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Ram Power reports drilling progress at San Jacinto, Nicaragua

Ram Power reports drilling progress at San Jacinto, Nicaragua ThermaSource drilling rig on project site at San Jacinto, Nicaragua (source: Ram Power)
Alexander Richter 24 Sep 2010

Ram Power reports drilling progress at its San Jacinto-Tizate project in Leon, Nicaragua. Two production wells have been drilled and a third well currently being drilled.

In a release by the company, Ram Power “announces the successful initial testing of well 9-3 at its San Jacinto-Tizate project site in Leon, Nicaragua. The initial 14 hour flow testing produced separated steam at a rate of 187,000 lbs./hr at an inlet turbine design pressure range of 85 bpsig with production from a down-hole zone that exceeded 500 degreesF. These initial results confirmed that well 9-3 will be a production well with an estimated initial capacity of 8 to 10 MW (gross). Well 9-3 targeted a nearly vertical fault at a depth of 5500′ and encountered multiple fractures and high permeability. A long-term flow test which involves the connection of the well to the project’s production piping will be performed starting in early October and will be certified by GeothermEx, Inc.

Stuart Johnson, Vice President of Resource Development, stated, “The Phase II drilling campaign at our San Jacinto-Tizate project is proceeding on schedule with two production wells (9-3 and 12-1) drilled, well 9-3 successfully tested and a third well currently being drilled with completion scheduled in late October. Should these Phase II production wells test positively, this new production capacity, when added to the already certified and existing Phase I capacity of 46 MW, results in sufficient steam under valves to complete the full planned 85 MW expansion of the project.”

The phased expansion is designed to increase production from the current 10 MW to 46 MW in the first half of 2011 (Phase I). The 46 MW capacity will be expanded to 72 MW in the latter part of 2011 (Phase II). In 2012 there will be a bottoming unit added which will increase production to an anticipated capacity of 85 MW without the need to drill more production or injection wells. There is a long-term power purchase agreement in place with a subsidiary of Gas Natural Fenosa, a Spanish utility. The expansion will bring state of the art geothermal technology to an existing utility-scale power facility that will supply low cost geothermal energy to the region.”

Source: Company release via Marketwatch