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Thermal Stimulation of Geothermal Wells: A Review of Field Data
Thermal Stimulation of Geothermal Wells: A Review of Field Data
Thermal Stimulation of Geothermal Wells: A Review of Field Data
Malcolm A Grant1, Jonathon Clearwater2, Jaime Quinão2, Paul F Bixley3 & Morgane Le Brun2
1
MAGAK
Auckland, New Zealand
e-mail: mkgrant@farmside.co.nz
2
Mighty River Power
Rotorua, New Zealand
3
Contact Energy
Wairakei, New Zealand
.
ABSTRACT
AVAILABLE DATA
Available data indicates that, in the normal case
where injectate is cooler than the reservoir, injectivity
Variation with time – Injectivity measured
of a geothermal well should be expected to increase
downhole
with time at a rate like tn where n = 0.4-0.7.
Injectivity is also strongly temperature-dependent, Figure 1 shows the observed changes of injectivity in
increasing greatly with increased temperature BR23 (Grant et al. 1982, p311). There was a first
difference between injectate and reservoir. The period of injection. Then the well was produced for a
increase in permeability with time can be up to two period, followed by a second period of injection.
orders of magnitude. It is also observed that nearly all During both injection periods injectivity increased,
wells drilled with cold water, are greatly stimulated and decreased over the period of production. Slope of
by the effects of drilling and completion testing. the trend during injection is 0.6.
Thermal stimulation is a very common, but often
unrecognised phenomenon.
INTRODUCTION
It has been observed many times that the
performance of geothermal injection wells improves
with time, provided there are no deposition problems.
It has also been observed that cold water injection
improves well permeability. This improvement is
usually attributed to cooling of the rock near the
wellbore, with consequent expansion of fractures.
This thermal stimulation is distinct from hydraulic
stimulation, where fractures are created or expanded
by raising fluid pressure sufficiently. Figure 1. Injectivity changes in BR23 against
cumulative injection of cold water (kt)
The first step is a review of the relevant available Reservoir temperature 270°C.
data which can be used to define or test any model.
Performance of injection wells can be monitored by This example demonstrates that thermal stimulation
measuring the injectivity index (dQ/dp) using the is reversible. Injectivity increased during injection,
wellhead pressure (where the injectate temperature is decreased during warmup and subsequent production,
constant), or downhole pressure and monitoring its and then increased again with the second round of
change with time. The expected pattern is an increase injection. In this as in subsequent examples, the
like tn, where n is 0.4-0.7 – there should be a linear injected water is around 20°C and reservoir is a high
trend on log-log plot. A sustained deviation below temperature field. Figure 2 shows the injectivity
this trend suggests deposition. measured in KA44, KA50 and RK21 during
stimulation after completion of drilling. Slopes on the MK20 Injectivity - WH data
log-log plot are 0.37 for RK21,0.58 for KA44 and
0.76 for KA50.
100
Injectivity during stimulation
II [t/h.b]
80
Injectivity t/h.b
RK21
KA44 10
40 400
KA50 Days of Injection
8
1 10 100 Figure 3. Injectivity of MK20 during use as injector.
Days of injection Slope is 0.7.
150 KA
Observation shows that permeability of fractured hot
rock increases strongly with decrease in temperature.
100 HN-09 The permeability increase can be as much as two
50 HN-12 orders of magnitude when cold water is injected into
a high-temperature reservoir. The increase is due to
0 HN-16
thermal contraction of the rock, and causes
0 100 200 300
permeability changes much greater than those due to
Delta T
pressure changes. This process cannot continue
Figure 8. Permeability ratio against temperature indefinitely, as it depends on the existence of a
difference, linear plot temperature contrast; but it has been observed to
continue for a few years.
1000
RK
Most wells drilled with water are normally
NG
considerably stimulated at the end of drilling; and
BR with continued injection, injectivity continues to
100
KA increase.
kh ratio
HN-09
10 HN-12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
HN-16 We thank Mighty River Power, Contact Energy and
Sumikawa Tuaropaki Power Company for permission to publish
1 Oguni field data and theory.
30 300
Delta T Kirishima
LIST OF SYMBOLS
Figure 9. Permeability ratio against temperature
difference, log-log plot. D constant
II injectivity index
Not surprisingly, there is a lot of scatter on the data. h thickness
It is clear that there is a strong variation with k permeability
temperature difference. Figure 8 suggests that the K thermal conductivity
variation is not linear with ΔT, and it is probably PI productivity index
closer to ΔT3. The dashed line on Figure 9 shows Q heat flow
such a cubic dependence. Because of the paucity of R radial distance
data at lower values of ΔT, this is not well T temperature
constrained. The Icelandic results, which are the best t time
quality data as they contain a range of values from α coefficient of expansion
the same well, are consistent with a ΔT3 variation. σ Poisson’s ratio
ν kinematic viscosity
The permeability changes during thermal stimulation
are not normally due to any hydraulic fracturing.
They occur at all overpressures, and are reversible.
This points toward thermal expansion and contraction
as the driving mechanism.