The 3,853' deep well drilled near Cholla Power Plant [right] on the Colorado Plateau failed to find enough permeability at total depth to make it a viable reservoir to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants in the region. The drilling project web site indicates the well bottomed in Precambrian granites.
The WestCarb consortium, including Arizona Public Service, is planning another exploratory well at a site to be determined, and pending approval of the US Dept. of Energy which funded much of the experiment. WestCarb noted that the well did confirm high salinity water in the target formation and suitable cap rock, both requirements for CO2 sequestration reservoirs.
Do you know if they saved the core? Would be a nice section of Moenkopi Fm...
ReplyDeleteWestcarb did not cut any conventional core in the Cholla well but did cut several rotary sidewall cores at selected intervals. Those cores were sent to a lab in Houston for analysis. The remains will be provided to the Arizona Oil & Gas Conservation Commission which is supported by the AZGS. So, the samples will end up in the Cores and Cuttings Sample Repository at the AZGS office in Tucson.
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