Subsurface geoscience in the energy transition—and in responsible oil and gas operations

A continuing need to understand the subsurface

Energy systems are changing, but dependence on the subsurface is not disappearing. Carbon storage, geothermal energy, underground storage, groundwater protection, and management of existing hydrocarbon assets all require reliable knowledge of rocks, fluids, faults, pressure, and uncertainty.

Skills developed in petroleum and solid-Earth geoscience transfer directly: characterize what is present, determine how it is connected, predict response to injection or extraction, and monitor whether reality follows the model.

Carbon storage is a containment problem

A viable geological storage system needs pore volume, injectivity, trapping, and a confining unit capable of retaining carbon dioxide. Seismic data map reservoir geometry, faults, and caprock continuity; wells constrain rock and fluid properties; dynamic models test pressure and plume migration.

Capacity should distinguish theoretical volume from practical, pressure-constrained storage. Monitoring is integral, not optional. Baseline seismic, pressure, geochemical, and other observations make later change detectable and test whether the subsurface behaves as predicted.

Geothermal and underground storage

Temperature alone does not make a geothermal project. Sustainable production requires fluid, permeability, connectivity, viable drilling depth, and manageable thermal decline. Production and reinjection change pressure and can alter flow paths or fault stability, making monitoring part of resource management.

Depleted fields, aquifers, and salt caverns may support gas, hydrogen, compressed air, or other storage, but reuse is application specific. Hydrogen introduces different chemical, microbial, diffusive, caprock, and well-integrity questions from natural gas. Geological precedent cannot substitute for engineered assessment.

Responsible operation of existing assets

During the transition, reducing the footprint and risk of current oil and gas production remains important. Subsurface data support well-integrity management, pressure control, reduced unintended migration, injection surveillance, produced-water planning, and efficient reservoir management.

Environmental-performance claims should be tied to measured outcomes. Geoscientists contribute by improving pressure and connectivity forecasts and designing monitoring capable of detecting unexpected behaviour.

Decommissioning is a long-term geoscience task

Pressure redistributes after operations cease, and legacy wells can remain pathways if not characterized and sealed. Responsible closure needs accurate well records, depleted-zone knowledge, barrier assessment, and monitoring proportional to risk. These same records determine whether an asset can be repurposed safely.

• Which observations constrain the model?
• What controls injectivity, productivity, and containment?
• Which measurements would detect unexpected behaviour?
• How will wells and reservoirs be managed through and after operation?