Could Bakken Wells Generate An Additional $100K/Year Using Geothermal Energy? $1 Million / Yr With 10-Well Pad? -- October 22, 2015

OilPrice is reporting about the potential of geothermal energy in .... the Bakken. Wow, it never quits. I don't think much will come of this, for any number of reasons, but one never knows.

Every single barrel of oil also brings out close to seven barrels of boiling hot water which can be utilized to generate electricity through geothermal turbines.

"Oil- and gas-producing sedimentary basins in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, and North Dakota contain formation waters of a temperature that is adequate for geothermal power production," said researchers Anna Crowell and Will Gosnold in a paper that appeared in Journal Geosphere.

Michigan?

The first thing I would want: fact check the 1:7::oil:water statistic for Bakken wells. Whatever. The article continues:

"Denver-Julesberg Basin (which spans Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado, and has a surface area of approx. 155,000 square kilometers) has the highest capacity for large-scale, economically feasible geothermal power production."

But when I see CLR / Harold Hamm, I have to at least think there may be some merit in the research:

A report released in April this year stated that Continental Resources and Hungary-based MOL group were testing a system that could generate electricity by using hot water that is present in the oil well. With close to 25 billion gallons of water used by U.S. drillers on an annual basis, this system (if developed commercially in the near future) could generate electricity, which would be the equivalent to three coal fired plants running 24 hours a day, thereby reducing overall costs.

Continental Resources is collaborating with the University of North Dakota for its geothermal project. The team connected the boiling waste water pipes to the geothermal generators to produce electricity that can be either sold to the grid or connected to the existing power lines. Although its actual commercial application is yet to be realized, according to an estimate made by the U.S. Department of Energy, a single 250 KW geothermal generator used by Continental Resources can generate an additional $100,000 per well on an annual basis. This shows that geothermal energy has the potential to be not only cost effective, but also generate additional revenues and employment for drilling companies.