GEOTHERMAL POTENTIAL OF THE LLANOS AND PUTUMAYO FORELAND BASINS OF COLOMBIA AND THE FLUID FLOW HISTORY OF THE FORMATION WATERS

Abstract

Summary In recent years, there has been renewed interest in making viable hydrocarbon production coupled with geothermal energy in sedimentary basins where there is already an infrastructure of wells producing from deep reservoirs at high temperatures. These studies in sedimentary basins involve challenges of integrating the heat flow changes throughout geological evolution with a reconstruction of the fluid flow history and the rock-fluid interaction. This understanding allows to rank areas of greater potential as a geothermal source of energy. In Colombia, the integration of information with an extensive characterization of production waters, hydrothermal springs and fumaroles allows us to highlight areas with geothermal gradients similar or higher than those analyzed globally in sedimentary basins such as Putumayo, Llanos Orientales and Catatumbo. The foreland basins associated with the uplift of the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes in northern of South America.