WorldWide Drilling Resource

Oil/Water Exploration by Harold White I like to write something of special interest to everyone, but this month has been uneventful - drilling in the rain, mud, water - stuck and wet. Tuajuana, the dog, and I are in the Springfield, Oregon, park near the bridge over the Willamette River. I took the dog for a walk along the river and he went swim- ming, then we walked around the park. Now we are all sitting in the car under the bridge, watching the river flow by, many thousands of gallons per minute to the ocean. I was just told by a guy we drilled a well for, of the many rules our state has to try to save the water in the reserve. He was complaining about having to drill a well on every lot of his property he wants to sell. He wanted to put up a holding tank and pump water to and from it, and with one good water well, the problem would be over. It should be, but he was told every lot has to be self-sufficient, meaning having its own well and septic system. This is causing more wells to be drilled, and the cost will raise the price of the property, so someone will pay taxes according to the cost of the property for many years to come. The amount of water being used is not going to change if the next wells produce a good supply of water. The river is still running by. It is beautiful and a huge waste, and rules and regulations will not be able to stop it. The underground creeks and rivers are doing the same. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Our wells are not in a lake or reserve. They are in a creek or river. Water is said to move three to eight feet per year. It is a saturation speed. There are watershed systems underground the same as aboveground. You can sense it or see it underground, and I have taught people to do this. The statements and comments in this article are based on information and references believed to be true and factual. If you have any questions or comments, please forward them to me in care of WWDR . Harold Harold White may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com Alberta Innovates, via its subsidiary C-FER Technologies, also has a current research team looking into enhanced geothermal systems. These high-level agencies are ex- pected to help lead the way to increased use of geothermal energy in Alberta. In the past, Alberta engineers and scientists were very successful in developing technologies capable of extracting heavy oil from shallow depth formations and bitumen from near-surface sandstone. These techniques, including SAG-D, steam injection, and oil sands mining have been exported and applied in many parts of the world. The new opportunity facing creative scientific minds is to find ways to exploit geothermal brine waters for heat and power extraction. Many of the standards and designs used in high-temperature, steam-assisted hy- drocarbon extraction can also be used in geothermal water wells. Based on past experience in the unconventional oil and gas business, Alberta could become a leader, not a follower, in developing ways to harness the geothermal resource under its feet. What seems to be missing is a gov- ernment-sponsored pilot project or a commercial venture generating electricity and exploiting geothermal heat in western Canada. Several companies, including Borealis GeoPower and Raven Thermal Services, are developing small commer- cial projects. Several communities are also looking at geothermal resources to provide space heating and energy for new industries in their jurisdictions. Are we on the cusp of recognizing and developing geothermal resources Alberta? Many indicators point to a defi- nite Yes. Will Geothermal Energy cont’d from page 21. 38 JANUARY 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®