co production potential in the niobrara
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Co-Production Potential in the Niobrara
Stevie NewbillENGY 3??
Project Outline
Investigate necessary components of successful co-production
Create thermal map based on maximum well temperature
Create flow rate map based on monthly water production
Choose potential wells to do economic analysis of co-production
Background – Co-production
Geothermal is economically unstable due to the cost of drilling wells
Tens of thousands of wells have been drilled for oil and natural gas production
The water from these wells may be usable for small scale geothermal energy production
Background – Niobrara Deposition
Late cretaceous deposition
Western Interior Seaway
Productive zone in several U.S. basins
Wattenberg field
Colorado Mineral Belt
Mineral belt is characterized by Faulting and High heat
Extension of mineral belt
Stratigraphy
Depth in the Wattenberg ≈ 6000ft
Reservoirs : › Niobrara limestone
benches› Codell Sandstone› Dakota Sands
Data acquisition
Data is available to the public at the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) website
There are tens of thousands of wells, so this is a general trend approximation
Thermal Map: 100 data points Flow Map: 44 data points
Thermal Analysis
Variation depending on depth and location
Approximation of water temperature, not direct indication
Difficult data to obtain, it takes about a minute per well on the COGCC website
Thermal Map
City of Greely Ideal production
location
Flow Map
City of Greely Questionable data:
› no units on production
› Missing data› Lack of data points
Ideal Township for Production :
3N 66W
Power production requirements
Based of Electratherm’s Green Machine 170-240ᵒ F 3.8-12.6 (l/s)
Potential Well from 3N 66W
214ᵒ F Little water
production
Wattenberg Wells
Most productive vertical wells throughout the field produce about 100 barrels of water per month› .006 l/s ( 3.8 l/s min)
Horizontal wells produce more than 10 times as much water › .07 l/s
EOG’s Jake Well
Set off the horizontal drilling boom Most production stats, operational
since 2009
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
Water Production (bbl)
Projected Trendline
Wells Ranch
Each well pad has 4 horizontal wells› 4*.07 l/s = .28 l/s
Jake water production (bbl)
Wells Ranch water production (bbl)
Trendline
Wells Ranch
Temperature data unknown Location: 40.50436/-104.35495 ≈ 195ᵒ F Flow: .28 l/s per pad
Horizontal Potential
[F]≈ 195ᵒ [l/s]: .28 12.5 Well pads
› 23 kW195
Economic Feasibility
Location of 12 Well pads› High cost to move water
Cost of horizontal wells ≈ 10 million› 300,000 dollar green machine is
insignificant
The economics are irrelevant, because there is not a high enough flow to produce electricity
Solution
To make production feasible, water would have to be pumped into existing wells, to increase the flow rate in the reservoir
Conclusion
Simple co-production is not feasible in the Wattenberg field in Colorado
Although temperatures are adequate, the water flow rates from the well are too low
Even using Horizontal wells, it would take 12 well pads to produce a small amount of energy
Flow rate issues can be solved by adding water into the system, a subject which needs further investigation
Questions?
References
http://cogcc.state.co.us/. Hu, G., and Simmons, J.C., 2001, An integrated model
for efficient exploitation of J Sandstone reservoir, Wattenberg field, Denver Basin, in Anderson, D.S., Robinson, J.W., Estes-Jackson, J.E., and Coalson, E.B., eds., chap. 6 of Gas in the Rockies: Denver, Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, p. 65–84.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/pdfs/gtp_coproduction_factsheet.pdf
http://electratherm.com/products/ http://gulfcoastgreenenergy.com/2012/11/
geothermal-green-machine-turns-waste-heat-into-energy/