Research portfolio

Exploitation of fossil fuel resources such as natural gas requires a balance to be struck between:
- Optimised recovery and stewardship of these state-owned scarce, non-renewable resources through the application of geoscience and petroleum engineering expertise.
- Implications of such exploitation on society and the economy (such as social changes, housing, costs and jobs).
- Implications for the wider environment (such as land use and water impacts or emissions to the atmosphere).

The Centre's capability across these areas is driven by in-house expertise as well as research partners from across the University of Queensland and other institutions. The research program is managed by three professorial research chairs across the Centre's research areas of Geoscience, Petroleum Engineering, Water, and Social Performance.

 

Summary of projects by research capability and real world impact for industry.

 

	Groundwater 3D online atlas				Quality assured the data  |  Made it all viewable and in context for the public
	Great Artesian Basins: new body of knowledge			Evidence-based body of knowledge to inform how to best manage the finite resource into the future
	Groundwater uses in the Surat and Bowen Basins			New technique for estimating water flow in non-metered bores  |  Being used for improved modelling confidence by UQ & OGIA
	Recharge estimation in the Surat Basin			Measured for the first time in the field recharge rates in representative type locations  |  Being used for improved modelling confidence by UQ & OGIA
	Re-setting water and salt estimations			Independent review which reset early overestimated estimates  |  Fed into improved forward predictive modelling	Provided independent new estimates and explained why initial estimates were so much larger
	Salt compression			Provides an option to reduce volume of landfill and also to stabilise salts
	Potential uses for salt left over from CSG water treatment			Investigated a beneficial use for salts left over from CSG water treatment
	Methane emissions analysis in the Bowen/Surat			Provided a baseline of occurrence of natural hydrocarbons before CSG	The baseline helps understand any new occurrence and natural viability
	Silica characterisation in the coal seam water train	Reduces water processing cost and energy use		Reducing & optimising the use of chemicals during reverse osmosis process, hence reducing adverse environmental effects
	Shallow gas environmental risk scoping & management		Could optimise gas production to increase gas supply	Improve understanding of potential risks and mitigation strategies
	Ground movement environmental risk scoping & management		Potential to optimise production tailored to geomechanical characteristics	Understanding the various contributors to the net movement of the ground surface
	Australia-USA lessons and comparisons
	Building the next generation of digital models to guide management of groundwater and natural gas resources	May allow for fewer wells		Improved tool for estimating groundwater impacts in overlying and underlying aquifers	May lead to better quality predictive modelling for groundwater impacts
	Depletion mechanics: investigating bulk geomechanical properties of depleted coals	May improve engineering design relating to drilling and completion of wells and wellbore stability	May improve engineering design relating to drilling and completion of wells and wellbore stability
	Petrel Plug-in development: Geostatistical techniques: recoverable resources & fluid flow (copulas)	May allow for fewer wells, or avoidance of poor wells	Improves estimation of resources in highly heterogenous gas reservoirs	Improved tool for estimating groundwater impacts in overlying and underlying aquifers
	Integrated sequence stratigraphy		Improves estimation of resources in highly heterogenous gas reservoirs	Improved tool for estimating groundwater impacts in overlying and underlying aquifers	May lead to better quality predictive modelling for groundwater impacts
	Faults & fractures in the Surat Basin		Improves estimation of resources in highly heterogenous gas reservoirs	Improved tool for estimating groundwater impacts in overlying and underlying aquifers
	Reservoir modelling: reducing uncertainty with polynomial chaos expansion (PCE)		May improve estimation of resources in highly heterogenous gas reservoirs	May provide an improved tool for estimating groundwater impacts in overlying and underlying aquifers
	Well integrity: simple modelling			Provides first connected leak path modelling. Further work is in train	Provides first connected leak path modelling. Initial work suggests flow of gas up (or water down) is negligible
	Cumulative socio-economic indicators - online tool to measure socio-economic change across communities				Independent metrics chosen by stakeholders to measure changes over time
	Golden rules of gas: how Queensland stacks up				Highlights where there is most room for improvement and validates the rules as being important
	Stakeholder trust in the CSG industry				Snap-shot in time and trend of trust levels across main stakeholder groups as well as advice on trust enhancing measures
	How do local small and medium businesses adapt to the arrival of CSG development? SME study: Economic trends & benefits				Provides tips to SMEs
	Improving co-existence between on CSG and agriculture				Quantifying effects on production and profitability | Strategies for co-existence
	How has CSG been represented in the media & public discourse				How the dynamic of media discourse changed over time from jobs & investment to environmental threat & groundwater
	Measuring effectiveness of investment in school education programs				Baseline to be used to assess the future effectiveness of STEM enrichment programs.
	Best-practice regulation and governance systems for the unconventional gas sector				Guidelines and robust processes of research integrity and governance that reinforce research outputs from the Centre
	Well productivity: Environmental stimulation technologies	Could provide alternative to hydraulic stimulation	Could provide higher recovery per well or conversion of tight resources	May find benign chemicals for well bore treatment  |  Possibly enable fewer wells per volume of gas (footprint)	Potentially, if an alternative can be found  |  May stimulate business growth or longevity
	Enhancing CSG well production through well bottom-hole pressure control	Could reduce cost and energy use	Could enhance gas production	Potentially reduce environmental impact
	Reducing fines damage: Selective wellbore coatings	Stabilising fines would reduce work-overs and opex and energy use	Could provide higher recovery per well through reduced downtime	May reduce work-over related emissions	Would require fewer well visits
	Well abandonment: advanced plugging technology	May be a lower cost than conventional techniques		Potential for improved sealing of gas wells and legacy coal wells
	Converting tight resources with graded particle injection in CSG stimulation	Could enable lower cost stimulations	Could enable higher recovery per well	May enable fewer wells per volume of gas (footprint)
	Sustainable enhancement of coal seam gas production in Queensland		Could enable conversion of tight resources	May enable fewer wells per volume of gas (footprint)	Could stimulate business growth or longevity
	Well performance: Rock properties using existing field data & real-time drilling data	Could reduce data acquisition costs	Could allow better optimisation of hydraulic stimulation
	Enhancing well deliverability and reducing the work-over cost using big data predictive analytics	Could optimise pump performance and minimise down time and reduce energy use	Reduces downtime or 'deferment' on producing wells	May enable fewer wells per volume of gas (footprint) and lessen access requirements for rigs maintenance activities which will reduce the environmental impacts associated with well workovers	May lessen access requirements for rigs maintenance activities which will decrease the disruption to rural activities where the wells are located, ease local traffic
	Well productivity: High pressure water & gas impact on permeability		Increasing the understanding of the fundamental physics of gas recovery
	How does temperature affect gas production?		Scoping study into enhanced recovery by application of heat