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Austrian OMV to test for geothermal at old natural gas well

Gas processing plant, Aderklaa, Austria

OMV Group will be testing an old natural gas well in Aderklaa, Austria to evaluate its viability as source for geothermal heating.

Austria-based integrated oil, gas, and chemicals company OMV is set to start the production testing of a 50-year-old natural gas well to assess its viability for geothermal energy production. Well Aderklaa-96, located between Aderklaa and Deutsch-Wagram, has been drilled to a depth of around 2900 meters and will test the geothermal potential of the basement of the Vienna Basin.

In the past, natural gas was produced in Aderklaa-96 but the resource has since been exhausted. This borehole is now being opened up for geothermal testing. In the coming weeks, about 27000 cubic meters of water will be removed from the well and stores in special containers. This water will then be reinjected to the well after the tests.

“Here in the Vienna Basin we have a geothermal gradient of about three degrees Celsius per 100 meters,” explains project manager Bernhard Novotny, “that means we get to 90 degrees plus ten degrees surface temperature at about 3,000 meters.”

Bernhard Novotny of OMV Group (source: YouTube screenshot, OMV Group YouTube channel)

The aim of the production test is to determine important reservoir parameters and to obtain samples of the formation water in order to decide whether this formation is suitable for producing geothermal energy. Information from the test will then be used to evaluate the viability of making geothermal energy available for district heating. If everything goes as planned, it is estimated that hot water could flow in about four years at the earliest.

Novotny dismisses any  concerns that the project could put groundwater reserves at risk. Technologies similar to fracking will not be used in current or future geothermal projects. With a permeable formation, such measures will not be necessary. “We are talking about deposits at great depths. We’re not talking about groundwater here, not about drinking water.” added Novotny.

Geothermal testing in Austria is part of OMV’s Strategy 2030 – a long-term road map that aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Part of this strategy is to eventually cease oil and gas production and develop geothermal energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS) assets.

OMV wants to generate nine terawatt hours of energy worldwide with the technology by 2030, equivalent to one seventh of the total annual energy consumption in Lower Austria. Only part of it is to be extracted in the Vienna Basin, but the potential here should be in the range of several conventional thermal power plants.

OMV also has a 50% stake in Projekt THERMO, a geothermal exploration project in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany. ZeroGeo Energy GmbH is OMV’s partner in the project.

Source: ORF.at

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