Reservoir Modelling of Lower Cretaceous West Netherlands Basin Aquifers for Geothermal Energy Production

Abstract

Summary This project aims to predict Lower Cretaceous reservoir architecture and reservoir properties of the graben blocks in the West Netherlands Basin for low enthalpy district heating geothermal energy. Horst and pop-up structures in the study area were targets of oil and gas production in the last 60 years. For the recent upcoming geothermal energy production the focus lays on the deeper and warmer graben structures in between the oil and gas fields. Reservoir property predictions like thickness and permeability are currently based on interpolations between oil and gas well measurements on horst and pop-up structures. In order to successfully produce from the current 45 geothermal licences in the province of Zuid-Holland, detailed reservoir models and associated uncertainty maps of the Lower Cretaceous sandstones are required. Goals of the project are to model the reservoir architecture in order to simulate production and determine optimal well placement of geothermal doublets and predict possible doublet interference. Reservoir architecture of these sandstones will be studied by re-evaluating the existing lithostratigraphically based well log correlations, in combination with seismic interpretation and core studies. A palinspastic reconstruction is carried out on a cross section to indicate the paleotopography and the complex reservoir architecture.