are not limited to:

1. Demonstration/Pilot-Scale Tests
2. Large-Scale Tests and Projects
3. International Projects
4. Life Cycle Analysis
5. CCUS in Industry (Including Blue Hydrogen and Geothermal)
6. Regional Carbon Initiatives
7. CarbonSAFE Projects
8. Lessons Learned