Chevron and Texaco steam up in Indonesia

Chevron and Texaco steam up in Indonesia

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuter): Chevron Corp and Texaco Inc said their Amoseas Indonesia joint venture had hit dry steam in a geothermal well at Darajat, Western Java, Indonesia which is sufficient to power one third of a 20 megawatt power station.

The two U.S. companies in partnership with Indonesian state oil company Pertamina said that the DRJ-16 was drilled to 5,988 feet and tested at a sustained rate of 55 kilograms of dry steam per second at 13.5 bar wellhead pressure.

Only two other geothermal wells in the world, in California and Hawaii, have tested at a higher rate and the steam will be used to power a 70 megawatt power station which is currently under construction.

Darajat taps its energy from a young volcano on the "Ring of Fire," the world's most active volcanic zone which. The ring stretches along the southern coast of Sumatra and Java.

Geothermal energy is produced when ground water descending from the earth's surface meets molten magma rising toward the earth's surface, creating steam.

The steam is trapped in the earth's crust in "pockets" or reservoirs, which can be accessed by drilling a well into the reservoir, similar to the way oil and natural gas are produced.

Amoseas Indonesia has an active drilling program to search for additional geothermal resources.