Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Oil, Gas, and Energy
Laboratory validation of a new hydro-mechanical energy-based brittleness index model for hydraulic fracturing
Published: 2022-12-01
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Engineering Science and Materials, Mining Engineering, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Petroleum Engineering
Brittleness Index (BI) is a critical parameter characterising the deformation regime of geo-materials, covering the range from purely brittle (fractures) to ductile (plastic flow). A variety of BI models have been developed based on rock properties such as mineralogy, elastic parameters, or stress-strain data. However, very few of them are based on the deformation induced by hydro-mechanical [...]
How reproducible and reliable is geophysical research? A review of the availability and accessibility of data and software for research published in journals
Published: 2022-11-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability
Geophysical research frequently makes use of agreed methodologies, formally published software, and bespoke code to process and analyse data. The reliability and repeatability of these methods is vital in maintaining the integrity of research findings and thereby avoiding the dissemination of unreliable results. In recent years there has been increased attention on aspects of reproducibility, [...]
Trait-based modeling revealed higher microbial diversity leads to greater ecological resilience in response to an ecosystem disturbance
Published: 2022-10-15
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Life Sciences, Microbiology, Oceanography, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Sustainability, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
To quantitatively understand the ecological resilience of an ecosystem with specialized habitats, we focused on deep-sea microbial communities and simulated the response of diverse microbes in specialized habitats to a pulse ecosystem disturbance - the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Two microbial communities with equivalent metabolic libraries were acclimated to the presence [...]
Geochemical evidence for the nonexistence of supercritical geothermal fluids at the Yangbajing geothermal field, southern Tibet
Published: 2022-07-07
Subjects: Hydrology, Oil, Gas, and Energy
Exploring and exploiting high-temperature (even supercritical) geothermal resources are significant to meet energy demands and reduce carbon emissions. The Yangbajing geothermal field is the most exploited in China, with the currently highest temperature (329.8 °C) measured in a geothermal well. However, whether there are supercritical geothermal fluids beneath the deep parts of this geothermal [...]
Robust Probabilities of Detection and Quantification Uncertainty for Aerial Methane Detection: Examples for Three Airborne Technologies
Published: 2022-06-17
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Environmental Monitoring, Mechanical Engineering, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Statistical Methodology, Statistical Models
Thorough characterization of probabilities of detection (POD) and quantification uncertainties is fundamentally important to understand the place of aerial measurement technologies in alternative means of emission limitation (AMEL) or alternate fugitive emissions management programs (Alt-FEMP); monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) efforts; and surveys designed to support [...]
Methane Emissions from the Fossil Fuel Industries of the Russian Federation
Published: 2022-05-19
Subjects: Climate, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, Oil, Gas, and Energy
Methane is second only to carbon dioxide as a driver of human-induced climate change. Moreover, reducing the rate of methane emissions is the fastest and least disruptive way to moderate global temperature rise over the next several decades. The production of fossil fuels – principally coal, oil, and natural gas – is among the main sources of anthropogenic methane. As one of the world’s largest [...]
Pipeline availability limits on the feasibility of global coal-to-gas switching in the power sector
Published: 2022-05-02
Subjects: Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sustainability
Coal-to-gas switching in the power sector, as happened in the US, has been a key driver of near-term greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Can this success be replicated around the world? Here, we explore the limits of a global, plant-level, coal-to-gas transition arising from pipeline availability constraints. Globally, only 43% of coal capacity is within 14 km of a nearby pipeline, the median [...]
Global dynamics of the offshore wind energy sector monitored with Sentinel-1: Turbine count, installed capacity and site specifications
Published: 2022-04-26
Subjects: Applied Statistics, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Statistics and Probability
With the promotion of renewable energy production and a planned phaseout of fossil fuels until 2040, the offshore wind energy sector has started to expand and will continue to increase its capacity in the upcoming decades. This study presents how the installed capacity can be derived from radar imagery provided by the Sentinel-1 mission for all offshore wind turbines on the entire Earth. By [...]
Estimating a social cost of carbon for global energy consumption
Published: 2022-02-09
Subjects: Oil, Gas, and Energy, Social and Behavioral Sciences
Estimates of global economic damage caused by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can inform climate policy. The social cost of carbon (SCC) quantifies these damages by characterizing how additional CO2 emissions today impact future economic outcomes through altering the climate. Previous estimates suggest that large, warming-driven increases in energy expenditures could dominate the SCC, but they [...]
Structural traps and seals for expanding CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, North Sea
Published: 2021-12-24
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
The maturation of geological CCS along the Norwegian Continental Shelf is ongoing in the Norwegian North Sea, however, more storage sites are needed to reach climate mitigation goals by 2050. In order to augment the Aurora site and expand CO2 storage in the northern Horda Platform, regional traps and seals must be assessed to better understand the area’s potential. Here, we leverage wellbore and [...]
Quantifying the environmental impact of a major coal mine project on the adjacent Great Barrier Reef ecosystems
Published: 2021-12-23
Subjects: Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Sciences, Oceanography, Oil, Gas, and Energy
A major coal mine project in Queensland, Australia, is currently under review. It is planned to be located about 10 km away from the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). Sediment dispersal patterns and their impact on marine ecosystems have not been properly assessed yet. Here, we simulate the dispersal of different sediment types with a high-resolution ocean model, and derive their [...]
GANSim-3D for conditional geomodelling: theory and field application
Published: 2021-12-22
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Computational Engineering, Geology, Hydrology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Theory and Algorithms, Water Resource Management
Geomodelling of subsurface reservoirs is important for water resources, hydrocarbon exploitation, and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Traditional geostatistics-based approaches cannot abstract complex geological patterns and are thus not able to simulate very realistic earth models. We present a Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)-based 3D reservoir simulation framework, GANSim-3D, which can [...]
Evaluating essential features of proppant transport at engineering scales combining field measurements with machine learning algorithms
Published: 2021-12-06
Subjects: Civil and Environmental Engineering, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geology, Hydraulic Engineering, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Sustainability
The characterization of the proppant transport at a field-engineering scale is still challenging due to the lack of direct subsurface measurements. Features that control the proppant transport may link the experimental and numerical observations to the practical operations at a field scale. To improve the numerical and laboratory simulations, we propose a machine-learning-based workflow to [...]
A copula-based assessment of renewable energy droughts across Europe
Published: 2021-12-05
Subjects: Multivariate Analysis, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences
Meeting carbon-reduction targets will require thorough consideration of climate variability and climate change due to the increasing share of climate-sensitive renewable energy sources (RES). One of the main concerns arises from situations of low renewable production and high demand, which can hinder the power system. We analysed energy droughts, defined as periods of low energy production (wind [...]
Reproducibility in subsurface geoscience
Published: 2021-10-26
Subjects: Biogeochemistry, Cosmochemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Education, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Hydrology, Mineral Physics, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resources and Conservation, Natural Resources Management and Policy, Oil, Gas, and Energy, Other Earth Sciences, Other Environmental Sciences, Paleobiology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Soil Science, Speleology, Stratigraphy, Sustainability, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology, Water Resource Management
Reproducibility, the extent to which consistent results are obtained when an experiment or study is repeated, sits at the foundation of science. The aim of this process is to produce robust findings and knowledge, with reproducibility being the screening tool to benchmark how well we are implementing the scientific method. However, the re-examination of results from many disciplines has caused [...]