Upgrade in our Subsurface Laboratory improves reservoir simulations

Published 11-03-2025

A new core flooding rig enables our researchers to simulate the subsurface reservoir conditions even better. This is in high demand for testing the properties at both old and new geological reservoirs, for instance for storage of CO2.

GEUS researchers Samira Mohammadkhani and Wael Fadi Al-Masri recently demonstrated the newly installed core flooding rig at a celebratory department seminar (Photo: GEUS)

Our brand new steady state relative permeability core flooding rig is now up and running and ready to simulate reservoir conditions in even greater detail.

This was celebrated recently in the Department of Geo-energy and Storage who are managing our Subsurface Laboratories (‘the core lab’) where they test samples of the subsurface for an array of different influences, both natural and induced (For instance, how CO₂ flows and interacts within porous media during underground storage).

The whole department gathered for an informal tour around the newly updated core lab where researchers Dan Torben Olsen, Wael Fadi Al-Masri and Samira Mohammadkhani, Behzad Rostami and lab technician Jesper Arvedlund Hollensen demonstrated both the new interior and updated workflows. Everybody got a chance to see both how the two “old” core flooding rigs are working and get an introduction to the new and extra fancy one.

“This is a quite unique piece of equipment designed, assembled and successfully tested all by our brilliant core lab team here in GEUS. This new rig can keep a core sample flooded in steady state with two different fluids at the same time. This enables us to get closer to the real conditions in the reservoirs and help us understand the results from the single fluid rigs even better,” said Wael Fadi Al-Masri who has been in charge of designing the new rig along with other colleagues.

High quality at low cost

When investigating the different properties of reservoir rock for example in active or depleted oil or gas reservoirs it’s a huge advantage to be able to see how fluids distribute in relation to each other. The core lab systems now allow for fluid injection experiments across a wide range of rock types—from high-permeability sandstone to ultra-low-permeability chalk—under extreme pressure and temperature conditions.

“Our advanced displacement pumps, in-situ fluid density measurement capabilities, CO2-brine tuned two-phase separator, and automated electronic valve controls ensure precise fluid injection and monitoring over extended test durations.” said Behzad Rostami.

“We’re very proud to have been able to develop this special rig and especially at a very low cost compared to the price tag this type of equipment would normally cost,” he adds.

With decades of experience in subsurface laboratory research, state-of-the-art core flooding equipment, and deep expertise in laboratory experiments across various fields, we welcome collaboration and knowledge sharing with partners seeking to leverage our advanced facilities and expertise.

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Behzad Rostami
Senior Researcher
Geo-energy and Storage
Johanne Uhrenholt Kusnitzoff
Editor
Press and Communication

GEUS Subsurface Laboratories

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A look inside the new core flooding rig: The main cylinder is where the core sample is put under high pressure and temperature to simulate different subsurface reservoir conditions (Photo: GEUS)