International Team of Scientists Conclude No Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Leaked On Kerr Farm

REGINA, Dec. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is not leaking from depth on the farm owned by Cameron and Jane Kerr, IPAC-CO2 Research Inc. concluded in a 180-page report released today.

"The CO₂ injected by Cenovus Energy as part of its enhanced oil recovery project is not the source of CO₂ found on the Kerr farm," said Dr. Carmen Dybwad, Chief Executive Officer of the environmental non-government organization.

"The levels of natural CO₂ we found were normal."

Cameron and Jane Kerr held a news conference on Jan. 11, 2011 demanding a full public investigation of problems related to surface and well water at their farm near Goodwater, in the vicinity of the Cenovus Weyburn operation. The Kerrs said they first noticed changes that occurred on their property in 2004, one year after carbon dioxide injection began near their farm.

Under the direction of Dr. Jerry Sherk, the Chief Operating Officer of IPAC-CO2, a team of international experts was assembled to conduct an independent investigation of the Kerr farm.

Dr. Katherine Romanak of the Gulf Coast Carbon Center, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A., led the investigation into soil gases.

She concluded that the fixed gas relationships and carbon isotope geochemistry of soil gas at the Kerr site "strongly and consistently show that CO₂ on the Kerr property is biological in origin and not the result of leaks associated with the CO₂ storage reservoir."

"The evidence clearly showed that CO₂ is from natural biologic respiration modified by mixing with atmosphere and dissolution of CO₂ into recharging groundwater," Romanak concluded.

Dr. Stuart Gilfillan, Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage, School of Geosciences, from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland tested the Kerr site for noble gases, carbon stable isotopes and hydrogen carbonate (HCO₃)_.

"We find no evidence in any of the noble gas data derived within the ground waters surrounding the Kerr quarter that there is a detectible presence of noble gases derived from the deep injected water or CO₂ or the fluids produced from the Weyburn field," Gilfillan concluded.

"The absence of crustal derived noble gases derived from depth means that there is no evidence of the migration of CO₂ from the Weyburn oil field into the groundwater on the Kerr quarter or surrounding area."

Dr. Brad D. Wolaver and Dr. Changbing Yang, also from the University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Janis Dale, Department of Geology, University of Regina, Canada conducted the hydrogeological analysis of the Kerr site.

Their research concluded (a) that shallow groundwater quality at the site meets Saskatchewan's Drinking Water Quality Standards and Objectives for the analytes tested, and (b) that the film on gravel pits and in the Kerr well was not a petroleum product but instead as floating colonies of both iron-reducing and iron-oxidizing bacteria.

"Our goal was to reduce uncertainty regarding the sources of carbon dioxide detected on the property owned by Mr. and Mrs. Kerr," said IPAC-CO2's Dybwad.

"Our results are conclusive and provide scientific evidence that any such incidents cannot be attributed to leakage of injected CO₂ because there was no leak at the Kerr property."

The International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide (IPAC-CO2) is a not-for-profit organization created in 2009 with the support of public and private sector organizations.

IPAC-CO2 works to find solutions that support the safe capture and storage of CO₂, contributing to the long-term sustainability of planet Earth and its inhabitants, and advances knowledge about geologic storage by sharing, exchanging and cooperating with global industry stakeholders.

Backgrounder

Weyburn EOR Project

Weyburn is the site of one of Canada's largest Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operations and the site of the largest geological greenhouse gas (GHG) storage project in the world. There are more than 17 million tonnes of CO₂ stored at the site.

Scientists from 30 countries working under the International Energy Agency GHG Weyburn-Midale CO₂ Monitoring & Storage Research project, an international program led by the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC), have been studying the project for a decade.

Cenovus Energy

Cenovus Energy (formerly EnCana) operates the Weyburn unit on behalf of 23 other partners. Carbon Dioxide has been injected about 1.5 kilometres into the oil field at the Weyburn unit since 2000.

When carbon dioxide contacts oil at high pressure it makes the oil thinner and causes it to swell, making it easier for the oil to flow to producing wells. The carbon dioxide that is pumped out with the oil is then recycled.

Cameron and Jane Kerr

Cameron and Jane Kerr, who own a farm near Goodwater, in the vicinity of the Weyburn project, held a news conference on Jan. 11, 2011 in Regina demanding a full public investigation of problems related to surface and well water at their farm. The Kerrs said they first noticed changes and other events that occurred on their property in 2004, one year after carbon dioxide injection began near their farm.

Other Studies

Between 2005 and 2011, a number of public and private sector organizations investigated the Kerr allegations, concluding that there was no evidence that the injection of CO₂ had an adverse impact on the drinking water or the environment of the Kerr property.

The Kerrs hired Petro-Find GeoChem Ltd., a Saskatoon-based consulting company, in 2010 to conduct soil gas studies on their property.

Based on the Petro-Find report, the Kerrs held a Regina news conference to demand a full public investigation claiming that they were forced to move from their property because CO₂ injected into the oil field below to enhance oil recovery (EOR) was leaking.

SOURCE IPAC-CO2 Research Inc.