A Geothermal Heat Assessment of the Suphan Buri Basin, Thailand, Using Horner-Corrected Bottom-Hole Temperatures
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Abstract
The Suphan Buri Basin is a Cenozoic half-graben in central Thailand with a mature petroleum history and extensive legacy subsurface dataset that can be re-purposed for geothermal screening. This study presents an integrated geothermal play-fairway assessment that estimates true formation temperature from bottom-hole temperature (BHT) records using the Horner method, rather than a depth-only empirical correction. The complete 67-well study area inventory was screened, and 25 wells were found to record two or more wireline logging-rum maximum temperatures at approximately the same depth, together with the elapsed time after the end of mud circulation (EOC). These wells meet the data requirements of a Horner correction. For each well, the static formation temperature (Tf) was obtained by extrapolating the successive logging-run temperatures to infinite shut-in time, from which an apparent geothermal gradient and the depths to target temperatures were derived. Horner-corrected formation temperatures range from about 88 to 154 °C, and apparent gradients from about 39 to 51 °C/km (basin median ≈ 44 °C/km), in close agreement with the ~42 °C/km previously reported from BP1-well thermal-history modelling. The temperature-depth data define a coherent, near-linear basin trend (R² ≈ 0.83), consistent with a predominantly conduction-dominated regime modified locally by fault-controlled fluid flow. Well BS1 (Ban Don Sa-Nuan) is the strongest thermal anomaly, with Tf ≈ 154 °C, a gradient of ~50 °C/km, and 150 °C at about 2.45 km. Play-fairway mapping that integrates corrected temperature, gradient and depth-to-150 °C with the seismically interpreted structural framework identifies the Ban Don Sa-Nuan–Sang Krajai–U-Thong trend as the most favourable fairway. The workflow provides a transparent, reproducible framework for preliminary geothermal screening of data-rich sedimentary basins in Thailand, and a basis for evaluating reservoir quality, fluid productivity, and development concepts including direct use, binary-cycle power and enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
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Copyright © 2008 Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. Parts of an article can be photocopied or reproduced without prior written permission from the author(s), but due acknowledgments should be stated or cited accordingly.
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