[coffeeshopgoth]

Interesting. In that part of the world, the crust is actually some of the thinnest on Earth. Shell drilled some thermal wells up there in the 70s - when it comes to tech, they have always been the most progressive of the E&P industry - that isn't saying much, but they have been more advanced/interested than any other. Because of the crust being thinnest there, the geothermal gradient is supposed to be better, but that being said, the original Shell wells weren't drilled deep enough - I reviewed them a long time ago, but think they were targeting some 300 feet. When done, all they did was make uncomfortably hot water and no steam - so they will probably need to go to that 500' mark someone here mentioned.

[XorNot]

The oil companies rebranded themselves as energy companies because they're definitely not stupid: if they can take their existing capability and use that to enter a whole new area, they'll do it.

In particular because there's no actual competition between geothermal power and the petrochemical industry: oil is far and away a transportation fuel (and a bunch of other vital things), whereas stationary power is coal-generation.

If they can take drilling expertise and turn it into a geothermal power concern cost efficiently, then they'll do that.

[pfdietz]

In the US, stationary power is more natural gas than it is coal. The ratio is nearly 2:1.