The potential of the use of dense fluids for initiating hydraulic stimulation

To improve preferentially the permeability of fractures in the deepest parts of a geothermal reservoir, a dense fluid may be injected during the very first phase of a hydraulic stimulation test. To initiate such a permeability-enhancement process in the 5000m deep reservoir of the European Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) project at Soultz-sous-Forˆets, France, a concentrated NaCl brine was injected. The effects of this injection were estimated using measured hydraulic and microseismic data. Two tasks associated with hydraulic stimulation have been shown to be important for this purpose: (1) determination of the failure pressures of the various fractures intersecting the open-hole section under stimulation, and (2) calculation of the transient hydraulic pressure profile in the borehole. Using the numerical borehole code HEX-B, the transient pressure profiles during stimulation of wells GPK2 (June 2000) and GPK3 (May 2003) were calculated on the basis of measured wellhead data. A comparison of the temporal history of near-borehole microseismic events during the GPK2 test and downhole pressure development in the open-hole sections of this borehole indicated that use of a dense brine helped stimulate the bottom part of this well. The corresponding analysis for the GPK3 test showed that the failure pressure of the fractures in the bottom part of the wellbore was never exceeded when injecting the dense brine. We can, therefore, assume that the brine had no effect on the fractures in GPK3. © 2006 CNR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.