A Project Lifetime Approach to the Management of Induced Seismicity Risk at Geologic Carbon Storage Sites

The geologic storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) is one method which can help reduce atmospheric CO2 by sequestering it into the subsurface. Large-scale deployment of geologic carbon storage however may be accompanied by induced seismicity. Best practice recommendations are needed to address the technical and non-technical stakeholder issues related to induced seismicity associated with geologic carbon sequestration. Therefore, we present a project-wide and project-lifetime approach to address the induced seismicity risk at geologic storage sites. These recommendations can serve as general guidelines, setting expectations for operators, regulators, and the public. They contain a set of 7 actionable focus areas to deal proactively with induced seismicity issues. They start at the preliminary risk assessment phase of a project, include best practice communication and outreach recommendations, discuss how to determine ground motion thresholds of concern, the collection of seismicity data, seismic hazard assessment of natural and induced events, a risk-informed decision analysis methodology, and the operational management of induced seismicity risks, which closes when the induced seismicity risk abates back to background levels. While each geologic carbon storage site will be unique and will require a custom approach, these general best practice recommendations can be used as a starting point to any site-specific plan for how to systematically evaluate and mitigate induced seismicity risk at a particular reservoir.

This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-838385