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Abstract All oil and gas wells inevitably shifts from asset to liability, whether the result of reaching its economic limit or sustaining irreparable damage. At the end of its life cycle, a subsea well and its supporting infrastructure must be carefully dismantled to ensure they pose no safety or environmental threats and to salvage useable components. In addition to creating significant safety and environmental hazards, failure to properly abandon a subsea well can lead to a noncompliant status with regulatory agencies and undermine an operator’s image. Despite its multiple liabilities, abandonment offers no real return on investment, underscoring the importance of minimizing cost. The challenge is to retrieve the wellhead without damage so it can be used again, minimizing or eliminating damage not only to the wellhead but also to personnel and environment. This paper will describe the technological tool system available to retrieve subsea wellheads in a single trip. This technology serves as an alternative to equipment that poses environmental and safety hazards, such as mobile offshore drilling units and explosive severance devices. By latching on to the external profile there is no damage to the internal seals. Also the external latch procedure allows more clearance to allow the cuttings to flow out of the ports and away from the working mechanism. The wellheads retrieved have a much greater chance of being re-used with minimal damage. The external latch design allow for more strength and less chance of tool failure. This paper will also discuss some global case histories.
- North America > United States (0.49)
- Oceania > Australia > Western Australia (0.28)
- Oceania > Australia > Western Australia > North West Shelf > Carnarvon Basin > Carnarvon Basin > Dampier Basin > Rankin Platform > Greater Gorgon Development Area > Block WA-268-P > Greater Gorgon Field > Gorgon Field (0.99)
- Oceania > Australia > Western Australia > North West Shelf > Carnarvon Basin > Carnarvon Basin > Carnarvon Basin > Rankin Platform > Greater Gorgon Development Area > Block WA-268-P > Greater Gorgon Field > Gorgon Field (0.99)
- Oceania > Australia > Western Australia > North West Shelf > Carnarvon Basin > Alpha Arch > Dampier Basin > Rankin Platform > Greater Gorgon Development Area > Block WA-268-P > Greater Gorgon Field > Gorgon Field (0.99)
- (6 more...)
Abstract At some point, an oil or gas well inevitably shifts from asset to liability, whether the result of reaching its economic limit, sustaining irreparable damage or being a disposable exploratory well. At the end of its life cycle, a well must be plugged and abandoned (P&A); while adhering to regulatory and environmental standards, its supporting infrastructure must be carefully dismantled to ensure that it poses no safety or environmental threats and any useable components salvaged to help defray costs. In addition to creating significant safety and environmental hazards, failure to properly abandon a well can lead to a noncompliant status with regulatory agencies and undermine an operator's image. Despite its multiple liabilities, abandonment offers no real return on investment (ROI), underscoring the importance of minimizing cost while still ensuring a safe and regulatory compliant operation. One of the main challenges is to retrieve the wellhead without damage so that it can be used again. Clearly wells in onshore or shallow water offshore environments present little difficulty in accessing the wellhead and carrying out the required P&A operations. However the most challenging wells to P&A are deepwater wells where the wellhead is located on the ocean floor often at considerable depth so that physical access to it is infinitely more challenging. In this subsea environment there exist two different approaches to the problems associated with well abandoned and wellhead recovery. These involve internal cutting of the surface and conductor casings combined with either internal or external latching of the wellhead. In this paper the authors will review these two different approaches, comparing their viability and describe in detail the external latching system which offers some distinct advantages in the P&A process. They will go on to provide some detailed case studies which illustrate its’ successful use in various deepwater offshore operations.
- North America > United States (0.68)
- Asia > Middle East > Saudi Arabia (0.28)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea > Northern North Sea > South Viking Graben > PL 460 > Block 25/1 > Skogul Field > Hordland Formation (0.98)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea > Northern North Sea > South Viking Graben > PL 460 > Block 25/1 > Skogul Field > Heimdal Formation (0.98)
- Europe > Norway > North Sea > Northern North Sea > South Viking Graben > PL 460 > Block 25/1 > Skogul Field > Frigg Formation (0.98)