10 Years of Injection at Aquistore: Guiding CCUS into the Commercial Era
Since 2015, the Aquistore project has seen injection of CO2 captured from the Boundary Dam coal fired power plant in Saskatchewan. Initially intermittent in nature, injection became much steadier at 4-600 tonnes/day, with individual high-rate tests at over 2000Tonnes/day. After 10 years of injection, over 630,000 tonnes of CO2 have been stored at a depth of approximately 3200m in the Cambrian Deadwood Formation.
The planning and execution stages of the project went well, which was intended to make the injection phase as predictable as possible, as is common with any CCUS project in this phase.The well design, site characterization, and MMV planning all represented the state of the art of CCUS at the time (2012) and was well thought-out and executed. That said, running and operating an injection site attached to a post-combustion coal capture facility presents challenges that are sometimes difficult to foresee in the planning stages. Intermittent injection due to startup of a new plant combined with unexpected outcomes in relation to injection pressure or downhole temperature may require a quick understanding of the mechanisms at play and a confident recommendation of remediation methods.
This is where the MMV ultimately plays an important role, not just in allaying public concerns, or satisfying regulatory requirements, but giving valuable and useful real-time information to operators of the site. Downhole MMV provides instant downhole pressure and temperature to diagnose potential leaks. Seismic imaging gives new insights with each passing survey as to the morphology of the plume. Geology that was once thought to be stable and layer-cake may exhibit an effect on plume development that needs to be better understood as the plume expands.
There are many aspects of running CCUS injection into a deep saline aquifer that will not and could not occur on pre-drilling models. It is important to have a dedicated team to identify and mitigate these challenges as they arise in order to continue the important work of injection in a way that gives a good picture of the fate of CO2 in the reservoir.
As CCUS moves from the concept to the pilot, and now past that into a commercial reality, the insights gained from over 10 years of injection can be very useful to all newer CCUS projects as they come online and face the inevitable challenges that lie ahead.
Registration closes on Monday, February 16 at 8AM MST.
Date/Time
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Registration: 11:45 AM MST
Start Time: 12:00 PM MST
End Time: 1:00 PM MST
Location
Calgary Petroleum Club | 319 5 Ave SW, Calgary, AB, T2P 0L5
*This event will be in-person only, and will not be recorded.
Speaker Bio
Erik H. Nickel, M.Sc., P.Geo.
Interim CEO, PRTC
Erik Nickel graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1994with a degree in Geology. His first job was as a geological well site consultant “chasing rigs” throughout southeast Saskatchewan, guiding horizontals and picking core points. After this, Erik spent the next 16 years as a research geologist with the petroleum geology branch of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey, during which he completed a master's degree in 2008 from the University of Regina with a thesis on the sealing units for the Mississippian Midale Beds at the Weyburn CCUS/EOR project.
His research interests, while at the survey, were primarily in the Mississippian carbonates of southeast Saskatchewan, authoring papers and other publications to help guide industry through the Saskatchewan subsurface. Erik also studied many other aspects of Saskatchewan’s petroleum and natural gas resources, most notably an extensive body of work on the geology of Bakken tight oil reservoirs during the “shale boom” of the 2010s.
Erik joined the PTRC in 2014 to assist in running their enhanced oil recovery programs. From there he has held successively more responsible positions , now finding himself as the (interim) CEO of the company. Erik is responsible for the direction of the PTRC in fulfilling its aims and goals of provincial oil production improvement, CCUS development through field research, and new subsurface energy opportunities.
**Please Note
Lunch will be served. Please be sure to include your dietary restrictions during the online registration process so we can do our best to accommodate.
An event reminder will be sent the day before and the morning of the event.
Group Discounts
Group discounts are now available! A discount of 10% will be applied at checkout for groups of 6-9 people, and a discount of 15% will be applied for groups of 10+ people. Please note the discount will only be applied if all tickets are purchased in the same transaction.
If you wish to reserve a table, please email calgarysection@spe.org and specify your company name and the specific event title/date to hold the reservation. Please note that table reservations only apply to groups of 8.
Group Discount (10+ People)