Creation of Hdr Reservoirs under Australian In-situ Stress Conditions

Australia has a huge resource of hot dry rock, most of which is located in Central Australia. As a first step towards experimental field testing of HDR development in Australia, in-situ stresses and natural fractures in Central Australia are being characterised. Preliminary results indicate that three stress regimes may co-exist in Central Australia, with maximum horizontal in-situ stress being approximately eastwest oriented. 2D stochastic modelling of HDR reservoir stimulation reveals that the fluid recovery and thermal recovery efficiencies primarily depends on variation of the magnitude between the minimum and maximum horizontal stresses, and the orientation of the injection and production wells with respect to the direction of the dominant natural fracture set. Correctly aligning production and injection wells with the direction of the dominant fracture set minimises flnitl loss and increases thermal recovery rate.