While assessing a geothermal resource in Nevada, SLB used its GeothermEx™ geothermal consulting services to run numerical simulations to confirm the project’s capacity and sustainability. Accurate assessment of the injection strategy was a critical element for ensuring consistent output from the power plant.

To acquire an operating geothermal project in Nevada, the acquiring company asked for GeothermEx services, which would include preparation of a thorough due diligence report with a detailed assessment of the resource and its historical and future operations. The previous operator was using augmented injection in a number of wells, a technology that was relatively new and untested at the time. The operator selected GeothermEx based on its decades of experience with the Dixie Valley Field and with resource sustainability supported by augmented injection.

GeothermEx services were used to review the project’s historical performance, an assess operating conditions, and an evaluate the effectiveness of the current operator’s strategy. The project included conventional production and injection wells, as well as newer augmented injection wells used to maintain or increase production well pressures. Given the many variables at play in this two-phase field, evaluating the past results and forecasting the future results of augmented injection was a challenge.

Intense scrutiny of the subsurface resource, historical production data, and the impact of injection in this field (and others) was well worth the effort. The final report concluded that the project output was sustainable, even with its mix of well types—a conclusion that was validated in subsequent years.