A Deeper Understanding of Sleipner’s CO2 Pre-Injection Geology through the Stratigraphic Continuity Attribute

The Sleipner project in Norway, the first large-scale underground CO2 sequestration initiative, has stored over 18.5 million tons of CO2 since 1996. A key challenge has been the limited resolution of pre-injection seismic data, hindering accurate CO2 plume migration predictions. This study improves seismic data resolution through sparse layer spectral inversion, creating new attributes such as stratigraphic continuity and apparent time thickness. These attributes reveal previously hidden geological features, including continuous and discontinuous reflections, and an incised channel system. The stratigraphic continuity attribute helps to identify potential CO2 migration pathways and barriers, highlighting areas of high continuity where CO2 can flow and discontinuities that restrict its movement. The improved imaging from sparse layer inversion could help better prediction of CO2 plume behavior in future carbon capture projects. The study confirms that channel systems, like those at Sleipner, are promising candidates for future CO2 injection projects.