Co production potential in the niobrara

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/