Application of a Transient Wellbore Simulator to Wells HE-06 and HE-20 in the Hellisheidi Geothermal System, SW-Iceland

Abstract

The wellbore simulator HOLA has been used to simulate wellbore conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.) that influence the transport of fluid from the reservoir to the surface during discharge-testing of two Hellisheidi wells, HE-06 and HE-20. At first data from the wells were analyzed by the application of modern well-test analysis techniques such as derivative analysis and computer software simulation. Following that wellbore simulator analysis (HOLA) of discharge test data from the wells was used to estimate the productivity index (PI) for each well and the results compared with the injectivity indices (II) obtained from injection tests. The results were compared with results from three other high-temperature geothermal fields, one in Iceland and two in Japan. The relationship between II and PI for Hellisheidi wells, and in other high-temperature liquid dominated reservoirs, seems to indicate a general first order relationship with considerable scatter. The electrical power potential of wells HE-06 and HE-20 is estimated at 7.3 and 5.7 MWe, respectively.