Proceedings The 5th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition (IIGCE) 2017

2 - 4 August 2017, Cendrawasih Hall - Jakarta Convention Center, Indonesia

Permeable Entry Characterization at Darajat Field, West Java

Rindu Grahabhakti Intani1, Drestanta Yudha Satya1, Glenn Golla, Gregg Nordquist
1
Star Energy Geothermal Darajat, Sentral Senayan II, 26th Floor, Jl. Asia Afrika No.8, Jakarta 10270, Indonesia
rindu.intani@starenergy.co.id, drestanta@starenergy.co.id, glenn_golla@yahoo.com, gnordquist@chevron.com

Keywords: Effective Fractures, borehole image log, permeable entries, Darajat

ABSTRACT
The main objective of this study is to characterize the spatial
and geological distribution of all permeable entries
identified from the interpretation of Pressure-Temperature
Spinner (PTS) logs at the Darajat Field. Previous studies
indicate that the frequency of permeable entries generally
decreases with depth at Darajat. The generally brittle
intrusive rocks and lava flows appear to host more
permeable entries and should be good targets for make-up
wells.
About 18 wells have borehole image logs and these were
used to analyze the fractures or geologic features that
correlate with the permeable zones. The fractures associated
with the permeable entries were classified as Effective
Fractures (EFs) because these are the important fractures
responsible for fluid flow in and out of the wellbore.
Analyses show that the strike orientation of EFs is generally
aligned with the direction of the horizontal maximum stress
(SHmax) with a general dip of >50°. Interestingly, most
permeable zones correlate with normal fractures and not
with prominent fractures with large aperture. Lastly,
lithologic contacts appear to play a very limited role in
hosting permeable entries at Darajat field.
INTRODUCTION
The Darajat geothermal field is located about 180 km
southeast of Jakarta within the 30 km range of Quaternary
volcanic centers in West Java at an elevation of 1,750 –
2,000 m above sea level (ASL) (Figure 1). Although
geothermal investigations at Darajat began in the early
1970s, commercial production started only in 1994 with the
commissioning of the 55 MWe Unit I which is owned and
operated by PLN. Current installed capacity at Darajat is 271
MWe with the additions of Unit II (95 MWe) in 2000 and
Unit III (121 MWe) in 2007; both Units II and III are owned
and operated by Star Energy Geothermal Indonesia.
not show the characteristics of the permeable entries in the
geothermal reservoirs.
The main objective of this re-interpretation of borehole
image logs is to characterize the fractures/geologic features
associated with the PTS-interpreted permeable entries. This
characterization of permeable zones includes the
determination of geologic features found in borehole image
logs that correlate with the permeable entries with the aim of
delineating the main source of permeability in each well (i.e.,
whether from fractures, specific lithology, lithologic
contacts, etc.). This study takes advantage of the more
accurate definition of permeable entries based on PTS data
interpretation.
The borehole image logs at Darajat consist of Formation
MicroScanner/MicroImager (FMS/FMI of Schlumberger)
and the Extended Reach MicroImager (XRMI of
Halliburton) data. All the borehole image logs were
processed using GEOLOG 7.0.
BOREHOLE IMAGE DATA
At Darajat, there are 29 wells (or 57%) with borehole image
logs among the 51 wells drilled in the field (Figure 2). The
29 wells include the six slimholes that were cored; thus,
these wells provide very good calibration of the interpreted
and actual lithologies even if these slimholes were mostly
completed above the commercial reservoir. Unfortunately,
the quality of the FMS images is not good in a number of
Darajat wells.
Of the 29 wells, only 18 wells have borehole image logs that
were taken across the permeable entries; 76 permeable
entries were intersected by these 17 wells. Figure 3 shows
the vertical distribution of the borehole image logs at Darajat.

Figure 1. The Darajat Geothermal Field Location at West

Java.

In past interpretations of fractures from borehole image logs,

the stereonet and rose diagram plots that were normally
shown depict the general strike and dip orientations of all the
discernible open fractures encountered by the well (e.g.,
Shemeta, 1994 and 1998; Pramono, 2001). Although this
technique shows the general orientation of fractures, it did
Figure 2. Map showing the location of wells with borehole
image logs (shown as dark blue lines along well tracks) at
Darajat. The blue polygon shows the Darajat commercial
production area; red lines are well tracks; and black lines are
surface structures.

