Case for Action
Well abandonment is one of the largest challenges facing the oil and gas industry, both in the sheer volume of wells that need to be abandoned as well as the costs involved, costs which oil and gas companies have often not budgeted for and which offers no return-on-investment. Moreover, when wells are abandoned, they need to be abandoned permanently, i.e. for an indefinite time in the future without the need for intervention and remedial work. Poorly plugged and abandoned (P&A) wells are potentially harmful: leaking wells can cause contamination of aquifers, uncontrolled release of formation fluid and gas to surface leading to oil or gas spills, potentially toxic air pollution, potential explosions, etc. The number of wells to be abandoned globally is very large (in the US alone it is estimated that several 100,000’s of wells will require permanent abandonment at some point in the future). To improve efficiency and lower costs of well abandonment and decommissioning, as well as guarantee long-term isolation and sealing of reservoir fluids and gas, new technology is needed. Now is the time to begin advancing the technology on well abandonment, and we at the University of Texas are introducing CODA, a new industry affiliate program to tackle the technical and cost challenges of well COnstruction, Decommissioning and Abandonment. In music, CODA is the concluding passage of a piece or movement, a fitting theme for the last phase for an abandoned oil, gas or injection well.
Vision and Mission
CODA spans multiple disciplines with researchers and students focused on developing advanced models, materials and monitoring methods for successful well abandonment. To benefit our members, the consortium will focus on four main R&D areas:
- New Materials – work on alternatives to Portland cement such as self-healing geopolymers and magneto-rheological (MR) cements for well abandonment.
- New Sensors – work on hydrocarbon-sensitive, high-resolution fiber-optic sensors for abandonment isolation monitoring.
- New Methods – work on “Shale as a Barrier” and the use of MR cements for annular isolation.
- New Models and Software – mud displacement/cement plug placement software, modeling the generation of shale barriers in the field, and modeling geomechanical loads on abandoned wells
The main objective of CODA is to research and develop new materials, systems, methods and computational models for successful, cost-effective, long-term well abandonment. The specific objectives of CODA include answering several important questions such as:
- Can self-healing cementitious materials be effectively developed, tested and ultimately deployed for well abandonment?
- Can magneto-rheological cements be developed as effective annular barrier cements for well abandonment?
- Can new fiber-optic technology that can automatically sense hydrocarbon leakage be developed, tested and ultimately deployed to monitor abandonment wells and verify isolation status?
- Can models be developed to understand the geomechanical loads that will act over time on abandoned wells and its impact on abandonment status and ability to seal / isolate downhole fluids and gas?
Value Creation, Delivery & Benefits
With the prices of oil forecast to remain low through 2017 and the number of necessary abandonments rising, safely and completely sealing wells during abandonment is of great importance to keeping costs down. Remediation of leaking wells is a costly endeavor, and the goal of this consortium is to develop materials, methods, and tools that can help save companies money by sealing wells properly from the beginning or efficiently remediating them if needed. In addition, development of remote monitoring methods for temporarily or permanently abandoned wells would help ensure that regulatory requirements are met at sites. Due to the widespread need for these solutions for well abandonment, the consortium approach makes sense. The approach delivers value to consortium members by:
- Training the next generation of well engineers with comprehensive understanding of drilling and cementing materials/operations, where member companies have priority access to undergraduate, graduate and other funded participants.
- Access to UT Austin’s state-of-the-art cementing lab, which includes all API standard cement testing equipment and advanced fiber-optic sensing equipment
- In addition to graduate research (at MS, PhD, and post-doctoral levels), undergraduate research opportunities are planned. Thus, consortium members will have early access to a variety of undergraduate students with early exposure to drilling and cementing.
As one of the few academic research groups in cementing, UT is well suited to launch a state-of-the-art well cementing consortium. Well cementing is a highly specialized field with relatively few experts worldwide. The development of researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students who understand the challenges in cementing is a main goal of this research lab, which can be leveraged by the participant companies in hiring for related positions.