PROCEEDINGS, 43rd Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering

Stanford University, Stanford, California, February 12-15, 2018

Drilling Planning and Operation of Deepest Geothermal Well in Asia

Rawan Mirza, Budi Setiawan, Sapto Trianggo Nurseto, Fery Malau, Ricky Rusmanto, JB Rully Putradi, Arde Gunawan, Yoga Nugraha,
Evi Roza, Widoyo Krisnanto, Agus A. Zuhro, Wisnu Adi Nugroho, Heneka Yoma Priyangga

Graha PDSI, Jl. Matraman Raya No. 86 Jakarta, Indonesia

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Keywords: Geothermal, Drilling, Deepest Well

ABSTRACT
In March 2017, PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy has successfully drilled a record-breaking deepest geothermal well in Asia. Well
KRC-G/1 was drilled up to 3300 m (10827 ft) of measured depth. The previous record was another PT. PGE Well, HLS-E/1 with 3202
m (10505 ft) of measured depth. Well KRC-G/1 total depth was originally planned to 3200 m (10498 ft). The extension brings not only
a new record but also a new reservoir.

Several drilling hazards present during drilling. Lost circulation whether partial or total loss are common problem in this well. Stuck
pipe and lost circulation are coupled problem, the main concern while drilling in lost zone are stuck pipe. Loss of mud into the
formation could cause cutting bed in the annulus and wellbore stability issue. Another challenge was temperature. Reservoir temperature
was expected to reach 240o Celsius, downhole tools especially mud motor and Measurement While Drilling tools has maximum
working temp 150oC. Circulations are needed to reduce bottomhole temperature.

Comprehensive Drilling plan and seamless operation is the key factor that the successfulness of this well. BHA Design, Mud Design
and Torque and Drag analysis has been conducted relentlessly in the drilling operation. This paper explained the success story in drilling
operation of Asia’s Deepest Geothermal Well. All data are based on the real planning and operation in this well.

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Geothermal Resources
Geothermal Energy is one of renewable source of energy. Geothermal resources are widely found in Circum-Pacific and Northern
Atlantic region. According to US Code Title 30 Chapter 23 Section 1001, the definition of Geothermal Resources are: (i). All products
of geothermal processes, embracing indigenous steam, hot water and hot brines; (ii) steam and other gases, hot water and hot brines
resulting from water, gas, or other fluids artificially introduced into geothermal formations; (iii) heat or other associated energy found in
geothermal formations; and (iv) any byproduct derived from them.

Based on latest report by Purnomo et al. (2015), Indonesia have 40% of world geothermal potential with total 28 GWe potential from
44 prospect spots. The main application of geothermal is for electricity generation. Currently, the total installed capacity of geothermal
power in Indonesia plant is 1281 MW.

1.2. Geothermal Well Drilling

The main objective of oil and gas drilling is to reach hydrocarbon reservoir. It is normally in an abnormally pressure zone or kick zone.
In geothermal drilling, the main objective is to reach the fracture zone or loss zone with a high-temperature gradient. Geothermal well
can be either producing steam or injecting water through the fracture. The presence of special alteration mineral caused by excessive
heat marked the zone with constant and continuous heating.

Zuhro et al. (2015) describe common casing design in geothermal project in Indonesia. Several slim hole is usually drilled prior to an
exploration well. It is a temperature gradient survey well. Temperature gradient well usually drilled up to 800 ft. The standard-hole
casing design are implemented in exploration well. Figure 1 shows typical standard hole and big hole design in geothermal drilling in
Indonesia. Big hole design is the common for development well. Big hole well is needed to produce a high flow rate of steam or hot
water. Common techniques for completion stages are perforated casing and open hole.

The main challenge of geothermal project is to maintain cost. To be competitive with other alternative energy, project cost should be
pushed as low as possible. Drilling activity contributes up to 40% to the project cost. Drilling problem can cause additional cost the
whole project. Combating loss circulation, Rough drilling condition with slow ROP, secondary cementing and many other problems
need additional operation time. The material used to overcome the problem also increasing cost. Mitigating the drilling problems could
save the entire project.

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Wisnu A. Nugroho, Heneka Y. Priyangga, Rawan Mirza

Figure 1.Typical casing design for geothermal exploration and production well in Indonesia (after Zuhro et al. 2015)

1.3. Geothermal Well KRC G-1

Natural Geothermal Kerinci area is located in Kerinci district, Jambi Province (15 km northeast from Sungai Penuh City) and around
525 km from Jambi Capital City. This area has been developed by PGE since 2008 to fullfill 9-10 % increase of electricity need in
Sumatera. Jambi province itself needs 275 MW electricity power in five years ahead, increase almost two times of the higher power 150
MW. With this reason local government gives support to PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy to explore geothermal source in Kerinci.

