MeProRisk – a Tool Box for Evaluating and Reducing Risks in Exploration, Development, and Operation of Geothermal Reservoirs

Abstract

In developing geothermal resources there is a high risk of failure compared to hydrocarbon exploration. The MeProRisk projects aims at improving the strategies in all phases of the reservoir life cycle. It is a joint enterprise of three German universities and two companies: RWTH Aachen; FU Berlin; University of Kiel; Geophysica GmbH (Aachen); and RWE Dea AG (Hamburg). It is funded for three years by the German Ministry of Education and Science (BMBF).
The key idea of this project is to understand the development of a given reservoir as an iterative process. Starting from existing geological information and geophysical data, one or more conceptual models will emerge which will be used for first numerical simulation, forward and inverse. The models will be progressively refined by including reliable rock properties based on a statistical analysis and geological fine structure deduced from sophisticated seismic interpretation. The use of inverse simulation techniques in a broad sense will not only finally yield an optimal model but provide estimates of uncertainty and resolution for the model. This information is useful for further optimizations of experiments, not the least important of which is comprised of choosing the locations of new exploration wells.