LSU Collaborating With Industry Partners on New CO2 Research Well

September 30, 2024

BATON ROUGE, LA – In early 2025, the LSU College of Engineering, in collaboration with industry partners Halliburton, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, and H&P, will begin drilling a third research well at its PERTT—Petroleum Engineering Research, Training, and Testing—Lab on LSU’s campus.

This new, one-of-its-kind well will enable students, researchers, regulators, and industry to study CO2 in all three of its phases under realistic field conditions. Research will include testing and developing safety and monitoring technologies, understanding CO2 flow behavior in various downhole conditions, and validating the predictions of computer models or bench-scale experiments at the field scale.

The new well will not be operational and will not inject any CO2 into the subsurface. The well will be solely used for research purposes, and LSU expects it to have significant research value.

“The project is part of a broader vision to position LSU as a national leader in demonstration-scale energy research, which will include other aspects of low-carbon technologies, such as CO2 capture and use, electrification, hydrogen processes, sustainable fuel production, and more,” said Karsten Thompson, LSU Petroleum Engineering professor and lead on the project. “[The new well] can be used for education and training, which is important because injection wells are being assessed across many parts of our state. More broadly, research on sensing, monitoring, and leak detection of CO2 will support safe and reliable carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) operations in Louisiana and throughout the world.”

The genesis of this project stems from LSU’s participation in the H2theFuture project, which provided funding from the U.S. Economic Development Agency and Louisiana Economic Development. It then received a substantial boost when the college approached Halliburton, a longtime supporter of the PERTT Lab, to ask if the company would serve as an in-kind partner to drill a new CO2-capable research well at LSU.

Halliburton’s role will be that of primary service provider on the project. The company has conducted subsurface evaluation and geohazards analysis as part of the well design and anticipates providing cementing, logging, geosteering, and other technologies during the drilling and completion of the well.

“Today, hundreds of carbon capture and storage projects (CCUS) are in early development around the globe,” said Halliburton’s Mark Richard, president, Western Hemisphere. “The number of commercial CCUS sites remains well below what is required to meet environmental commitments in 2030, 2050, and beyond. Collaboration with educators, researchers, and the energy industry will play a critical role to train the future workforce and meet the demand for CO2 sequestration.”

ExxonMobil is working in close collaboration with the college and Halliburton on the well design and is currently focused on the drilling plan, which outlines the project’s timeline up to the “spudding” of the well, or start of drilling operations. As the drilling operator, ExxonMobil will leverage its industry expertise in wells designed for CO2 capture and storage. The company also plans to work with LSU on community engagement and education related to the energy transition.

“Carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play a fundamental role in lowering emissions,” said Dominic Genetti, senior vice president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “We’re excited to team up with LSU on this groundbreaking research well. The work we’re doing today with students and academics is crucial for ensuring Louisiana remains an energy leader for years to come.

Additionally, major in-kind donations have been committed by Shell and Chevron in the form of casing for the well and by H&P in the form of drilling operations. Numerous smaller contributions have been made from a variety of companies, and discussions are ongoing to secure other forms of support that are needed for a project of this scope.

Drilling Down Further on the Well Specs

The new well, which will be the third research well at the PERTT Lab, will have a large-diameter, carbon-steel outer casing, allowing for the installation of corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA) inner casing and tubulars. This design will allow researchers to perform experiments using CO2 without concern for corrosion. The well will have a 5,000-ft. deep, large-diameter vertical section. At that depth, it will transition to a smaller diameter but remain vertical to a depth of 7,000 feet. It will then curve into a horizontal section that will be 500-1,000 feet in length and is planned to land at a depth of approximately 7,900 feet.

“Most modern wells have laterals, and this design will create opportunities for research projects that were not possible with wells 1 and 2,” Thompson said. “The new well will also have instrumentation that is not available in the older wells.”

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Contact: Joshua Duplechain
Director of Communications
225-578-5706
josh@lsu.edu