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Advances in Geothermal Energy from Synergies with Oil and Gas Industries

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H2: Geothermal".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2025 | Viewed by 372

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering Materials Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
Interests: geothermal energy; water resources; geothermal plants

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Guest Editor
Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria (IGAG), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), 00185 Roma, Italy
Interests: oil and gas; geothermal energy
James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
Interests: oil and gas; geothermal energy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The past few years have been characterized by the increasing growth of the geothermal energy sector, seeking solutions capable of reducing investment costs and mining risks. New geothermal projects require subsurface evaluation, modeling, drilling, and surface operations similar to those used in many upstream oil and gas projects. Oil and gas service companies have become increasingly engaged in the technological, design, and workflow aspects of geothermal asset development. While the oil and gas industry most often produces oil from reservoirs up to 4 kilometers deep, it is increasingly targeting deeper zones that contain substantial geothermal potential. The possible technological transfer between the oil and gas industry and the geothermal sectors can help reach investment reduction targets by introducing conventional and innovative technologies. This would dramatically impact the expansion of the geothermal sector in areas not considered traditionally. In the meantime, the large data sets acquired during oil and gas explorations can significantly contribute to reducing time and costs in geothermal projects’ exploration stage. Knowledge of areas under study can help reduce the existing mining risk.

This Special Issue on “Advances in Geothermal Energy from Synergies with Oil and Gas Industries” aims to capture the latest research and application in cross-cutting technologies from the oil and gas and geothermal energy sectors, with contributions covering the following areas: drilling technologies, closed-loop systems, data integration and mining, modeling techniques, enhanced geothermal systems (EGSs), well stimulation, including hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling techniques, advanced geothermal systems (AGSs), project evaluation, planning and management, drilling and completion, surface facility construction and maintenance, and operation and production monitoring.

Prof. Dr. Claudio Alimonti
Dr. Davide Scrocca
Dr. Isa Kolo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • geothermal energy
  • closed loop
  • district heating
  • geothermal power plant
  • transfer technology
  • oil and gas
  • drilling technology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 5960 KiB  
Article
Research and Application of Drilling Fluid Cooling System for Dry Hot Rock
by Kuan Li, Bing Li, Shanshan Shi, Zhenyu Wu and Hengchun Zhang
Energies 2025, 18(7), 1736; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18071736 - 31 Mar 2025
Viewed by 217
Abstract
The drilling fluid cooling system is a key technology for reducing wellbore temperatures, improving the working environment of downhole equipment, and ensuring safe and efficient drilling in high-temperature wells. Based on the existing drilling fluid cooling system, this article designs and develops a [...] Read more.
The drilling fluid cooling system is a key technology for reducing wellbore temperatures, improving the working environment of downhole equipment, and ensuring safe and efficient drilling in high-temperature wells. Based on the existing drilling fluid cooling system, this article designs and develops a closed drilling fluid cooling system according to the working environment and cooling requirements of the GH-02 dry hot rock trial production well in the Gonghe Basin, Qinghai Province. The system mainly includes a cascade cooling module, a convective heat exchange module, and a monitoring and control module. Based on the formation conditions and drilling design of the GH-02 well, a transient temperature prediction model for wellbore circulation is established to provide a basis for the design of the cooling system. Under the conditions of a drilling fluid displacement of 30 L/s and a bottomhole circulation temperature not exceeding 105 °C, the maximum allowable inlet temperature of the drilling fluid is 55.6 °C, and the outlet temperature of the drilling fluid is 69.2 °C. The heat exchange of the drilling fluid circulation is not less than 1785 kW. Considering the heat transfer efficiency and reserve coefficient, the heat transfer area of the spiral plate heat exchanger calculated using the average temperature difference method is not less than 75 m2. By applying this drilling fluid cooling system in the 3055 m~4013 m section of well GH-02, the inlet temperature is controlled at 45 °C~55 °C, and the measured bottomhole circulation temperature remains below 105 °C. After adopting the drilling fluid cooling system, the performance of the drilling fluid is stable during the drilling process, downhole tools such as the drill bits, screws, and MWD work normally, and the failure rate of the mud pump and logging instruments is significantly reduced. The drilling fluid cooling system effectively maintains the safe and efficient operation of the drilling system, which has been promoted and applied in shale oil wells in Dagang Oilfield. Full article
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