Fracturing operations in a dry geothermal reservoir

Conference · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5703580

Rowley, J C; Pettitt, R A; Hendron, R H; Sinclair, A R; Nicholson, R W

Fracturing operations at the Fenton Hill, New Mexico, Hot Dry Rock (HDR) Geothermal Test Site initiated unique developments necessary to solve problems caused by an extremely harsh downhole environment. Two deep wells were drilled to approximately 15,000 ft (4.6 km); formation temperatures are in excess of 600/sup 0/F (315/sup 0/C). The wells were drilled during 1979 to 1981, inclined at 35 degrees, one above the other, and directionally drilled in an azimuthal direction orthogonal to the least principal in-situ crustal stress field. Hydraulic fracturing experiments to connect the two wells have used openhole packers, hydraulic jet notching of the borehole wall, cemented-in insolation liners and casing packers. Problems were encountered with hole drag, high fracture gradients, H/sub 2/S in vent back fluids, stress corrosion cracking of tubulars, and the complex nature of three-dimensional fracture growth that requires very large volumes of injected water. Two fractured zones have been formed by hydraulic fracturing and defined by close-in, borehole deployed, microseismic detectors. Initial operations were focused in the injection wellbore near total depth, where water injection treatments totalling 51,000 bbls (8100 m/sup 3/) were accomplished by pumping through a cemented-in 4-1/2 in. liner/PBR assembly. Retrievable casing packers were used to inject 26,000 bbls (4100 m/sup 3/) in the upper section of the open hole. Surface injection pressures (ISIP) varied from 4000 to 5900 psi (27 to 41 MPa) and the fracture gradient ranged from 0.7 to 0.96 psi/ft.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA); Santrol Products, Inc., Houston, TX (USA); Well Production Testing, Carlsbad, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5703580
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-83-2300; CONF-831021-3; ON: DE83017309
• Resource Relation: Conference: Conference on development and use of numerical and factual data bases, Gaithersburg, MD, USA, 5 Oct 1983; Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
HOT-DRY-ROCK SYSTEMS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
BOREHOLES
CEMENTS
DIRECTIONAL DRILLING
FLUID INJECTION
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
INJECTION WELLS
LINERS
NEW MEXICO
PUMPING
BUILDING MATERIALS
CAVITIES
COMMINUTION
DRILLING
ENERGY SYSTEMS
FEDERAL REGION VI
FRACTURING
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
USA
WELLS
Geothermal Legacy
150906* - Geothermal Engineering- Reservoir Stimulation & Extraction Technology