A Review of Some Oilfield Technologies Available for EGS Projects

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to show how advanced oilfield technologies can help reduce the technical and economic risks incurred in EGS projects as well as harness geothermal resources in a safer and more efficient manner. The value of those technologies to the EGS community is twofold: first, they can enable a development team, in the early field development stage, to determine optimal well placement and trajectories by better characterizing geological structure, lithology, stress, and fracture systems; second, in later development stages, they can permit to better reactivate, enhance, or connect to fracture zones pre-existing in the hot basement rocks, thereby improving the overall project efficiency. Techniques such as surface and borehole seismics, well logging and imaging, or hydraulic fracturing and frac monitoring, will be reviewed in turn.