Going deeper for salt mining
The Dutch subsurface is well known for its gas resources, hosting the world-famous Groningen field. What is less well known is that there is plenty of salt, too. These evaporites…
Europe
Where the earth yawns
I first visited Iceland a decade ago. Recently, I returned, courtesy of a European Geothermal Research project, hosted by Reykjavik Energy. We learned about heating and electricity production in Iceland,…
When your oil reservoir turns out to be a lithium deposit
As the global energy transition accelerates, the demand for critical raw materials (CRMs) is rising at an unprecedented pace. The list of elements essential for modern technologies – from lithium…
A “monumental deposit” or an attempt to revive coal-seam gas exploitation?
A discovery of hydrogen in Lorraine, France, made headlines in 2023. “Hydrogen deposit of staggering proportions” and “A gigantic hydrogen deposit in northeast France” were some of the quotes. With…
Denmark to embark on an innovative geothermal drilling project
Green Therma, in collaboration with Aalborg Forsyning (the local utility company), is currently preparing to drill a single well to deliver geothermal heat directly to Aalborg’s district heating network. While…
A sense of urgency
While people in Bolivia easily spend two days queuing up at fuel stations these days – the country has very quickly turned from an exporter to a net importer of…
Dead oil traces in a lonely pebble bed
Where most exploration activity on the UK Continental Shelf took place in the North Sea, and later along the Atlantic Margin west of the Shetland Islands (WOS), it is good…
When the ESP breaks down even before geothermal energy production has started
Since its wells were drilled, I have kept a close eye on the United Downs geothermal project in Cornwall, southwest England. The production hole, a record-breaking well, was completed around…
EMGS in troubled waters
Yesterday, I was browsing through some of the early GEO EXPRO magazines when I stumbled upon an article written by Halfdan Carstens 20 years ago. He had interviewed the two…
Pasties, piskies, pegmatites… and Pliny
Britain has strong, quiet, ancient communities on its further reaches: Norse Shetland, Gaelic and Doric Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, and Cornwall at the southwest tip. All connected by…
Seabed mapping – let AI do the work
“I spent days, if not weeks, trawling through high-resolution photos,” a geoscientist from an oil and gas company recently told me. Why did he do that? He carried out this…
Are deep closed-loop geothermal systems doomed?
“Claims of universal geographical scalability of Closed Loop Geothermal Systems (CLGS) in power generation at competitive prices are not supported by simulation results,” is what the authors conclude in a…