Data Investigation in the Process of Selecting a CO2 Geological Pilot Site: example of the Paris Basin (France)

Abstract

Sedimentary basins have been the receptacle of fossil resources for over a century. The exploration methods that allow the finding of these resources have been in constant evolution, resulting from an increasingly complex set of technologies: from spotting surface manifestation to numerical modelling and artificial intelligence and from well geophysics to complex 3D geophysical acquisition and treatment. The result of all these investigations is a very large volume of data available for the development of new and more sustainable technologies such as geothermal energy and CO2 storage. We present here the data investigation carried out as part of the H2020 project ‘CO2 Geological Pilots in Strategic Territories – PilotSTRATEGY’ (https://pilotstrategy.eu/). The project has started in May 2021 and over the course of five years, working with end users and stakeholders, the project specialists will use relevant technologies to characterize the reservoirs at pilot scale. Study will focus on the ability of deep saline aquifers in five regions in Southern and Eastern Europe (Paris Basin included) to store CO2. Calling on expertise from geoscience, engineering, and social sciences, PilotSTRATEGY will generate and curate information and data that enable the decision-making bodies in society to examine how a path towards CO2 storage pilot could be pursued in these regions. The first step of this project, as presented here, is to identify the available data to plan the research that will required to support the identification of a secure site for a CO2 storage pilot.
In this paper, we will focus on one of the five PilotSTRATEGY regions: the Paris Basin in France. The emphasis will be on the identification of the suitable target that will be the framework for further investigation. To this purpose, we will gather information from the subsurface that are available in the public domain, mainly from previous regional scale investigation. Our first results highlight an interesting area south-east of Paris and in the oolithic limestone Dogger formations. In addition to the favorable oolithic Dogger formations regarding the permeability and porosity expectations, the reservoir is capped by a Callovian shale formation that has a good sealing potential. Further investigation to assess the site will concentrate on refining the reservoir understanding at macro and micro scale. Furthermore, we will develop a better knowledge of the geochemistry and geomechanics of the reservoir and its cover to obtain a clear and safe picture of the possibilities for the potential storage of CO2 at a pilot in these formations. These investigations will be performed in the vicinity of GrandPuits, located North-West of the city of Melun, following the conclusions of the PilotSTRATEGY deliverable 2.1 and the work of in the STRATEGY CCUS project.

Keywords: CO2 storage, data, exploration, PilotSTRATEGY, pilot site, Paris Basin