Well P&A is showing a significant increase in reported numbers of technologies in 2023, from a low base in 2020.
Innovation is driven by both vendors and Operators, and includes: thru-tubing logging, downhole wireless sensing, hydraulic severance equipment and abrasive water jet cutting tools to adopt a factory approach to conductor and casing string removal.
There has been progress in introducing alternative (to cement) barrier materials and deployment techniques, and tools for removing control lines from downhole gauges.
Modular workover rigs for platforms and light well intervention vessels for subsea abandonments can lower P&A costs when compared to the use of standard rigs.
Continuous growth in number of technologies for Well P&A as more decommissioning programmes get underway
Key areas of innovation cover tubing and casing removal, alternative barrier materials and their placement, and intervention equipment able to reduce time and cost of P&A operations
Interest in P&A innovation appears concentrated with 15 Operators who have reported technologies in their plans
P&A is a field of active innovation with about 50% of technologies reported in Operators’ plans of recent introduction or still under development
There is a significant participation by Operators in driving improved practices in partnership with Vendors and Service companies
Readiness definitions: Early Development (TRL 1-4), Late Development/Pilot (TRL 5-7), Early commercialisation (TRL 8), Proven (TRL 9)
This is an area with a number of tools developed to assess the well bore, downhole leak paths, and logging cement tops and cement condition (including multi string applications). Several emerging technologies new this year including multi casing logging for barrier verification and assessing cement quality behind the production casing.
- Well Sense Acoustic Tool - Acoustic detection of gas leak path downhole.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Multi String Isolation Logging Tool - Allows cement tops to be logged in multiple casing strings
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Probe Assess cement through multiple strings by Thru-Tubing Logging
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Well Sense Tool Tool to review condition of the well bore. FLI tool deployed on Fibreline to review well bore.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Well Sense FLI tools - length of fibre unspooled from a FLI probe to 7,715m. Active-FLI probes, fitted with electronic sensors and optical telemetry. FLI is primarily designed to be a distributed sensing system, observing the wellbore simultaneously along the entire length of the unspooled fibre. |
 Link: TI 22 - 48. Technology Example - Well-Sense FLI System - Copy.docx |
- Acoustic, Gamma, EM (Electro Magnetism) TTL (Through Tubing Logging) Multi casing logging for barrier verification
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
- Schlumberger CETT logging tool
Tool for through tubing logging to assess cement quality behind the production casing.- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
New this year - Perf & Wash and Punch & Wash technology may provide cost savings compared to section milling. Innovations include, abrasive water jet cutting tools and hydraulic severance equipment to adopt a factory approach to conductor and casing string removal. Emerging technology includes application of diamond wire cutting in a dedicated well head cutting tool.
- Hydraulic severance of conductor and casing strings - Successfully completed by other operators using Control Cutter. Consider this technology for when CNR's other fixed installations approach their CoP, also used by other operators listed below.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Control Cutter - Our Conductor Decom Package includes all equipment and calculations required to recover the wellhead and conductors. We section the multistring casing into the required lengths then lift, handle and prepare the sections for backloading. Our cutting and pinning tooling is incorporated into a single interface frame/table. |
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- Perf & Wash and Punch & Wash – Perf & wash and Punch and wash technologies which may provide savings compared to section milling when conducting remedial work.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Claxton SABRE abrasive water jet cutting tool – Conductor recovery
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Wellhead Cutting Tool – DeepOcean is currently developing an innovative Wellhead Cutting Tool (WHCT), DeepOcean proposes a WHCT with control of all cutting parameters, including verification of a completed cut. The system is based on a diamond wire technique removing the need for compressed air. and combined with a smaller spread with less personnel on board, reduces decommissioning costs for operators.
- TRL 1-4 Early development
Operators are using deployable technologies such as thru tubing abandonment. New this year are non-alloy barriers, fusion based alloy plugs, suspended well abandonment tools for rigless abandonment (AB2 to AB3) from a DSV and self-healing cement to incorporate downhole gauge cables which prevent effective plug setting. Emerging technology is being progressed through large scale trials of novel abandonment techniques.
- Claxton SWAT Tool (suspended Well Abandonment Tool) surveys. The SWAT tool allows the well abandonment from Ab2 to Ab3 via DSV without having to mobilize the rig. SWAT is able to perform perforation, circulation, and cementation of multiple casing annuli in single/ multiple runs while maintaining appropriate pressure control barriers.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Rated to 5000 psi, Claxtons SWAT tool is capable of being deployed from anu dynamically positioned (DP) vessel, Landed on the wellhead and then used to carry out casing perforation, followed by clean up and placement of the required cement barriers in the well. |
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- CemFit Heal System - Self Healing Cement - Self-Healing Cement which can be used to incorporate gauge cables in the abandonment barrier.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Non- Alloy Barriers - LWIV subsea well P&A - Viscous gel plug as base for setting tubing and annular cement barrier in subsea well allowing LWIV only abandonment (such as Resolute Expanding Polymer Grain pumped into the reservoir to make it expand pack off, and fully block permeability providing barrier to barrier, self-healing seal surrounding the wellbore, blocks perforations, screens & bore space self-healing pre-barrier to plugs and cement (Vendor has successful deployments in addressing SCP)
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Fusion Based Alloy Thru Tubing Abandonment “Low-cost field trials” - New model for low-cost field trials to be developed by collaborating with other operators.
