Drilling survey prepared for Mt. Bandai geothermal project, Fukushima
Mt. Bandai, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (source: flickr/ contri, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
18 Jun 2016
Work on a drilling survey is currently being prepared for the Fukushima Geothermal Project near Mt. Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
The Fukushima Geothermal Project Team (the Team) has been conducting a surface survey of geothermal resources at the area around Mt. Bandai in the Bandai-Asahi National Park.
This project has been conducted since 2013, with the consent of local communities and the financial support from Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). As the Team completed the three-year surface survey and confirmed a promising area to be developed, it will move onto the next phase; drilling survey in the area.
The Team consists of 11 companies: Idemitsu Kosan Co.,Ltd., INPEX CORPORATION, Sumitomo Corporation, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., Ltd., Geothermal Energy Research & Development Co., Ltd., Japan Metals & Chemicals Co., Ltd., Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc., Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation Power Ltd., and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation.
Purpose and outline of the Drilling Survey
The Team will drill two survey wells (directional) to investigate underground temperature, geological structure, and the presence of reservoir as the 3rd Phase of geothermal survey.
Outline of the Geothermal Resource Survey
- Phase 1 (completed in FY2013) Surface study to propose hot spring monitoring (e.g. survey for hot spring sources, and geochemical analysis of fluids)
- Phase 2 (completed in FY2015) Surface study to estimate the underground structure (e.g. survey for hot spring monitoring and observation of micro-earthquakes)
- Phase 3 (FY2016 to 2017 (planned)) See Item 1 above.
Schedule for Drilling Survey (Phase 3, FY2016)
Preparation for drilling took place in May until now in June. Currently the site is being prepared with the rig up planned for July/ August. Drilling is then to take place from September 2016 to February 2017.
Based on the result of drilling survey, the Team will set up a plan for drilling development wells and present the plan to the local communities. Under the consent of the local communities, the Team will decide to move forward to the feasibility study. In this study, a drilling of geothermal fluid production wells, a drilling of re-injection wells, a demonstrative test, and an environmental assessment will be conducted.
Source: Project release (pdf)
