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Petratherm to start fracture stimulation at Paralana early July

Petratherm to start fracture stimulation at Paralana early July Paralana 2 Well Injectivity Test in January 2011 showing some hydraulic pumps (left) and Coil Tubing Unit (right) (source: Petratherm, June 2011)
Alexander Richter 24 Jun 2011

Australian Petratherm and its JV partners Beach Energy and TRUenergy Geothermal will start fracture stimulation of Paralana 2 in the first week of July. The stimulation process involves the injection of water into the geothermal reservoir in the subsurface.

Australian Petratherm and its JV partners Beach Energy and TRUenergy Geothermal announce “that the fracture stimulation of Paralana 2 is scheduled to begin in the first week of July.

The stimulation process involves the injection of water into the geothermal reservoir in the subsurface. The volumes and rates of injection of water are dependent on the micro-seismic response measured by the installed micro-seismic array. The stimulation will be performed by Halliburton and managed by Joint Venture Partner Beach Energy.

The operation is expected to be conducted over a period of approximately ten days with the actual injection of water being conducted over a period of three to five days. Passive seismic monitoring will be used to monitor the development of fracturing in the geothermal reservoir and to allow better control of the fracture stimulation process.

The successful perforation and injectivity test performed in January 2011, involved relatively small volumes of water being injected over a short period of a few hours. That test resulted in microseismic events being propagated up to 300 metres from the injection point.

The aim of the main stimulation process is to create a fracture network and to connect to and enhance the existing natural fracture network that contains over-pressured brines intercepted below 3670 metres during drilling of Paralana 2. The target for the main stimulation is to detect microseismic events propagated beyond 500 metres from the injection point.”

Source: Petratherm (pdf)