Work on 3rd well of geothermal project in Montserrat to resume soon

Drilling site of MON-3 geothermal well in Montserrat, Caribbean (source: Bastien Poux)

Alexander Richter 21 Jul 2017

Following news on the drilling campaign for the third well of the geothermal project on Montserrat in the Caribbean, things had turned a bit quiet.

Local news outlet Montserrat  Reporter now reported earlier this month, that work on this third well is to resume soon. There seem to have been some problems with that third well drilled.

In a statement at a recent meeting the representative of the UK’s Department for International Development provided some details on the current status, which also indicates a more direct role of DFID than in the past.

The DFID representative Martin Dawson reports that efforts were being made to maintain the integrity of the well because there were concerns that developed while they were drilling the well. Following the drilling of this third well for the project, the well become unusable.

“With the technical expertise from the specialists on site, we were able to make the decision to use bentonite slurry to secure the well which is a mud slurry. These efforts seem to have worked. The well is safe which is good, but (what) the slurry now must be cleaned out before we can go into the stimulation short term testing phase.”

Dawson who claims responsibility for the continued geothermal development project, continues: “While this was unforeseen there had been contingency plans in the business plan for the project.”

He said: “We are currently extending the contracts with the drilling supervisors and the drilling contractors for the projects, which has taken a bit longer than initially planned…”

There are ongoing discussions with both contractors on planning the next phase of cleaning the well, stimulation and short-term testing of the well.

Source: The Montserrat Reporter