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Proceedings The 5th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition (IIGCE) 2017
2 - 4 August 2017, Cendrawasih Hall - Jakarta Convention Center, Indonesia

Figure 3. Fieldwide cross-section showing the vertical

distribution of the image log data and PTS-based permeable
Figure 4. Example of a single prominent effective fracture
entries at Darajat. The solid blue, purple and black lines
which is correlated with the PTS spinner in FMS Log. The
represent the borehole image data, dashed lines are the
effective fracrure represent by the green sinusoidal and
production liner section, and red ticks are the permeable
tadpole, the PTS Spinner entry represent by the red line in
entries.
the left column.
GEOLOGIC FEATURES FROM BOREHOLE Aside from identifying the rocks and fractures encountered
IMAGES by the wells, other geologic features that were interpreted in
The fractures identified at Darajat Field were classified as
the Darajat borehole image logs were bedding/cross-bedding,
follow:
flowbanding, lithology boundaries, and errosional surface.
 Effective Fractures: These are the geologic features that
correlate with the PTS-based permeable zones. Normally, EFFECTIVE FRACTURE (EF)
these will be high-confidence fractures where the CHARACTERIZATION
conductive feature is present in all the image log tool From the 76 permeable zones that were logged with the
pads (i.e., 360° around the borehole). The example of borehole image tool, about 238 EFs were identified. The
very confident conductive fracture which correlated with majority of the Logged EFs have a N10°W-N70°E strike
the PTS Spinner entry shows in the Figure 4. In many orientation, with dips >50° to both the SE and NW
cases, the Effective Fractures were selected as a group of directions (Figure 5). The general orientation of the Logged
fractures because no single prominent fracture correlated EFs align with both the regional stress orientation (at
with the permeable zone. Because there was no single N10°E) (Tingay et al., 2009) and interpreted local surface
fracture that stood out, a group of fractures within a structures and lineaments at Darajat.
certain distance of the feed zone was picked to represent
the permeable entry.
 Open Fractures: These are high-confidence fractures
where the electrically conductive fracture trace is present N = 238 N = 238
360° around the borehole. In other words, the interpreter
is highly confident that a fracture was really encountered
by the well.
 Partial Open Fractures: These are fractures where the
conductive feature is not found on all of the image tool’s
pads. The authors tried to follow the 75% (or about 270°
around the borehole) criterion but there are some Partial Figure 5: Stereo net (in
Open Fractures that appear on as few as 50% of the pads. 10° increments) showing
 Resistive Fractures: These are fractures that are the NNE-SSW strike
electrically resistive (i.e., low conductivity), and show as orientation of EFs at
bright lines that traverse the image tool’s pads in a Darajat. The green circles
relatively conductive background. The resistive fractures represent the direction and
are likely mineral-filled veins. magnitude of the dips of
 Faults: These are conductive fractures which exhibit these EFs. (Above)
displacement between beddings or other markers. There Histograms showing the
were not many faults identified in the Darajat image logs. dip orientation (left) and
dip angle magnitude
(right) of Darajat EFs.

Moreover, individual EFs could not be identified in 63% of

the productive entries; thus, multiple fractures (or “groups”)
were selected to represent the permeable zone (Figure 6). As
briefly mentioned earlier, these “Groups of EFs” are
assemblages of individual fractures that were somewhat
arbitrarily defined to represent the permeable zone when a
single prominent fracture (“Single Fracture”) could not be
correlated with the permeable zone. Single Fracture EFs
constitute about just a third of all the EFs. Lastly, only two
permeable entries were found to occur at lithologic
contacts/boundaries. This disproves an earlier hypothesis
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Proceedings The 5th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition (IIGCE) 2017
2 - 4 August 2017, Cendrawasih Hall - Jakarta Convention Center, Indonesia

that there may be significant horizontal/lateral permeability North (N = 86)

at Darajat as >50% of the permeable entry cluster targets

were hit and/or partially encountered (Satya et al., 2013).
North DRJ-19
Darajat Effective Fractures
Single vs. Group of Fractures per 1,000’ Drilled
Central (N = 127)

N-S West Fault

Fine Pyroclastic Single fracture
2,012’
Group of fractures

Coarse Pyroclastic
14,741’ DRJ-41

Lava
16,763’
DRJ-37
DRJ-11
Intrusion
7,959’

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Central
EFs per 1,000’ Drilled DRJ-25
South (N = 25)

