Teapot Dome: Characterization of a CO2-enhanced oil recovery and storage site in Eastern Wyoming

Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 (NPR-3), better known as the Teapot Dome oil field, is the last United States federally owned and operated oil field. This gives us a unique opportunity for experiments to provide scientific and technical insight into CO2-enhanced oil recovery and other topics involving subsurface fluid behavior. Toward that end, a combination of federal, academic, and industrial support has produced outstanding characterizations of important oil- and brine-bearing reservoirs there. This effort provides an unparalleled opportunity for industry and others to use the site. Data sets include geological, geophysical, geochemical, geomechanical, and operational data across a wide range of geological boundary conditions. Importantly, these data, many in digital form, are available in the public domain because of NPR-3's federal status. Many institutions are already using parts of the Teapot Dome data set as the basis for a variety of geoscience, modeling, and other research efforts. Fifteen units, nine oil bearing and six brine bearing, have been studied to varying degrees. More than 1200 wells in the field are active or accessible, and more than 400 of these penetrate 11 formations located below the depth that corresponds to the supercritical point for CO2. Studies include siliciclastic and carbonate reservoirs; shale, carbonate, and anhydrite cap rocks; fractured and unfractured units; and overpressured and underpressured zones. Geophysical data include three-dimensional (3-D) seismic and vertical seismic profiles. Reservoir data include stratigraphic, sedimentological, petrologic, petrographic, porosity, and permeability data. These have served as the basis for preliminary 3-D flow simulations. Geomechanical data include fractures (natural and drilling induced), in-situ stress determination, pressure, and production history. Geochemical data include soil gas, noble gas, and hydrocarbon organic geochemistry. The conditions of these reservoirs directly or indirectly represent many reservoirs in the United States, Canada, and overseas.