| Title | MeProRisk optimisation strategies and risk analysis for geothermal reservoirs |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marquart, G; Clauser, C; Niederau, J; MeProRisk Research Consortium |
| Year | 2016 |
| Conference | European Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | interdisciplinary approach, stochastic reservoir simulation, seismic fracture detection, reservoir risk analysis, reservoir optimization |
| Abstract | MeProRisk, a cooperative project between several German universities (RWTH Aachen University, Freie Universität Berlin, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Bergakademie Freiberg, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena) and Geophysica Beratungsgesellschaft mbH developed refined procedures for exploring, developing and operating geothermal reservoirs with special focus on quantifying uncertainty and reducing risk. In the first three-year phase of MeProRisk (2008 – 2011), the consortium developed a comprehensive collection of mathematical and physical methods for assessing reservoir structure, rock properties, and long-term behaviour of an operated reservoir. Particularly, these methods allow estimating hydrothermal rock properties and long-term reservoir behaviour with quantified uncertainty. Such calculations are helpful for reservoir risk analysis and serve as a base for reservoir optimization with respect to, e.g., fluid temperature and flow rate, minimizing drilling cost, and return of investment. In the second, three-year project phase (2012-2015) the MeProRisk consortium applied this approach to low-, medium- and high-enthalpy reservoirs explored and under development in Denmark, Australia, and Italy by academic and industrial partners. Among the highlight results are (i) estimates of rock permeability from refined analysis of reflection seismics and its attributes; (ii) improved seismic imaging of faults and fracture systems; (iii) assessment of historical seismicity in geothermal legacy regions; (iv) identification of free-convection upflow zones of increased temperature in a sedimentary basin, suitable for direct heat use; (v) optimized siting and offset of geothermal doublets for heat production; (vi) large-scale high-performance numerical single- and two-phase flow and heat transport simulations involving up to ten million variables; (vii) identification of target areas particularly suited for new exploration boreholes in view of maximizing the increase in obtainable information. This work was funded by the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy. |