Figure 6: (Left) Pie chart showing the distribution of

permeable entries at Darajat, i.e., 63% correlate with Group
of Fractures, 34% correspond to Single Fractures, while only
3% are related with Lithology Boundary. (Right) Bar chart
showing the EFs encountered in various lithologies.
Numbers inside bars denote the number of EFs/permeable
zones; footage drilled is shown under each lithology.
As in Figure 6, intrusives, lava flows, and coarse
pyroclastics host Logged EFs that strike mostly in a
northeast-southwest orientation, and dip both to the
southeast and northwest (Figure 7). Interestingly, the few
Logged EFs in fine pyroclastics have a largely nort
nortwest-southsouthwest strike and dip steeply to the west.
The fine pyroclastics occur in northeast Darajat, in particular,
at DRJ-19 and 20 at 480’ BSL and 370’ BSL, respectively,
and the dip direction suggests that the source of the fine
pyroclastics is to the east of these wells. In addition, these
fine pyroclastics may be a potential marker or permeable
horizon and probably need additional analysis.
Intrusives (N = 85) Lava Flows (N = 102) Coarse Pyroclastics (N = 45)
DRJ-14
South DRJ-5A
1km
Figure 8: (Left) Map showing the orientation of Logged EFs
that correlate with the spinner-based permeable entries at
Darajat. The northeast-soutwest trend of the EFs appear to
be evident everywhere although the North (top right) and
South (bottom right) areas of Darajat host conjugate
northwest-southeast EFs. The labeled wells are examples
where the EFs do not necessarily align with the nearest
surface structure/lineament. The surface structure identified
from the LiDAR.
Figure 9 is a schematic cross-section of Darajat wells with
stereo nets of EFs per permeable entry. In general, the EFs
appear to shift in strike orientation with depth in the north,
central, and south sectors of Darajat. Possible reasons for
this behavior may include the different stress regimes in the
Fine Pyroclastics (N = 6)
older Andesite-Intrusive Complex and the overlying younger
volcanics, the aerial extent of the intrusions (which probably
influenced many of the local EFs), local faulting, etc.

North Central South

19 29 20 15 41 17 18 10 9 24 11 25 14 12 8 13 5A
Figure 7: Stereo nets showing the strike orientation (bars or
petals) and dip azimuth and magnitude (circles) of EFs in
each of the rock type comprising the Darajat reservoir.

Although the majority of Logged EFs at Darajat have strike

Elevation, ft

orientations between north and east, there are variations

when the EFs are plotted per well and compared with the
nearest mapped structure/lineament. In south Darajat, there
is a higher proportion of Logged EFs that trend north
northwest-south southeast and almost east-west (Figure 8).
Note that this area has the shallowest Top of Reservoir
(ToR) and hosts younger volcanics atop the Andesite-
Intrusive Complex, where the main geothermal system is Figure 9: Fieldwide cross-section showing the vertical
found; it is not yet clear if these characteristics impact the distribution of EFs in north, central, and south Darajat.
orientation of the Logged EFs. In north Darajat, minor
northwest-southeast EFs occur although the dominant DISCUSSION
direction is still northeast-southwest. In central Darajat, the The dominant strikes of the EF fractures and the surface
EFs are broadly aligned along the northeast-southwest strike structures are consistent with the maximum horizontal stress
direction (±50°). The above observations indicate that the orientation suggesting that the permeable entries in the
Logged EFs are slightly more consistent within the core of Darajat geothermal reservoir are product of these stress
the Darajat production area, and exhibit some variation in regime. So, while targeting a particular surface structure is
the southern portion of the field. A closer analysis is not recommended, drilling with deviations to the northwest
warranted to determine if well planning and targeting might or southeast, perpendicular to maximum horizontal stress,
be adjusted when drilling in the southern sector of the field will on average encounter more EF.
(Figure 8).
In addition, although the current structural map of Darajat
reflects the latest interpretation of recent LiDAR data, the
role of these surface structures and lineaments at depth is
unknown. The common practice of correlating surface
structures with subsurface observations is just a convenient
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Proceedings The 5th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition (IIGCE) 2017
2 - 4 August 2017, Cendrawasih Hall - Jakarta Convention Center, Indonesia

way of interpreting subsurface processes. Also concluded Satya, Drestanta Yudha, Mahagyo, Purwantoko, and Golla,
from this study is than an improved understanding of the Glenn, Well Targeting Review: A Lookback on the
stratigraphy and distribution of the intrusive rocks is Accuracy of Encountering Permeable Entry
important for future make-up well targeting. Targets and Predicting Steam Deliverability at the
Darajat and Salak Geothermal Fields, In-house
A project is currently underway to better define and model CGS/CGI Report, September 9, 2013, 35 pages.
the stratigraphy of the Darajat geothermal reservoir. It is
believed that this information will improve our
understanding of the role of the surface structures and
lineaments in the reservoir, and assit in drilling successful
steam make-up wells.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of
all Darajat Asset Management (AMT) colleagues to this
evaluation and Star Energy Geothermal Indonesia, Ltd.
management for the permission to publish this paper.

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