Technical, economic and institutional evalutation of adopting directional drilling by Kengen, Kenya

Abstract

KenGen envisages that adoption of directional drilling to target vertical permeability for its future production wells will bear substantial financial benefits arising from a possible increase in average well productivity and a reduction of the surface steam gathering pipe network. The fact that great disparity in productivity has been noted between adjacent wells suggests that vertical or near-vertical structural permeability may be important in this system. Efforts are underway to acquire the capacity to undertake this form of drilling. In this report a comprehensive technological overview and a study of experiences of various operators in the geothermal arena has been undertaken, in order to build a concise understanding of the technology. Directional drilling technology has successfully and widely been employed in the geothermal sector, in particular to target vertical/semi-vertical permeability and for environmental reasons. Use of downhole positive displacement motors with a bent housing / bent sub, and measurement while drilling (MWD) instruments is now the standard practice. Studies undertaken have put to question that in general directional wells ...