Main prospect of geothermal field is located in National Park Kerinci Seblat (TNKS), one of the biggest national park in Indonesia,
covering almost 14.000 km2 tropical rain forest in West Sumatera walk through Barisan Mountain area which part of four provinces :
Jambi, Bengkulu, West Sumatera and South Sumatera. Area topographic is varied from lowland to top of Kerinci Mountain at 3.805 m.
National Park is world heritage of UNESCO and part of rainforest heritage of Sumatera. One exploration well has been drilled in
geothermal field Kerinci (KRC B-1) at 2.650 m depth, which finished on July 2013.

Geothermal field of Kerinci is located next to the North and East flanks Mt. Kunyit which is volcanic basalt andesite that erupted and
made of lava flows and domes, and rock flow hydroclastic late in the Pleistocene. The main volcanic units in the area of Tua Unit
Volcanic, units of the volcanic Raja and Kunyit. Tuan volcanic units ( Early Pleistocene ) and Raja volcanic units ( Middle Pleistocene )
consists of lava and tuff breksi while Kunyit volcanic units (Late Pleistocene ) is composed of lava, pyroclastic and a series of lava
domes. Structural found in Kerinci is the NE-SW fault, NW-SE trending fault.

Figure 2. Geological Map of Kerinci Geothermal Field

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 Wisnu A. Nugroho, Satria Hermawan, Brian H. Lazuardi

2. DRILLING PLAN
2.1. Objectives
Berdasarkan tatanan geologi, prospek Kerinci terletak di zona depresi tektonik Pegunungan Bukit Barisan, yang umum dikenal dengan
Sesar Besar Sumatera, dimana prospek Kerinci terletak di antara dua segmen Sesar Sumatera, yaitu segmen Dikit dan segmen Siulak.
Sistem panas bumi Kerinci dikontrol oleh aktivitas vulkanik G. Kunyit dan struktur geologi lokal berarah relatif NE-SW dan NW-SE.
Sistem ini mempunyai zona upflow di sekitar G. Kunyit dengan outflow ke arah timur. Sistem Kerinci merupakan sistem dominan air
dengan kemungkinan zona uap, pH netral, kandungan NCG kurang dari 0.5%wt, temperatur reservoir berdasarkan geothermometer air
dan gas menunjukkan kisaran 250-280°C. Sejak tahun 2012, telah dilakukan pemboran 5 (lima) sumur eksplorasi untuk kemudian
dilakukan evaluasi untuk pengembangan selanjutnya. Sumur KRC-G/1 merupakan sumur eksplorasi kelima dari rangkaian pemboran
eksplorasi di Prospek Kerinci. Sumur ini merupakan sumur dengan kedalaman akhir paling dalam (deepest well) dalam sejarah
pemboran geothermal di Indonesia.

2.2. Drilling Hazzard

There are two kinds of stuck pipe while drilling; mechanically stuck pipe and differential pressure sticking. The major causes for
mechanical stuck pipe are cutting accumulation, formation instability, unconsolidated formation, fracture or faulted formation, and
cement blocks. Differential pressure sticking is caused by the pressure difference between formations and wellbore. Natural
characteristics of geothermal prospect create a high chance for both mechanical and differential pressure to occur during drilling.

Sebagai sumur eksplorasi, tantangan terbesar yang dihadapi adalah ketidakpastian data mengenai hazard subsurface yang akan dihadapi
karena jarak dengan sumur terdekat sejauh 1.6 kilometer. Namun seperti halnya sumur geothermal pada umumnya, tantangan terbesar
adalah loss circulation pada zona dangkal dan potensi stuckpipe serta temperatur tinggi pada zona reservoir. Untuk itu diperlukan
strategi perencanaan terbaik untuk melakukan pemboran sumur ini termasuk menyiapkan contingency plan seperti persiapan trayek
cadangan 7-7/8”.

