Abstract

A theoretical CO₂ storage capacity is estimated on the southwestern continental shelf margin of Ulleung Basin, offshore Korea using 2D/3D multi-channel seismic and wellbore data acquired in the area over the two decades since the late 1980s. For the first time in Korea, the present study applies an efficiency factor to the capacity calculation, together with the other required parameters. For possible CO₂ storage volume estimation of the study area, we interpreted the seismic data in the Gorae area from 800 m to 3,000 m below the seafloor integrated with the well data, and identified five different seismic units; the limited depth interval is considered because of fluid state
of CO₂ and tightness of the formation. The total volumes of each seismic unit were converted with a time-depth relation inferred from the checkshot surveys before the other required parameters including porosity and density were applied to compute the potential storage capacity. The accumulated possible storage volume from the five depositional units in the study area is estimated to be approximately 5,100 Mton (P₅₀). The approaches made in this study will be applied to the rest area of the basin and other continental shelves (i.e., Yellow Sea and northern part of East China Sea) in the next phase.

Keywords CO₂ storage capacity, seismic unit, Ulleung Basin, East Sea