Field trials of the use of hydrated bentonite for decommissioning oil and gas wells
Brian Towler A , Mahshid Firouzi A , Amin Mortezapour A and Paul Hywel-Evans ASchool of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland.
The APPEA Journal 56(2) 561-561 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ15067
Published: 2016
Abstract
Bentonite is widely used for plugging shallow water wells in the US. In the past 15 years Chevron has been plugging oil and gas wells with bentonite in the San Joaquin Basin in California, and has successfully plugged about 10,000 wells. In several previous publications the authors’ research team has reported laboratory data to predict pressure containment using bentonite to underpin the fundamentals for plugging both oil and gas wells.
The authors propose bentonite as an alternative medium for decommissioning coal seam gas wells in Queensland. Gas producing companies in Queensland are proposing to drill and produce about 40,000 coal seam gas wells in the state, and all of these will have to be plugged eventually.
Water wells are shallow and are usually plugged with coarse granulated bentonite that is simply poured down the hole and hydrated. The authors propose a process for compressing bentonite into cylinders of various shapes, which promises to improve the use of bentonite for plugging deeper wells.
Oil and gas wells are presently plugged and abandoned with cement. Bentonite has a number of advantages when plugging oil and gas wells. It is cheaper and easier to deploy and it is more reliable than cement.
In this extended abstract the application of bentonite for plugging conventional oil and gas and coal seam gas wells will be discussed. The many field trials will be reviewed and the fundamental theory for plugging wells with bentonite will be outlined.
Brian F. Towler holds the Chair as Professor of Petroleum Engineering in the School of Chemical Engineering and the Centre for Coal Seam Gas at the University of Queensland. Previously, Brian was Professor and CEAS Fellow for Hydrocarbon Energy Resources in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Wyoming in the US, where he taught for 26 years. He is also an Associate Editor and Board Member of the Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, and a Registered Professional Engineer (Petroleum Engineering) in the state of Wyoming. In the past, Brian also held the position as Professor and Head of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Wyoming. Brian took up his present position as Professor and Chair of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Queensland in May 2014. |
Mahshid Firouzi is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering and the Centre for Coal Seam Gas at the University of Queensland. Mahshid received her PhD in 2014 in chemical engineering from The University of Queensland. She holds a BEng and a MEng in chemical engineering (process design of petroleum industry) from Iran University of Science and Technology. Mahshid’s research focuses on mathematical modelling and experimental study of fluid dynamics of multi-phase flows, thin liquid film drainage in saline water, and decommissioning of CSG wells using bentonite. The outcomes of her research have been published in 11 journal papers along with one book chapter, and have been presented in six conferences. |
Amin Mortezapour is researcher in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland. His main research area is plugging and abandoning oil and gas wells with bentonite. Previously, Amin was a Reservoir Simulation Engineer for Schlumberger where he was in charge of providing reservoir engineering consultancy to model CBM and shale gas reservoirs. Prior to his work in Schlumberger, Amin was petroleum engineer in charge for reservoir management of an Iranian field in Eni (Italian oil company). He is a professional member of SPE and has couple of SPE paper publications. Amin took up the current position at the University of Queensland in January 2015. |
Paul Duncan Hywel-Evans’ early career began as a lab technician for the local government before he changed employer to Fosroc, taking up the position as a technical officer on the proviso that they would sponsor his continued education on a part time basis. Duncan was promoted to Senior Technical Officer, Chemist, and then Senior Chemist while expanding his knowledge through obtaining a HNC, GRSC, BSc (Hons), and finally completing a PhD in three years and 10 months while still working full time and raising a family. During the next 10 years Duncan moved several times as technical manager, undertaking blue-sky research in polymer and inorganic technologies for multinational companies such as Allied Signal, Honeywell, and Reichhold, producing several patented technologies and novel technologies for the military. Simultaneously, he continued personal development by becoming a Chartered Chemist, Chartered Scientist, and a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, while also undertaking research as honorary research associate at Staffordshire University producing a mechanism for the formation of ettringite and contributing as an author to the paper, The Identification and characterisation of thaumasite by XRPD techniques. In November 2010 Duncan published his final UK polymer technology paper, A new mechanism for the formation of heterogeneous coatings from homogeneous self- sorting monomers, and emigrated to Australia. In 2014 Duncan began his next part time qualification, a PhD in chemical engineering from the Centre for Coal Seam Gas research at The University of Queensland. |
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