Eavor completes Eavor-Deep geothermal demonstration project
Eavor-Deep drilling rig in New Mexico, USA (source: YouTube screenshot / Eavor Technologies)
Carlo Cariaga
31 Jan 2023
Eavor has announced the successful completion of the Eavor-Deep project with a directional geothermal well drilled to 5480 meters TVD tapping a 250 °C resource.
Eavor Technologies Inc. (Eavor) has announced the successful completion the Eavor-Deep, a next generation geothermal demonstration project in New Mexico, USA.
We had previously reported on the start of drilling operations in August 2022 for Eavor-Deep – a project that aimed to drill the deepest and hottest directional geothermal well in history. Eavor reports achieving a technical milestone, having drilled a two-leg multi-lateral well to a depth of 18,000 feet (~ 5480 meters) TVD with a temperature of approximately 250 degrees Celsius.
Other milestones were a combination of technical and operational measures and markers including depth, temperature, bit-life, and rate of penetration in granite rock. Several other objectives were reached including:
- Isolation of the upper fractured permeable zone with casing to enable drilling of the multilaterals in the deeper low permeability basement rock, and subsequent sealing with Rock-Pipe™ technology.
- Demonstrated insulated drill pipe (“IDP”) thermodynamic and mechanical performance with increased Rate of Penetration aided by shock cooling.
- Successfully executed cased hole side-track in granite.
- Demonstrated directional steering ability in hard rock with difficult intrusions and interbedded metamorphic formations.
Eavor has also published a short video on the Eavor-Deep project, its objectives, and the technologies that are being developed for the project:
Combined with the proof of concept demonstrated at the Derek Riddell Eavor-Lite™ Demonstration Facility near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada in 2019, the milestones reached at Eavor-Deep™ in 2022 have validated all the key elements required to construct and operate commercial Eavor-Loops.
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (“H&P”) has also added to its 2021 equity investment, bringing its total to $10.2 million CAD, building on the companies’ ongoing collaborative efforts to further advance state of the art drilling technologies.
“The opportunity to confront this level of technical drilling challenges is rare. Our successes at Eavor-Deep™ are credited to the talents, commitment and passion of the combined teams of Eavor and H&P,” said Eavor VP for Drilling Mark Hodder.
“The goals for our technology include not only reaching sub US$60 per megawatt-hour costs, but to enable widespread global scalability. The progress made in New Mexico is a critical step in this endeavor, and alongside our partners we will continue this process of innovation and iteration,” added Eavor CTO Matt Toews.
Source: Eavor Technologies Inc.
