Estimating Well Cost for Enhanced Geo System Applications

Course Summary:

Enhanced geothermal system (EGS) reservoir performance is controlled by the interplay of a complex set of parameters: reservoir, geologic, drilling, well completion, plant design, and operation. In order to identify, analyze, and mitigate the economic risks of any EGS prospect, one must first understand the relative importance of each of these parameters, how its relative importance changes under different constraints, and how they interactively affect EGS production. To date, no comprehensive parametric study on EGS is known to have been conducted within the industry. U.S. industry has not conducted a comprehensive study because it considers EGS an emerging technology. The parametric studies reported in the literature have only considered a limited set and range of parameters, thus potentially skewing their results.

Learning Objective:

The objective of this work reported is to investigate the costs of drilling and completing wells and to relate those costs to the economic viability of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). This is part of a larger parametric study of major cost components in an EGS. The possibility of improving the economics of EGS can be determined by analyzing the major cost components of the system, which include well drilling and completion. Determining the sensitivity of EGS cost components will help to identify areas of research to reduce those costs. The results of this well cost analysis will help quantify well development cost for EGS.

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Course Content

Course Author: US Department of Energy National Laboratory