0 valutazioniIl 0% ha trovato utile questo documento (0 voti)
35 visualizzazioni2 pagine
Globally, an estimated 20,000 idle wells have been identifed for abandonment. Offshore oilfelds must be dismantled carefully to minimize environmental threats. International safety and environmental standards provide the basis for all abandonment regulations.
Globally, an estimated 20,000 idle wells have been identifed for abandonment. Offshore oilfelds must be dismantled carefully to minimize environmental threats. International safety and environmental standards provide the basis for all abandonment regulations.
Globally, an estimated 20,000 idle wells have been identifed for abandonment. Offshore oilfelds must be dismantled carefully to minimize environmental threats. International safety and environmental standards provide the basis for all abandonment regulations.
for well abandonment services I ncreasingly stringent and expanding off- shore regulations are pushing service com- panies to develop innovative technologies that deliver safe and environmentally sound methods for well plug-and-abandonment (P&A) operations and late-stage interventions. Well abandonment is an inevitable stage in the life of a well. As offshore oilfelds world- wide continue to shift from asset to liability, they must be dismantled carefully to minimize environmental threats and adhere to regulato- ry requirements. Globally, an estimated 20,000 idle wells have been identifed for abandon- ment, with 60% located in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Other major areas enforcing abandon- ment include the North Sea, Asia-Pacifc, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions. International safety and environmental stan- dards provide the basis for all abandonment regulations. The 1958 Geneva Convention rules and the 1982 Law of the Sea regulations serve as the accepted framework for removal and disposal of offshore structures. Others in- clude the International Maritime Organization standards; the 1992 Review of the Baltic Sea Convention; the Barcelona Convention, 1991; and the Kuwait Convention, 1989. Individual governments often adopt inter- national regulations, but adjust with modifca- tions for geographic areas to abide by their specifc needs and laws. Operating compa- nies have their own initiatives based on inter- national and location specifc regulations, as they are ultimately responsible for ensuring that all international and geographical regula- tions are observed. Backlog of idle wells Two of the most highly-regulated areas for well abandonment and intervention are the GoM and the North Sea, encompassing the UK continental shelf, Scandinavia and The Netherlands. The more mature felds are the UK region of the North Sea, governed by the Petroleum Act of 1987 and administered by the UK Department of Environment & Climate Control, which has an estimated 2,000 wells that need to be addressed. Other regions of the North Sea are governed by the Norwegian Pe- troleum Safety Authority and State Supervision of Mines in the Netherlands, respectively. The Gulf of Mexico has an estimated 9,000 wells that are idle, some of them for fve years or longer. Demand for P&A services has in- creased dramatically in the GoM due to ir- reparable hurricane-damaged structures and changes in regulations that were approved last year. The primary US regulation for well aban- donment is NTL No. 2010-N05, governed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE). It states that if a GoM well has not been pro- ductive for three or more years, the operating company must put forward a plan, including a timeframe and methodology, to abandon it. The ruling, the strictest adopted to date for P&A operations, has generated the backlog of thousands of idle wells that need to be de- commissioned. Following last years Macondo incident, changes relating to drilling, well and feld development are also anticipated to impact regulations governing existing mature felds, specifcally well integrity issues, well abandon- ment, and structural decommissioning. The move is expected to have global implica- tions, as individual governments are reviewing ex- isting regulations and introducing new standards to cover well abandonment procedures where in- depth measures currently are not in place. Safety, effciency From a service company standpoint, the focus for P&A operations is on the provision of opera- tional excellence. Companies must be able to de- liver products and services to clients that are not only cost- and time-effcient, but also safe and envi- ronmentally responsible as well. These products and services must comply with the international and ever-changing regional regulations. The focus on safety has brought changes in the companies procedures in selecting skilled personnel, competency training, equipment integrity, and ensuring that risks are identifed and mitigated as effectively as possible. Weatherford International Ltd. has a suite of well abandonment products and services that provide end-of-feld services, from initially maximizing production from aging wells to en- suring their safe and effcient abandonment. The companys technologies are designed to meet international and regional safety and en- vironmental standards. The array of technologies include new meth- ods such as rigless hydraulic pulling and jack- ing units, along with more conventional light- duty work decks, cantilever systems, casing jacks, wireline, coiled tubing, tanks, pumps, tu- bular running services and cutting tools. Pipe- line services include purging, capping, high pressure water jets and topside cold-cutting. Plugging options include cement plugs, infat- able packers, and bridge plugs. Ian Smith Delaney Olstad Richard Segura Weatherford International Ltd. (Left) Fixed platform abandonment through ex- isting derrick. (Above) Subsea P&A, MOST tool. Reprinted with revisions to format, from the October 2011 edition of OFFSHORE Copyright 2011 by PennWell Corporation
