Utilization of Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells for Geothermal Energy Production in Pakistan

Abstract

Geothermal energy is able to provide a cheap, safe and reliable approach to fulfill the energy requirement. Hot dry rock (HDR) geothermal energy can generate large scale energy on durable basis. To utilize this energy, enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are used which evolve energy from deep seated (3–7 km) geothermal resources. The major cost in this type of power plant is that of drilling a bore-hole. The aim of this study is to utilize the already-drilled exploratory, dry and abandoned oil and gas wells of Pakistan. About 60% of total wells drilled in Pakistan are non-producing. Analyses of different zones are marked according to thermal range distribution, whereas the binary system power plant can be built on commercial scale. The current study also demonstrates the power-production system for economical electricity generation at three diverse source temperatures and concludes that a 12 in. borehole heat exchanger, at a depth of 3 km, can extract suitable energy to run a 3.2 MW turbine. The current study not only cures all the loss of petroleum industry but also proposes a method to overcome the required energy demands as well.