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
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Technology Example: Spirit Energy are the lead sponsor of a TLB Industry sponsored programme to deliver bulk field trials of alternative barrier P&A solutions. To accelerate adoption of alternatives to traditional cement based approaches and promoting the use of rig less well abandonment techniques with potential for considerable cost savings |
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- Shale Barrier Predictions - Create pseudo DCM analysis to predict abandonment barriers from conventional log data
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
- E&A Trial of Pure Bismuth annulus barrier installation - non fusion, relies on friction fit to prevent creep of the plug once a pressure differential is created. Aim to restore the primary barrier in the annulus
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
Operators are considering light well intervention vessels for subsea open-water abandonments and subsea shut-off devices for open water tubing retrieval. Emerging technology includes novel approaches for breaking the cement bonds on casing strings. New this year is the cutting of control lines strapped to production tubing.
- LWIV subsea well abandonment - Open hole 300' tubing cut, recovery and layout on seabed for subsequent uplift by CSV allows LWIV only subsea well abandonment
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Subsea Open Water P&A - Through-Tubing P&A with an LWIV. Including recovery of tubing hanger and surface tubing to allow setting of environmental plug.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Control Cutter – Also applicable o this sub-category - Bespoke shearing device for surface multi string cutting during phase 3 abandonment operations (see 7.2. Conductor removal for more details)
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Rotojar (Re-branded HydroVolve Hammer) - Improve jarring operations by combining high overpull forces with high frequency vibration to improve stuck-object extraction force regime available to the stuck casing on HWU
- TRL 8 Early commercialisation
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Technology Example: HydroVolve Hammer – combined pulling and impact forces to break settled solids and shear cement bonds, Combining high overpull forces with high frequency vibration to deliver stuck-object extraction force to remove stuck casing. |
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- Subsea Shutoff Device (SSD) & Volume Control System (VCS) - SSD allows the well to be secured for open water tubing retrieval. VCS allows for early detection of volume/pressure changes in the well when retrieving tubing open water.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- SPEX Severance Tool - Technology to simultaneously sever all necessary casings to allow recovery of subsea wellheads, an explosive charge deployed internally within the casing(s) to be severed, severing up to four strings of fully cemented concentric casings, from 9-5/8” to 30” x 1.5”
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Deep casing Tools "Casing Cement Breaker" - Mechanical device to manipulate a casing string in order to break the cement bond between casing and cement or barite and facilitate deep casing recovery.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
- AxterReach Retrieve Tool - on wells where a downhole pressure and temperature gauge exists with the production tubing - The power cable for the gauge is strapped to the outside of the production tubing and runs across the interval in the well where an abandonment barrier would be placed. - the gauge cable can reduce the effectiveness of cement barriers.
- TRL 5-7 Late Development/Pilot
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Technology Example: The AxterReach locates and retrieves a line (control line, tube encased cable, wireline cable and similar) from a wellbore. The AxterReach handles P&A as well as fishing operations. |
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Included this year are innovative solutions for improving well access for interventions, low-cost platform workover rigs/modular drilling rig systems, rigs specifically configured for well P&A, riserless P&A systems, and pre-loaded wipe ball to clean drill pipe after cement jobs.
- Rig configured specifically for well P&A – using WSS (Well Safe Solutions) to deliver transformational subsea well P&A with their rig designed for that purpose (also WSS markets “Multi Operator P & A club”)
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- MARS System - OneSubsea MARS* multiple application reinjection system serves as a universal interface for trees (topside and subsea), enabling fluid communication between the existing isolation barriers.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
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Technology Example: Liquid ring compressor uses a liquid ring formed from the operating liquid, instead of a mechanical piston, as an energy carrier to compress gases and vapours. Liquid ring compressors can compress nearly all gases and vapours without any metallic parts contacting one another. |
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- Riserless P&A system - . capable of conducting full riserless P&A - including reservoir and intermediate abandonment.
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Striecher Modular Drilling Systems – Offshore Models - Streicher modular system - Fully Automated Offshore Drilling Rig
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- TRL 8 Early Commercialisation
- Pre-loaded wiper ball - used to clean drill pipe after a cement job
- TRL 9 Proven Technologies
- Rigless P&A - To avoid lifting hundreds of ft of tubing to surface, the technology comprises a hydraulically driven slips and cutting module located on the seabed. The cutting tool would connect to a pressure control equipment via an H4 connector or similar. The cutting tool/slips would be located above the pressure control equipment. Handling would involve a crane and ROV. The ROV would fly over hot stab to control cut and slips etc. Cut tubing joints would be laid out into subsea baskets.
- TRL 1-4 Early Development
