Economic and Durable Materials and Completion Solutions for Geothermal Well Constructions and Operations

Geothermal wells are expected to have a long service life. At the same time conditions (high temperatures, aggressive environments) of these wells are arguably the most difficult for many materials to survive.  Furthermore, the search for economic power generation pushes the limits of the current technologies to even more extreme conditions of EGS and supercritical wells or to wells where materials are subjected to significant repeated thermos-mechanical stresses. Such challenges call for development of innovative scientific and technological solutions and their field applications.  The challenging environments of geothermal wells can serve as field laboratories for the next generation of materials applicable to various domains of science and engineering. 

This session will focus on advanced materials and technologies providing well integrity, during well construction, repairs and well monitoring throughout the well life cycle. These may include but are not limited to new cementitious technologies for EGS and ultra-high temperature applications in super-hot geothermal wells; heat pump or hot rock technologies where materials are subjected to constant thermal shock conditions; materials for HT electronic components; high-temperature corrosion-resistant metal, coatings, and elastomeric materials; field application of these and other relevant technologies and methods providing well integrity under geothermal environments. The session will welcome all geothermal material research, research and development work focused on new well integrity solutions, and field tests related to geothermal well durability.

Improvements to Downhole Logging and Instrumentation

Geothermal wells and their respective high-temperature downhole conditions impose different demands on drilling and logging tool technologies, which can impact the ability to maintain an accurate control on the measurement accuracy.  In recent years, technologies have been developed specifically for geothermal applications which address some of the limitations of traditional downhole sensors used primarily by the oil and gas industry.  Due to the relative increase in complexity for accessing geothermal resources, these unique challenges are now being addressed by the service sector to ensure the wells are drilled and completed in an effective manner.  The vagaries of geothermal well logging can include high temperature, large temperature variations between well interventions as well as significant changes in the wellbore temperature profile, corrosive conditions, scale, and large boreholes.  These are all factors that impose limitations on the ability to acquire accurate and reliable data for applications such as the drilling of highly deviated wells through fractured granitic geologic formations, accurate wellbore placement and logging data in proximity of neighbouring offset wells, and subsequently monitoring of wall thinning and build-up of scale in production tubulars. An understanding of the methods employed in maintaining accurate data QA/QC and sharing best practices will contribute to increased confidence in the evolution of geothermal resource development, which will, ultimately, enhance the management of assets.

• 1:30 PM - 1:50 PM: High Temperature testing of downhole non metallic materials used for sealing annular space | Catalin Teodoriu
• 1:50 PM - 2:10 PM: High-Temperature Resistant Polymers for Sealing in Geothermal Systems | Arash Dahi Taleghani
• 2:10 PM - 2:30 PM: Numerical Investigation of the Impact of Fishbone Well Configurations on the Performance of Enhanced Geothermal Systems in North Dakota. |  Moones Alamooti
• 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM: Results of High-Temperature Cement Blends Exposure in Newberry Well, Oregon | Tatiana Pyatina
• 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM: Increasing Reliability of Measurement-While-Drilling Sensors in Geothermal Wells Using a Life-Cycle Management System Incorporating Temperature and Vibration | Cory Langford
• 3:10 PM - 3:30 PM: Quantifying Scale/Obstruction Thickness in Salton Sea Geothermal Field Wellbores Using Standard Bottom Hole Assembly Tools | Santiago Rocha Montoya