1. Bob Pilko (Strategic Director, Blade Energy Partners)
Presenting - “Geothermal Energy via Upstream O&G Conversions”
Geothermal Energy provides continuous baseload energy for direct use and indirect use by conversion to electrical generation. Our Upstream Oil & Gas industry knows that natural geothermal temperature gradients mean that deeper true vertical depth (TVD) wells are naturally hotter bottomhole temperature (BHT), and some geothermal gradients result in quite hot BHT at oilfield depths. Areas with natural volcanic or rift zones have ultra-high BHTs much shallower than oilfield depths. New and developing technologies are developed today that capture (harvest) this subsurface heat for use at surface within economic limits.
This presentation highlights Bob’s 2021 OTC-31090-MS Paper “Repurposing Oil & Gas Wells, Facilities and Assets for Geothermal Energy Benefits” to overview today’s Geothermal Energy status and near-future applications.
Bob Pilko is Strategic Relations Director of Blade Energy Partners, starting soon after Blade was formed on the year 2000. Bob’s role at Blade includes understanding the current needs and viewing the future direction of our industry as guidance for development and application of applied technologies. Entering upstream in 1978, Bob has worked, lead, managed, and advised companies offshore and onshore globally. Notable Blade projects ranged from design of a well to drill to Earth’s mantle, to UBD and floater MPD, to root cause analysis for a notorious gas storage well blowout, to offshore deepwater safety advances; and today focuses on Geothermal projects across geographies and resource types.
2. Cindy Taff (Chief Operating Officer, Sage Geosystems)
Presenting - “Geothermal Opportunities in Geopressured Formations Along the Gulf of Mexico”
Studies back to the 1970s extensively concluded that the recoverable electricity generation potential in geopressured formations in areas around the Gulf of Mexico coast equate to about 5GW, or a third of the current geothermal power capacity around the world. This power generation comes from three energy sources: (a) geothermal heat from hot water production (hydrothermal), (b) mechanical (hydraulic) energy from the abnormally high fluid pressures that have resulted from the compartmentalization of the sand and shale beds that contain these hot waters, and (c) methane production from dissolved natural gas contained in the hot water, which could otherwise be uneconomic to develop. Geopressured formations are those with a pressure gradient greater than water, that produce at high pressures, and are commonly found at depths > 4m along the Gulf of Mexico coast, both onshore and offshore.
There is abundant subsurface information for this geopressured area as it has been actively explored for oil and gas and 1000s of wells drilled along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. In 1989 a 1MW plant operated near Houston powered by the Pleasant Bayou well that produced hot water and natural gas, with about half of the power generation from the thermal energy of water using a binary cycle power plant and half by burning the gas in a reciprocating-engine-operated electric generator. Economics in today’s energy markets would be much more favorable and application of Sage Geosystems™ proprietary geothermal technologies should double the power generation, at a minimum.
Cindy D. Taff has more than 35 years in the oil and gas industry, most recently serving as VP of Unconventional Wells & Logistics over Shell’s global Unconventional operations. She led her team to systematically reduce costs by > 50% while scope significantly increased. In addition, a disciplined approach to safety allowed the team to improve HSE performance while the number of tasks performed in a day went up exponentially due to faster drilling and completions. Cindy is currently the COO of Sage Geosystems™.
3. Walt Kolbe (G.M. Technology Commercialization, Geothermic Solution)
Presenting - “Harvesting Geothermal Energy via GeoHeatTM Technology”
Advances in Geothermal Energy harvesting require high engineering expertise from the resource formation into the wellbore and completion that captures and produces the high heat to surface. Geothermic Solution is based in Palo Alto, California, founded by CEO and Stanford Professor Piotr Moncarz. Geothermic Solution developed its pipe-in-pipe closed-loop heat harvester with high efficiency for global applications. Walt will present its GeoHeatTM method and applicability in geothermal formations, including electrical generation use. California is the largest producer of Geothermal Energy in the U.S., and leads globally.
Walt started with Geothermic Solution since its inception, and brought a career as serial entrepreneur and CEO with an M.Sc.; knowing California’s needs and challenges as former Deputy Director of San Francisco Clean Water’s $2 Billion program.
4. William MacDonald (Technical Sales Director, Titanium Metals Corp.)
Presenting – “Titanium Casing for High Temperature Wells”
A new titanium alloy for well casing has been developed that overcomes the challenges typically faced by operators when considering completions in extreme conditions. The use of titanium casing in specific geothermal wells has been successful but limited by the availability of the product due to technical and commercial limitations. TIMETAL® 475 (Ti-475) has been developed as a capable but lower cost alternative to ASTM Grade 29, an alloy that had been used in the Salton Sea for many years. In this talk the properties and performance of TIMETAL® 475 casing will be reviewed with attention to manufacturing benefits, corrosion and temperature resistance and connection testing completed to date. Bill will cover the above based on his Presentation at the Geothermal Rising Conference San Diego Oct 5th, 2021.
Bill MacDonald Technical Sales Director for TIMET Titanium Metals Corporation and Special Metals Corporation. He is responsible for business development and commercial activities in the oil & gas, industrial and emerging market sectors. Current projects include development of a new titanium alloy for geothermal casing and oil & gas subsea products and improved hydrogen embrittlement resistance in precipitation hardened nickel alloys. He brings over 30 years work experience in the metals industry including R&D and commercial roles in the titanium, steel, magnesium, nickel and aluminum industries. Working with plant operations and engineering, He has brought research developments in casting, rolling and extrusion of non-ferrous metals to commercial success. He has published over two dozen papers on materials and processing. He sits on numerous AMPP (NACE), API, ASTM and ASME committees. Bill graduated from MIT in 1993 with a Ph.D. in Metallurgy after obtaining MSc and BSc in Engineering at Queen’s University in Canada. Bill is a licensed Professional Engineer, and resides near Philadelphia PA.
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