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At a conference on geopressure at the University of Southwest Louisiana in November, a research team that had converted an abandoned gas well into a geopressured test hole reported recovering 10,300 bbl. a day of superheated gas-saturated brine, which yielded up 1.5 million cu. ft. of gas. The Department of Energy's David Lombard estimates that a geopressured well would have to yield 40,000 bbl. of water a day for five to ten years to turn a profit. Whether the reservoirs can produce at that volume is one of the questions to be answered by drilling a series of test wells in Louisiana and Texas during the next two years.
Other sticky problems will challenge the engineers and designers. Sand will probably have to be screened out by costly stainless-steel filters at the bottom of each well. The corrosive quality and high temperature and pressure of the brine will demand specially designed piping, valves and moving machinery. The exhaust water will have to be pumped back into the earth to avoid turning the area into a swamp. The economics will look more encouraging, however, if Congress adopts a provision now in a pending tax bill that will allow a tax credit of 50¢ per 1,000 cu. ft. of geopressured gas recovered.
Should geopressure prove to be a viable resource, the implications would be global. Similar zones are believed to exist in at least 45 countries, including those in Western Europe and in the deltas of the Nile, Ganges and Niger rivers. Wells drilled into geopressured zones could supply fresh water as well as energy. At atmospheric pressure the hot water flashes into steam and concentrated brine. The steam can be condensed into pure drinking water, which in desert regions is almost as precious as oil.