Case Studies of Developing Low-Temperature Geothermal Wells
- Key words
- Drilling; Exploration; Mud; Utah; Newcastle; Crystal Hot Springs; Sandy; Idaho; Pocatello; Drilling Histories
- Location
- Newcastle, Utah; Crystal Hot Springs, Utah; Pocatello, Utah; Sandy, Utah
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 1981
- Session
- Drilling; Low temperature reservoirs; Moderate temperature r
- Language
- English
Abstract
Low temperature geothermal reservoirs can be very elusive. Even when penetrated with a drill bit, the geothermal water can elude detection, leading eventually to an unnecessary dry hole. This paper discusses the experiences in regard to the dynamics of several low to moderate temperatures geothermal wells that have been drilled recently. Drilling fluid weight is so critical to enabling the driller to "discover" the resource, that often one needs to chance the possibility of hole collapse by keeping drilling fluids light. If reliable geophysical log correlation methods could be developed to enable the positive identification of water bearing zones, the well development problem would be considerably easier.
Copyright 1981, Geothermal Resources Council. Readers who download papers from this site should honour the copyright of the original authors, and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the original publisher.