US 12,291,965 B2
Detecting entry into and drilling through a magma reservoir
Benjamin Chris Smith, Humble, TX (US); James Michael Browning, Houston, TX (US); Randall Howard Hornbaker, Houston, TX (US); Kevin Martin Stone, Houston, TX (US); Georgios Evangelatos, Athens (GR); Shamsul Abedin Al-Tomal, Houston, TX (US); and Andrew Nguyen, Richmond, TX (US)
Assigned to EnhancedGEO Holdings, LLC, St. Petersburg, FL (US)
Filed by EnhancedGEO Holdings, LLC, St. Petersburg, FL (US)
Filed on Sep. 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/373,616.
Prior Publication US 2025/0084702 A1, Mar. 13, 2025
Int. Cl. E21B 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 7/00 (2013.01) 28 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
drilling a borehole extending from a surface toward an underground magma reservoir by operating drilling equipment in a standard mode associated with drilling in non-molten rock;
monitoring drilling characteristics associated with the drilling equipment during drilling the borehole;
monitoring borehole characteristics associated with the borehole during drilling the borehole;
determining, based at least in part on the monitored drilling characteristics and the monitored borehole characteristics, that a drill bit used for drilling the borehole has contacted magma within the underground magma reservoir;
in response to determining that the drill bit has contacted the magma, operating the drilling equipment in a magma-drilling mode, different than the standard mode, associated with drilling inside the underground magma reservoir; and
in response to determining that the drill bit has not contacted magma, continuing operating the drilling equipment in the standard mode.