Squeezing the Barrel: Knowledge exchange adds value to oilfields in decline

石油和天然气行业经常钻探的井深，因此温度适合地热开采，在某些情况下还适合发电，但化石能源和地热能研究之间或相关行业内的交叉很少。英国石油业已经步入中年，石油产量在过去10年里一直在下降。尽管如此，大多数老化油田的采油量还不到原地石油的50%。对于大多数油田来说，水是与石油一起生产的，但产量要大得多(通常是十倍或二十倍)，通常在高达100摄氏度的温度下发现。通常，这些水在海上处置或重新注入油井之前被清洗。石油工业有效地作为水处理和清洁行业运作，石油是一种有价值的副产品。该项目探索了利用联合生产的水作为地热能源直接供暖和发电的机会。有证据表明，如果将地热开采后产生的冷却水重新注入油井，可以提高油井的石油采收率。在英国日益依赖从美国和俄罗斯等其他国家进口化石燃料之际，剩余本土资源的经济复苏将对英国的石油供应安全产生重大影响。NERC在支持英国深层地热研究方面有很长的历史，这种研究在20世纪80年代达到顶峰，以应对20世纪70年代的石油危机。这项研究包括在英国钻6个深(超过1公里)的测试钻孔，南安普顿钻孔是其中之一。这项研究得出的结论是，英国地热资源可以提供高达100%的英国热需求，并有可能产生一些电力。随后NERC的研究集中在英国深部沉积盆地提供的地热机会上。最近，NERC支持英国地质调查局与纽卡斯尔大学和达勒姆大学一起，在纽卡斯尔中部钻探一个2公里深的地热钻孔。这项研究提案将考虑现有的、可能的和潜在的地热机会。南安普顿油井提供了一个现有的、经过验证的地热系统，该系统已经为整个地区的供暖计划提供了大约25年的时间。多塞特郡的Wytch农场油田提供了一个可能的机会，在那里，联产水产生的余热至少是南安普顿地热井产生的余热的20倍。在对约1500口深井的陆上探井数据进行检查后，将发现新地热系统的潜在机会。将对其中的一个子集进行检查，以生成一张地图，指出存在油井的地热潜力区域。对于这些现有的、可能的和潜在的机会，该项目将考虑南安普敦除供热外是否还能发电、Wytch农场油田是否可用于生产地热和向邻近城镇供应电力，以及英国各地的新地点是否有机会。这一提议的新颖性将制热与发电的潜力和振兴油田的潜力结合在一起。有机朗肯循环(ORC)技术可以在低于沸点的温度下从水中产生电力。目前，达勒姆工程学院正在进行与优化(ORC)系统有关的研究，并已证明地热流体可能是发电的潜在目标。将通过NERC支持的地热研究获得的知识转移到石油行业的机会现在已经到来，这有可能为现有业务增加价值，并为英国提供低碳能源。

The oil and gas industry routinely drills wells of depth and hence temperature suitable for geothermal heat extraction and in some instances electricity generation but there has been little crossover between fossil based and geothermal energy research or within the relevant industries. The UK petroleum industry has reached middle age and oil production has been declining over the past 10 years. Despite this, most aging oilfields have recovered less than 50% of their oil in place. For most oilfields, water is produced alongside oil but in much greater quantities (typically ten or twentyfold) and is commonly found at temperatures of up to 100oC. Usually this water is cleaned prior to disposal at sea or re-injected into the oil well. The petroleum industry effectively operates as a water handling and clean-up industry with oil being a valuable by-product. This project explores the opportunity to exploit co-produced water as a geothermal energy resource for both direct heating and power generation. There is evidence to suggest that the if the cooled water produced following the extraction of geothermal energy were re-injected into the oil well, this can improve the recovery of oil from the well. Economic recovery of remaining indigenous resources will have a major impact on security of oil supply for the UK at a time when the UK places increased reliance upon fossil fuels imports from other nations such as the USA and Russia. NERC has had a long history of supporting deep geothermal research in the UK which peaked during the 1980s in response to the 1970s oil crisis. This research included drilling 6 deep (in excess of 1 km) test bores in the UK of which the Southampton borehole was one. This research concluded that the UK geothermal resource could contribute up to 100% of the UK heat demand with the possibility of some electricity production. Subsequent NERC research has focused upon the geothermal opportunity offered by deep sedimentary basins in the UK. Most recently NERC has supported the involvement of the British Geological Survey alongside the Universities of Newcastle and Durham in drilling a 2km deep geothermal borehole in central Newcastle.This research proposal will consider existing, possible and potential geothermal opportunities. The Southampton well provides an existing, proven geothermal system that has been supplying a district wide heating scheme for around 25 years. A possible opportunity is provided by the Wytch Farm Oilfield in Dorset where the waste heat available from co-produced water is at least 20x greater than that available from the geothermal well at Southampton. Potential opportunities for new geothermal systems will be derived following an inspection of onshore exploration well data from an estimated 1500 deep wells. A subset of these will be examined to produce a map that suggests areas of geothermal potential where wells are present. For these existing, possible and potential opportunities, the project will consider whether Southampton could produce power in addition to heat, whether the Wytch Farm oilfield could be used to produce geothermal heat and power to supply neighbouring cities and towns and whether there are opportunities at new sites throughout the UK. The novelty of this proposal brings together the production of heat with the potential for power production and the potential to rejuvenate oilfields. Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technology can produce power from water at temperatures less than boiling point. Current research relating to the optimisation of (ORC) systems is underway within the School of Engineering at Durham and has demonstrated that geothermal fluids could be a potential target for the generation of electricity. The opportunity to transfer the knowledge gained through the NERC supported geothermal research to the oil industry has now arrived and this has the potential to add value to existing operations and provide a source of low carbon energy for the UK.