plugging and abandonment

As the boom of the 1970s and 1980s makes way for the first tranche of major decommissioning projects, the market for abandonment and decommissioning has grown over the past 5 years. To deliver these projects in a safe and economic way, decommissioning needs to be accepted as a serious challenge.

This paper describes how an exploration-and-production company successfully developed and applied a qualitative risk-based abandonment-prioritization strategy for an inventory of inactive subsea wells.

DNV GL is introducing a new, risk-based recommended practice for performing and qualifying well abandonments titled DNVGL-RP-E103, Risk-Based Abandonment of Offshore Wells.

Many of the platforms in the North Sea are late in life, operating long past their initial design expectations due to costly life-extension work. Decommissioning has moved slowly, but the low price environment is likely to accelerate the trend.

This paper presents current advances in the development of a plasma-based milling tool and its use in casing-section milling for P&A.

With a high demand for plug and abandonment (P&A) of subsea wells in the future on the Norwegian continental shelf, industry is challenged to find alternatives and rigless technologies that can make P&A operation more cost-effective and -efficient.

P&A activities using digital slickline increase equipment, logistic, and marine-support efficiency.

Global decommissioning projects are ramping up as many installations near the end of their life cycle. Many operators are now planning for major removal projects. Changes in technology and regulations have caused operators to make significant shifts in well abandonment operations.