Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Geology
First Advisor
W. Gosnold
Abstract
With the current need for technology that will allow for environmentally-friendly power generation, geothermal power has become an attractive resource given its low environmental impact and potential cost savings. One specific resource is co-produced water from oil wells that are not currently producing, but can yield formation waters that are both high enough in temperature and fluid volume to operate the turbines of binary geothermal power systems. The data required to identify sites, i.e. bottom-hole temperatures (BHT), latitude, longitude, total depth of hole (TD) in meters, the identification number, and the amount of water produced in gallons, can be mined from well logs that exist in various data systems.
Utilizing this data together with a Geographical Information System (GIS) software package, one can optimize the search for an ideal location for a binary power plant. I am analyzing data from the North Dakota Industrial Commission database for the North Dakota portion of the Williston Basin, with which I have created a report on potentially economically productive power plant locations along with a fully interactive map of western North Dakota.
Recommended Citation
Crowell, Anna M., "Identifying potential geothermal resources from co-produced fluids using existing data from drilling logs : Williston, North Dakota" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 65.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/65