CASP announces that the first data releases from its Bunter Sandstone CO2 Storage Research theme have been presented to project subscribers. The data specifically focuses on well material from the UK offshore and onshore. Work proceeds to integrate new data from Dutch well materials, with the aim to deliver final project reports during 2024.

Data release summaries:

BSSC.1 - Palynozonation of the Bunter Sandstone CO2 storage complex: Onshore analogue study (Niall W. Paterson)  
The project has established a new Triassic palynozonation for the SNS based primarily on the SM14 core (Woodsmith Mine core, North Yorkshire). The dataset is highly applicable to the seal units in the Haisborough Group. It also has potentially important implications for the interval of time during which the Bunter Sandstone Formation was deposited, which is being further tested by our parallel study (BSSC.2) of offshore wells.

BSSC.4 - Reservoir Composition and Diagenesis (Michelle Shiers)
The project has generated a series of integrated datasets including sedimentology, petrography, and SEM-EDS and XRF analysis for UK offshore Bunter Sandstone cores. The dataset identifies regional variations in composition and cements within the Bunter Sandstone Formation. It also documents a range of heterogeneities within and between wells that have potential implications for CO2 reservoir performance, especially vertical baffles.

BSSC.5 - Controls on Bunter Sandstone Composition
The project has generated an extensive conventional heavy mineral, and single grain detrital geochronology and geochemical dataset for the Bunter Sandstone Formation from offshore and onshore UK wells. The data are used to investigate regional variations in compositions identified by BSSC.4 to decipher the large-scale control of sedimentary systems on the composition of the Bunter reservoir.

These datasets are immediately available to new subscribers

CASP also anticipate a data release from BSSC.6 - Middle Triassic seals – onshore analogue project (Simon Schneider) during March 2024. The project has focussed on the SM14 Woodsmith Mine core that provides a continuous section through the Haisborough Group seal unit and has allowed us to create the first lithostratigraphy based on lithology rather than wireline responses. The project documents the lithofacies and has generated detailed compositional data (SEM-EDS and QXRD), petrography, MICP and PoroPerm data throughout the succession.

Accompanying figure
Examples of fine-grained intervals with Bunter Sandstone Formation cores. They are interpreted to reflect low energy deposition in playa lakes although overbank deposition also occurs. The presence and lateral extent of these intervals have implications for reservoir heterogeneity. Project BSSC.4

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