205: Managing carbon - a new frontier

Kurang Mehta discusses the November special section on carbon management in The Leading Edge. In this episode, get an inside look at the emerging field of carbon management. You will learn about the history and methods of carbon capture and storage. Kurang also provides thoughtful perspectives on how geoscientists can uniquely contribute to carbon management while recognizing biases that may need to be overcome. This conversation covers key topics like saline aquifers, rock fluid interactions, reservoir characterization considerations, monitoring challenges, and the importance of collaboration between academia and industry. For anyone interested in the subsurface, this episode provides an engaging overview of how carbon management fits into the future of oil and gas. 🗣️In this episode: * Learn about the history and methods of carbon capture and storage. * Gain perspective on how industry experience can inform new approaches while addressing the biases geoscientists take into carbon management. * Discover how students drive research and the importance of working together in academia and industry. SPONSOR Katalyst Data Management® sponsors this episode. Katalyst Data Management® provides the only integrated, end-to-end subsurface data management solution for the oil and gas industry. Over 240 employees operate in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America, and they are dedicated to enabling digital transformation and optimizing the value of geotechnical information for exploration, production, and M&A activity. Learn more at https://www.katalystdm.com/. 📋 Episode Chapters (01:43) Carbon management in The Leading Edge (04:39) The four main potential sequestration projects (09:30) Rock fluid compatibility is a standard assessment when considering carbon injection (10:47) What role do underground sources of drinking water play in CCUS projects? (12:14) Would formations previously considered poor candidates for oil and gas projects be considered for CO2 projects? (16:34) Do you think scientific progress or governmental support will progress CCUS projects? (18:28) If you had to describe your journey in one word, what would it be and why? 💬Guest Bio Kurang Mehta received a B. S. in electronics and communication engineering from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, an M.Sc. (2003) in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and a Ph.D. (2007) from Colorado School of Mines. At North Carolina State, he developed a numerical scheme for 2D-time reversal of waves in complex random media. At the Center for Wave Phenomena at Colorado School of Mines, he studied properties of refocused pulse obtained using time reversal for a perturbed medium. As a doctoral student, he was involved in a project on the virtual source method in collaboration with Shell International E & P. His research interests include seismic interferometry (correlation and deconvolution), time reversal, and the controlled-source electromagnetic method. Dr. Mehta is currently a Senior Development Geophysicist at Kosmos Energy. ✍️ Episode References Visit https://seg.org/podcasts/episode-205-managing-carbon-a-new-frontier/ for the complete interview transcript and all the links referenced in the show.