04 May 2018
Astrimar to present at SPE Well Late Life and Well Abandonment Conference
Astrimar engineer Brian Willis will be outlining a probabilistic modelling approach being developed to support long term well plug integrity assurance at the SPE conference in Aberdeen on 27th and 28th June
Well plugging and abandonment (P&A) poses significant long term risks for the oil and gas industry, with approximately 1400 offshore wells requiring P&A solutions within the next decade in the UK sector. Well abandonment regulations imply a requirement for wells to be leak free permanently. Cement plugs have traditionally been accepted, albeit with uncertain performance. New materials with superior performance are being developed as alternatives to cement. Current industry guidelines recommend qualification testing of new plug materials to demonstrate a minimum plug life of 3000 years. This presents a major challenge to the technology developer and well operator.
The presentation describes how advanced predictive well integrity modelling methods have been developed for use in conjunction with qualification test data, to support plug technology qualification programmes. Examples include predicted leakage rates over time, statistical life of plugs and time to unacceptable well leakage. The presentation outlines the principles of the approach including flow rate models, plug degradation models and Monte Carlo simulation. Experience of implementing these tools for predicting the impact of material properties, well geometry and configuration, long-term changes in well and reservoir conditions, and associated uncertainties on well integrity and plug life are also presented.
Full details of the conference are available on the SPE Aberdeen website.