Tabel 1. Drilling Hazard

Prediksi Kedalaman
TIPE LOSS Kontrol Drilling
mMD mTVD masl (bpm) permeabilitas Problem

Breksi
1590 - Collapse
0 - 800 0 - 789 PLC/TLC Andesite,
781 formation
Andesite

Fractured
800 - 789 - 781 – (- andesite, Collapse
PLC/TLC
2000 1753 162) metasediment formation
dan piroklastik

Fractured
2000 - 1753 - -162 – (- Collapse
TLC piroklastik dan
3200 2711 1121) formation
Zona Sesar

2.3. Criteria for Volumetric Gas Flow Rate in Aerated Mud and Foam Drilling.

Underbalanced condition are required while drilling trough fractured and low-pressure formation. Several issue needs to be accounted
while drilling underbalance. Inadequate air and liquid flow rate combination can lead to other hole problem that can cause stuck pipe.
Guo et al. (2002) present criterions for underbalanced drilling with foam and aerated drilling.
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Wisnu A. Nugroho, Heneka Y. Priyangga, Rawan Mirza

2.3.1. Criteria for Foam Drilling

Minimum velocity is the first criterion. In foam drilling, the mixture of foam and cuttings cannot be treated as a homogeneous mixture.
It makes the minimum kinetic energy criterion for air drilling cannot be applied in foam drilling. The cutting transport requirements for
foam drilling are presented below:

2.3.2. Criteria for Aerated Mud

In aerated mud drilling, cuttings are large and move up the annulus at velocities significantly less than the in situ fluid velocity.
Generally, flow of aerated water falls into a turbulent flow and flow in oil falls into a transitional regime between turbulent and laminar.
It is safe to consider the flow as turbulent flow region. For turbulent flow (Re>2000) the cuttings terminal settling velocity can be
estimated using the following equations

3. DRILLING OPERATION
Simulation was conducted to determine the required combination of liquid and gas. Several assumption were made, those are surface :
0.97,  bottom-hole: 0.65, Foam velocity: 2.2 fps. Simulation results are: Gas injection rate: 2567 scfm, Water rate: 161 gpm, Gas-
Liquid Ratio: 16 scfm/gpm, Bottomhole pressure : 1223 psi.Based on simulations, actual gas and liquid injection rate in well C-1 is not
adequate to form a stable foam.

4. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

5. KEY TAKEWAYS AND CONCLUSION

1. For lost circulation problem several factors should be design and planned properly. Location of loss zone is important factor to
overcome lost circulation, In shallow depth/far from production zone : spotting lost circulating material, cement plug and
lightweight fluid, In production zone, drill ahead with light weight fluid is the best option. In plug back cementing, Spot LCM
prior to plug back cementing is necessary to create foundation for slurries. Water supply in geothermal drilling is important,
typical well with depth 2000-2500 mMD can consume up to 650,000 barrels of water.
2. For Stuck pipe with loss circulation prior to stuck, air and liquid combination shoud be properly designed. Actual liquid and
gas combination should be maintained inside the LGRW window and considering safety factor. For Foam Drilling, surface
back pressure should be applied when liquid and gas combination was below required.

6. REFERENCES
Poernomo A., Satar S., Effendi P., Kusuma A., Azimudin T., Sudarwo S., “An Overview of Indonesia Geothermal Development-
Current Status and Its Challenges”. Proceeding World Geothermal Congress 2015, Melbourne, Australia.
Aromaharmuzi A., Arif G.R.,”Pertamina Geothermal Energy Drilling Campaign”. Proceeding World Geothermal Congress 2015,
Melbourne, Australia
D.A. Glowka, 1990, Lost Circulation Technology Development Projects, DOE Geothermal Program Review VIII, San Francisco,
California.
Finger J. and Blankenship D., Handbook of Best Practices for Geothermal Drilling, 2010, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico.
Carson C.C., Geothermal Drilling Problem and their Impact on Cost. 1982, Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico
REN21, 2015. Renewables 2015 Global Status Report, Renewable Energy Policy Network for 21st Century.
US Department of Energy, “A History of Geothermal Energy Research and Development in the United States”, 2006.
Guo B., Ghalambor A., “Gas Volume Requirements for Underbalanced Drilling-Deviated Holes”, 2002. Penn Well Corporation, Tulsa,
Oklahoma.
Guo B., Sun K., Ghalambor A., “A Closed Form Hydraulic Equation for Predicting Bottomhole Pressure in UBD with Foam”, 2003.
Proceeding IADC/SPE Underbalanced Technology Conference, Houston, Texas.
Mitchell J., “Trouble Free Drilling, Stuck Pipe Prevention” 2009. Dilbert Engineering Inc.
Beyer A.H., Millhone R.S., Foote R.W., “Flow behavior of Foam as Well Circulating Fluid”, 1972. SPE 3986
LMB A-1-End of Well Report. 2012. PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy. Indonesia.
KRH 6-1-End of Well Report. 2013. PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy. Indonesia
HLS A-1-End of Well Report. 2013. PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy. Indonesia
KRH 5-3-End of Well Report. 2014. PT. Pertamina Geothermal Energy. Indonesia