Injection of disposal water from a geothermal reservoir into a gas reservoir

Abstract

In this paper, we assess and model new strategies for integration of geothermal energy with gas production in the Oude Leede Gas Field in the Netherlands. We investigate the injection of cooled geothermal water into a gas field located just few kilometers away from the geothermal reservoir in the Netherlands. This synergy type can be considered for economic natural gas production from a gas field in the proximity of a geothermal doublet project and improved energy production in the geothermal reservoir. A 3-D model including a gas trapping mechanism was built to study the possible production potential of the gas field. Water flooding compensates pressure loss by reducing the pore space, however it complicates the process by introducing trapped gas. We studied the effect of injection rate, permeability, saturation condition before flooding and reservoir pressure on the ultimate gas recovery and the residual trapped gas saturation. Injecting water will increase the ultimate recovery factor for higher abandonment pressure. Higher water injection rates will keep the reservoir pressure up, increase the trapped gas saturation, and hence reduce the maximum recovery. The presence of heterogeneity and capillary forces has minor effects on the gas recovery factor. The exergy recovery factor of a water injection process is higher than a gas compression process due to the large amounts of energy required for compression. Considering net present value (NPV) analysis for a higher abandonment pressure, water injection is economically preferable, however not feasible. At a lower abandonment pressure, natural gas depletion can easily compete with the water injection process due to the higher costs of water injection and drilling.