ENGI NEERI NG, CONSTRUCTI ON, & I NSTALLATI ON Fit-for-purpose In one of the largest offshore abandon- ment projects undertaken, the company pro- vided intervention tools including coiled tub- ing (CT), wireline, innovative cutting, pinning and pulling systems in a two-stage program to plug and isolate the reservoir and cut and recover tubulars in the abandonment of 40 wells in the Northwest Hutton feld in the North Sea. In the frst phase, CT and wireline cementing were used to set cement plugs in the wellbore through the existing completion strings. The second phase involved recovery of 36,450 ft (11,110 m) of tubing and 23,200 ft (7,071 m) of conductors along with casing, using two existing platform drilling rigs. The project was carried out in conformance with UK regulations, operator policies, and in- dustry standards. The regulations specify that two barriers be placed between hydrocarbon zones and the surface, and one barrier between water zones and the surface. For this feld, en- suring conformance required installation of a permanent cement barrier immediately above the reservoir. The operation, which included more than one million man hours, was deemed a success and was completed with no injuries or environmental incidents. In another operation, 15 multi-string wells and two single-string disposal wells were aban- doned on the Iwaki platform well in offshore Japan using cutting and boring equipment. After the conductor was cut, pulled to the sur- face, cleaned and laid down in 12-meter (39 ft) sections, the wells were cut at 653 ft (199 m) below the seabed. A drilling rig and a dual-drill boring machine were used to pull the conduc- tors and tubulars out of the wells. Nearly 6 mi of multi-string conductor weighing 2,100 tons was recovered to the surface. The operation required 245 dual bores and 245 saw cuts to lay down the 241 sections. Despite a poor cementing job on the inner string and concerns that the aging platform would not be able to handle the heavy load, there were no accidents or environmental is- sues during the 62-day operation. The growing market for subsea well aban- donment also is posing technical challenges for the industry. For subsea well abandonment and well suspension, the Mechanical Outside Single Trip (MOST) tool system can cut and retrieve multiple cemented strings in a single trip, therefore minimizing rig time. The sys- tem also can recycle the wellhead, which mini- mizes damage to seal surfaces. It offers three cutting options: tension with mud motor; com- pression with mud motor; and compressing with a marine swivel or top drive rotary. Since it was introduced in 1991, the system has been deployed in 1,500 wells globally, from either semisubmersible rigs or monohull vessels. Challenges in the GoM Conformance to P&A regulations resulted in a safe and incident-free plug and abandon- ment operation for two wells on a hurricane- damaged platform in the GoM. In this case, a lift boat was equipped with a cantilever system to support an adjustable, rather than welded, angled work deck that extended off the side of the lift boat and matched the 20 angle of the wells. The cantilever system was designed with two 50,000-lb single-line winches. For the frst well, 10 -in. and 16-in. casing, cemented into 30-in. conductor pipe, were me- chanically cut and pulled using remotely-oper- ated, self-clamping and self-aligning guillotine saws that provide multi-string capabilities. The hydraulic clamping feature reduced risk, while a hydraulic stabilizer provides better cutting effciency. A problem developed after the 10 -in. casing was cut, while the hydraulic cutter was being run to its operational depth in the 16-in. casing. A camera run into the wellbore confrmed that the 16-in. casing had separated 12 ft (3.65 m) above the mudline. The guillotine saw was engaged 20 ft (6.1 m) above the water line to cut off the casings and allow entry into the wellbore. The saw was then deployed under water to cut the 30-in. and 16-in. casing 5 ft (1.5 m) above the mudline. Af- ter those sections of casing were retrieved, the loose piece of 16-in. casing was pulled out with a spear run on 3 -in. drillpipe. The same size drillpipe was used to deploy a mechanical cut- ter to cut the 30-in. casing 15 ft (4.5 m) below the mud line, allowing for clean removal of the remaining casing and conductor. The second wells operation involved re- moving the crows nest and cutting and pull- ing 9 5/8-in. casing cemented inside 30-in. con- ductors. In accordance with GoM regulations, two abandoned pipelines were frst removed by divers. The guillotine saw was used to cut off the casings below the crows nest and allow wellbore entry. The hydraulic mechanical cut- ter was deployed on 3 -in. drillpipe to cut the casing and conductor 15 ft (4.5 m) below the mudline. Both were easily retrieved. A rigless solution Among the newer advances in P&A and intervention solutions are technologies such as the diesel-powered hydraulic pulling and jacking unit (HP&JU) that can be deployed both for P&A operations and for interven- tions to bring mature wells back online. Since it was launched in 2006, the technol- ogy and resources have been used success- fully in several long duration multi well P&A operations in the GoM. The use of these units continues to increase in the GoM, and expand globally, in both activity levels and types of applications that can be carried out. The development and deployment of the HP&JU system is emerging as a game-chang- er in the way that P&A and end-of-feld ser- vices are being conducted. It is being used as a safe, cost-effective alternative to deploying expensive and unwieldy jack-up rigs, work- overs, or snubbing units. The HP&JU is designed in modules, and is rigless, meaning it can be placed on offshore platforms that dont have existing derrick sys- tems, have downgraded their derrick system, or have damaged derrick systems or plat- forms. The modular hydraulically-powered mast sits directly above the well. Once rigged up, the unit is independent from the crane, and can withstand winds up to 69 mph. It is mobile, and can skid from well to well, leaving a small footprint. The design also allows a blowout preventer to be placed under the unit. In one GoM operation, an HP&JU was used to kill and plug 10 wells. The opera- tions were scheduled to be conducted over 342 days, but because of the operational eff- ciencies involved with the HP&JU and crew, the job was completed 108 days ahead of schedule. This reduced the total operating costs of the client by 33%. Rigless well and abandonment system.