Innovation and Application Excellence
In 2019, our team received a unique request – DEEP Energy, a geothermal energy producer – required Black Diamond Group assets for a revolutionary, foremost geothermal energy project. This project was the first of its kind for Black Diamond Group and for the Canadian Energy Industry.
Within days of signing the contract, the Energy Services team in Estevan, SK began researching DEEP Energy’s projects focusing on some standard practices used in Scandinavian countries, which rely heavily on geothermal energy. Once we had a clear direction, we began retrofitting the required assets in our yards to ensure they would withstand the unique environmental characteristics of a geothermal energy operation.
Some of the special considerations for this project included:
- Cutting holes and welding new pipes onto our 40 bbl tanks to ensure the incredibly hot water would not boil out over the top
- Replacing original hoses with models designed for pumping hot asphalt
- Replacing original aluminum fittings with brass fittings to withstand the heat and corrosion of the high-salinity project
- Replacing typical fittings – which would have deteriorated under the extreme temperatures and heavy alkalinity – with Viton gaskets and valves
- Adding injection ports on tanks to allow injection of stabilizing solution to help suspend brine content, avoiding potential corrosion
We then mobilized, delivered and installed 61 assets – a combination of 400 bbl tanks, solar light towers, modular units and workforce accommodations – in the span of four days to the DEEP Energy site in Torquay, SK. At the peak of production, we had 6 wellsites, 34 – 400bbl tanks, 12 – 8x40 rig mats, flock tanks, highside and lowside shale bins, transfer pumps, sanitary containment on site, and provided sub-contractors for water delivery and sanitary disposal.
For 60 days our teams were on site for a loop test as DEEP successfully pumped 2,500 cubes of 130°C water from 3,400m horizontal wells into our tanks and re-injected without incident.
Along with the fortitude of our assets, the project forced us to adjust our safety programs to ensure our teams and clients understood the risks and dangers associated with geothermal projects. Throughout this project we successfully displayed our assets’ versatility and our teams’ due diligence, flexibility, ingenuity and ability to rise to the occasion.
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