Engineering Visual Presentation E3: Challenges and lessons learnt from Northern Territory (NT) Orphan Well project
Shaun Hingerty A *A Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Darwin, NT, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 63 - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22427
Published: 2 June 2023
Abstract
Visual Presentation E3
The Orphan Well project evolved from the recommendations in the Final Report of the NT Hydraulic Fracturing Inquiry (HFI). The purpose is to assess wells that were drilled under petroleum permits or licences, and which have subsequently been surrendered by the titleholder and are now the responsibility of the NT Government. The project’s objective is to confirm the current status of these wells and to put forward recommendations for remedial works and/or monitoring for wells assessed to have an integrity risk. The assessment primarily focusses on the risk of fugitive methane gas. Two petroleum engineers were employed to undertake the project of assessing 113 orphan wells scattered over 1.4 million km2 of the NT. As it is a requirement to rehabilitate the land after petroleum activities have ceased, access to orphan wells is often not maintained; therefore, logistical consideration is undertaken. The project involved an initial desktop study of well history (construction) followed by a field site inspection. The drilling of these wells can date as far back as the 1960s. These older wells can have less detail in the well records and their survey location, and being pre-GPS, can have location errors of several kilometres. Remote helicopter travel is used to undertake fieldwork and locate these wells. The site inspections commenced in February 2022 and as at 31 December 2022 there have been on ground field inspections at 96 wellsites. This paper provides insight as to how the Orphan Well team developed its processes in both desktop study and site investigations.
To access the Visual Presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here
Keywords: fugitive methane gas, GPS, laser methane detector, magnetometer, Northern Territory, orphan wells, survey inaccuracy, well failure model, wellbore diagram.
Shaun Hingerty is currently employed by the Northern Territory Government in the role of Senior Orphan Wells Engineer. This project was initiated from the Northern Territory Hydraulic Fracturing Inquiry’s recommendation. Shaun has over 25 years of oil and gas industry experience in both Service Company and Operator affiliations. He has worked for companies such as Halliburton, Roc Oil and Bridgeport Energy, principally involved in drilling construction and life-cycle well operations in roles of engineering, supervision and management. Current interests include well integrity, repurposing of petroleum wells and geothermal. Shaun holds both a Bachelor and a Master's degree in Petroleum Engineering and is a Chartered Registered Engineer. He is an active member of Society of Petroleum Engineers and Engineers Australia. |
