Oil company sees geothermal opportunity in non-sufficient oil reserve

Alexander Richter 4 Haz 2009

I came across this article today and thought it shows an interesting angle. There are lots of voices that see a huge potential in geothermal for oil companies, one only needs to think of all the drilling data oil companies sit on. So the announcement of Northern Petroleum that it considers to utilize a non-sufficient oil well for a geothermal energy application. So while the temperature of 90-100 centigrades might not be as sufficient for electricity application it still could be utilized for direct use applications. So this could apply to any oil company in the world.

The article talks about that “Northern Petroleum PLC (AIM: NOP)  is in talks with a third party as to a possible geothermal energy application for the Nieuwendijk site after electric logs and pressure tests at the the well drilled there suggest levels of oil saturations are not sufficient to warrant significant costs of testing.

These results along with other information obtained from the well will be integrated into its interpretation of the area around the Ottoland and Brakel fields enabling a new valuation to be made of the nearby and adjacent structures, the company said.

While this is a disappointment, managing director Derek Musgrove said: “… in the overall Netherlands drilling programme Northern has an additional undeveloped gas discovery in the Andel III licence and further undeveloped gas discoveries and significant oil and gas exploration prospects in the adjacent Utrecht licence. These discoveries form Northern’s continuing programme in the region next year.”

“Our interest in geothermal energy will increase with activity. It has a potential to provide a significant salvage value to unsuccessful drilling efforts in populated areas where the reservoir temperatures are around 90-100 degrees centigrade.”

Source: Proactive Investor