Further drilling kicked off at San Jacinto geothermal plant in Nicaragua
San Jacinto-Tizate, geothermal power plant, Ram Power/ Polaris Geothermal Nicaragua (source: Ram Power)
Parker O'Halloran
21 Jun 2017
Canadian firm Polaris Infrastructure Inc. to expand drilling operations underway in Nicaragua.
As reported last week, Polaris Infrastructure Inc. signed a contract for additional drilling at its San Jacinto geothermal power plant in Nicaragua with Iceland Drilling.
Consistent with the stated objective of maximizing long-term production at the San Jacinto project, the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Polaris Energy Nicaragua S.A. (“PENSA”), began drilling a new injection well, SJ 11-2, in late April, 2017. The well was completed in early June 2017, on-time and under budget, after successfully hitting the targeted zone of permeability. Accordingly, we anticipate that SJ 11-2 will accept a significant volume of geothermal fluids for reinjection, further increasing operating flexibility with respect to the long-term management of the San Jacinto reservoir. We anticipate SJ 11-2 being available for service in late July 2017, following completion of routine construction and fabrication activities.
Further, we are pleased to confirm that drilling of SJ 4-2, a new production well, is scheduled to commence on June 18, 2017. The objective with SJ 4-2 is to further increase average production towards the 72 MW (net) level supported by both the purchase price agreement as well as installed turbine capacity at the San Jacinto project. Target completion date for SJ 4-2 is early August, 2017. In addition, Polaris Infrastructure is assessing whether to drill a second production well, after SJ 4-2, and expects to come to a decision in the next few weeks.
“We are pleased to have successfully kicked off further drilling efforts at the San Jacinto project,” said Marc Murnaghan, Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Infrastructure. “Execution of the SJ 11-2 drilling program was excellent, achieving our objectives and coming in under budget. Our focus now shifts to drilling the next production well, SJ 4-2, while continuing to assess options for an additional new production well.”
