Plug and Abandonment of Oil Wells by an Innovative Thermal Technology:  A contribution to the shift from a Carbon-based to a Carbon-free economy

Abstract

© 2023, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.Global change from carbon-based to carbon-free economy has driven the development of a number of innovative technologies for decommissioning oil wells in mature fields. The common technology in use nowadays relies on cementing the borehole to permanently seal and abandon old wells. However, this procedure has a high cost and takes several weeks to be concluded, which constitutes a burden for offshore wells. This work investigates an innovative technology for plug and abandonment based on the release of large amounts of heat from thermite reactions at the sealing location in the borehole. Tubing and casing are melt forming a plug after the cool down period. Transitory transport of heat generated by a thermite mixture is numerically investigated by solving the energy equation using the control volume method. Time required to melt and subsequent solidification of the molten mass is estimated.