The American Association of Petroleum Geologists sponsored a Hedberg Research Conference on Enhanced Geothermal Systems in Napa, California, March 18 to 23, 2011. The workshop was attended by 67 participants from 10 different countries: United States, Australia, Austria, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway.
No large energy segment grows based on skill sets possessed by one or a few individuals alone. In the case of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS, also known as “engineered GS”), this was brought home to all participants through a set of posters and presentations on national and regional programs. A presentation by Bendall et al. representing the primary industries and resource agency of South Australia was very effective in conveying how to manage communication between and facilitation among the national research groups and dedicated geothermal research centers.
David Blackwell's geothermal laboratory at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas serves a similar function in the United States. They conduct the dual responsibilities of basic research on the national U.S. heat-flow database and are heavily engaged in geothermal developments related to oil and gas production throughout the Gulf Coast region and elsewhere.
The International Geothermal Center (GZB) in Bochum, Germany, is yet another model, as reported by Rolf Bracke and Volker Wittig. The state of North Rhine–Westphalia is investing in a coiled tube drilling rig for use by the GZB at Hochschule Bochum. The rig will drill a deep well on the university campus and fracture the rocks between multiple lateral wellbores. The resulting geothermal field will be developed to provide overall heating for the GZB and, if possible, for the rest of the university. The GZB is also charged with educating the public about the relative risks of subsurface engineering actions. For example, the public will be able to observe the relative seismic effects …
Abstract Throughout time, the greater Caspian area has maintained its position as one of the major petroleum provinces in the world. Its early history as a prolific producer of oil is well known. Caspian region exploration dates to the seventh century B.C., during the time of the Median Kingdom in today's southern Azerbaijan. Oil played an important role in the everyday lives of these ancient tribes of the region, and it is still a very important commodity today. The past two decades have seen many important advances in our knowledge of the geological evolution of hydrocarbon-bearing sedimentary basins. The success of modern exploration is, to a large extent, based on new advances in both deep and 3-D seismic imaging, as well as improved pressure-prediction and pre-drill oil and gas quality predictive methodologies, to mention just a few. Nevertheless, large areas of the greater Caspian region have remained unexplored due to a variety of factors such as deep-water conditions and zones with high pore-pressures in the South Caspian Sea and The Black Sea, and vast shallow-water regions with harsh winter ice conditions in the North Caspian Sea. This publication contains 12 extended abstracts and 6 full-length papers that discuss technology development, challenges in estimating proven and potential reserves, outcrop-based studies of potential reservoirs, regional tectonics and geodynamic evolution, and source rock and stratigraphic analyses of the greater Caspian area.
Organic geochemical correlations between fluid inclusions and associated oils and oil-shows in Mesozoic reservoirs in the Sleipner area demonstrate generation from the same source rock organic facies (type II) for inclusions in wells 15/9-1 and 15/9-19. For well 15/9-9 the oil show is from a mixed type II/III source rock, whereas the fluid inclusion is from a type II source. All fluid inclusions are less thermally mature than the associated free oils and are thought to represent the earliest hydrocarbon yield from the source rocks. GC/MS/MS analyses of the fluid inclusions proved essential for resolving biomarker compounds and correlating them to reservoired fluids. Among the biomarkers, bisnorhopane contents in the fluid inclusions are consistently lower than in the associated reservoired oil. The expected dilution effect of bisnorhopane as progressively more hydrocarbons are generated from kerogen maturation is not observed. The difference in bisnorhopane amounts in fluid inclusions and oils is primarily due to varying relative hydrocarbon yields, through time, from different source rocks.
This study was set up to evaluate the existence of different petroleum families in the Sleipner area. Sleipner East (block 15/9) and West (blocks 15/9 and 15/6) are primarily gas/condensate fields, but there is one oil test from the northern part of Sleipner West, as well as oil in a structure (Theta West) to the north of Sleipner East. The sample set includes all available gas, condensate and oil samples from Sleipner West, Dagny (block 15/6), Sleipner East, Loke, Theta West, My and the Alpha structure in block 15/8. Source rock data have also been acquired for the Draupne, Heather, Hugin and Sleipner Formations in the area. The samples have been subjected to the standard suite of geochemical analyses, including carbon isotopes, gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The resulting data set shows the existence of several oil/condensate families, both within and between different reservoir units (Tertiary and Jurassic), which can be related to generation from different source rock types. The gas data also show systematic variations over the area, which do not always match those of the oils/condensates, supportive of multiple sourcing. The gas data indicate, furthermore, different sources for the hydrocarbon gases and for carbon dioxide, which ismore » especially abundant in Sleipner West. The results from this study can be used both on a reservoir scale, when constructing a reliable model with regard to field compartmentalisation for production purposes, and on a regional scale, when exploring the area for additional petroleum accumulations.« less
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