Geothermal Gradient in the Oilfields in China

Abstract

Geothermal temperature and its gradient, as a function of depth, is a very important parameter in evaluating geothermal resources. There are many factors affecting geothermal temperature and gradient. These include rock type, contents and categories of radioactive elements, types of heat transfer (convection or conduction), etc. The geothermal potential in oilfields in China is huge. However, the geothermal temperature and gradient data are not available in many oilfields. In some cases, the oil companies have the data but do not provide them to the geothermal users, which causes a lot of difficulties in estimating the geothermal potential in oilfields. To this end, the geothermal temperature data were collected and analyzed in this paper. Using these data, contour map of geothermal gradient and temperature-depth were plotted for the major oilfields in China.