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Deep Resources R&D
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The basins that produce the Nation’s natural gas
are surprisingly deep. Many contain sedimentary
columns that are 30,000 feet or more in depth.
However, less than 1 percent of all wells
drilled in the United States to date have
penetrated below 15,000 feet. |
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Nonetheless, in 1998, “deep”
reservoirs—arbitrarily defined as occurring more
than 15,000 feet subsurface—accounted for 7
percent of domestic production. The National
Petroleum Council projects this share will need
to grow to 12 percent by 2010 to ensure that
America’s growing demand for natural gas is met.
The deep gas resource target is enormous—about
29 percent of the Nation’s ultimate potential
gas resource is deep gas. But challenges facing
expanded deep gas production are significant. At
such great depths, wells encounter
extraordinarily high temperatures (greater than
400 °F) and pressures (greater than 15,000 psi),
as well as extremely hard, abrasive rock and
corrosive environments. Such conditions
seriously challenge the capabilities of the
sophisticated downhole equipment used in modern
drilling.
Under these conditions, only the most promising
deep prospects are economic to drill because of
the high risks and costs entailed in deep
drilling. The cost of drilling and equipping the
average deep gas well (17,400 feet) is about 12
times that of the average Lower 48 onshore gas
well drilled to 6,000 feet. History has also
shown that with an ultra-deep well, the last 10
percent of the bore hole can account for 50
percent of the well's cost.
Under a program dubbed “Deep Trek,” NETL
supports efforts to advance the understanding of
deep gas environments and the development of new
technologies that promise to dramatically reduce
deep drilling costs and bolster drilling
efficiencies. DOE kicked off the Deep Trek
program in March 2001 with a workshop to
accelerate planning for advances in deep
drilling technologies. A CD, “Deep Trek Workshop
Proceedings,” can be obtained through the
NETL CD ordering system.
To date, DOE has awarded 28 Deep Trek projects
totaling over $64 million, (with $28 million
contributed by research partners) and is
currently managing another seven projects
focused on resource assessment and improved
imaging technology for deep reservoirs. Many of
these projects have focused on developing the
electronics and tools needed for the development
of an integrated deep drilling and deep imaging
system that will enable the economic recovery of
an additional 100 Tcf of natural gas through
2020. |
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