A New P&A technology for setting the permanent barriers

Abstract

This thesis presents an innovative way of plugging wells in the near future. The technology is based on various exothermic reactions lowered into the well at desired plugging depths. The ensuing reactions melt and engulf everything in its proximity. The end result is a man-made rock/permanent barrier hybrid that restores the cap rock and seals the wellbore. Another application for the technology is to create windows in the wellbore for sidetracks or possible well intervention purposes.

Two different proposals, both stemming from the same principle, are presented. Interwell and Olympic Research are the drivers behind the technologies presented in this thesis.

The technology is still very much in its infancy, but the potential is so grand that it is worth presenting.

General P&A information is presented in the first half of the thesis.