Geological Co2 Storage Characterization ― The Key to Deploying Clean Fossil Energy Technology

Geological CO2 storage and its role in greenhouse gas emissions reduction, enhanced oil recovery, and environmentally responsible use of fossil fuels. The target audience will range from energy/environmental regulators at every level of government (federal, state, etc.) to scientists/academics, representatives from the power and fossil energy sectors, NGOs, and other interested parties. The book will use the characterization of the Rock Springs Uplift site in Wyoming as an integrated case study to illustrate application of geological CO2 storage science, principles, and theory to a real-world scenario.

Ronald C. Surdam and co-authors have published 240 articles in refereed scientific journals and books. He has presented more than 300 invited lectures, and he and his students have given more than 250 presentations at scientific meetings, nationally and internationally. In 32 years at the University of Wyoming, Surdam raised $32 million in research support. While at UW, he founded and directed the Institute for Energy Research and directed the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute. Surdam has consulted for many international energy and mineral exploration corporations: this work along with his tenure at UW has given him extensive experience with energy and environmental issues and research around the world. Another accomplishment by Surdam and his colleague Zunsheng Jiao from 1997–2000 was their role in assisting McMurry Oil Company in the rediscovery and development of the giant Jonah gas field (14 TCF reserves). They assisted by developing an innovative discovery technology that substantially reduced risk in detecting and delineating natural gas production sweet spots in anomalously pressured tight-gas sandstone reservoirs. Over the past 45 years, Surdam has focused on oil and gas exploration, oil shale and trona depositional systems, coal and zeolite deposits in the Rocky Mountain Laramide basins of Wyoming and other states, and anomalously pressured natural gas accumulations and geological CO2 storage around the world. He has served the State of Wyoming in numerous capacities, most recently as Director of the Wyoming State Geological Survey. Currently, as Director of the University of Wyoming Carbon Management Institute and Principal Investigator of the Wyoming Carbon Underground Storage Project ($20 million), Surdam is helping lead the effort to accomplish commercial geological CO2 sequestration in the Rocky Mountain region. As a visiting professor at three Chinese universities, he is assisting with carbon storage in the Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces of China.