Six Years of Intensive Research Cooperation to the Lacq-Rousse Pilot of Total - The Academic Point of View from GeoRessources Lab

This paper presents the feedback of 6 years of research programs led by GeoRessources lab of Université de Lorraine about geochemistry of the Rousse pilot of Total. Intense cooperation between academic labs, EPIC, very small companies, industry, government organizations supported three main research programs covering a wide vertical scale from planetary boundary layer to deep reservoir rock (around 6 km). Main innovative results concern the development of new remote sensors and new completion/sensors combinations for in situ on-line gas measurements. Major research advances show very high natural variations of CO2 with time and soil location, allow the establishment of prediction law for the evolution with time of CO2 content in soil, contribute to geological and geochemical models for reservoir and caprock and describe the mechanisms of oxidation of CH4 and mineralogical assemblages of Rousse reservoir. In the biosphere/atmosphere interface, experimental 3D simulation of natural CO2 envelopes directly above the injection site of Rousse has been developed for the first time. The implication of GeoRessources lab to the Lacq-Rousse pilot research program of Total has produced numerous new geochemical and technical concepts. Such results are transferred to other applications in different domains: security of industrial sites, environment control, and geodynamics of the Pyrenees.