Temperature Measurement Completed for Paralana Geothermal Project

Petratherm's managing director Terry Kallis said the temperature measurements have taken significant risk out of the company’s flagship Paralana project.

“Temperatures of 190ºC at 4,000 metres are significantly higher than our minimum temperature of 170ºC that we have targeted for the economic development of the Paralana resource,” he said.  “This is a major milestone in the company’s development and the Paralana project. Importantly, the confirmation of our temperature expectations also reinforces Petratherm’s unique approach to finding 'hot spots' without relying on old drill hole data.”

Joint venture partners Petratherm, Beach Energy and TRUenergy announced the successful completion of the Paralana 2 deep injector well in December 2009. Temperature measurements were taken more than 10 weeks after circulation of the well stopped, allowing enough time for the bottom section of the well (>2500 metres depth) to be close to thermal equilibrium.

The temperature measured at 3,674m using a continuous logging tool was 173°C, while a separate maximum temperature logging tool measured a temperature of 176°C at a depth of 3,672m. Based on the temperature logging data, the extrapolated Paralana 2 bottom hole temperature is between 185°C and 191°C at a depth of 4000m.

The companies will now move forward with fracturing the hot rocks underground to create a reservoir before drilling a second producer well and circulating water to achieve proof of concept.