Assessment of polymer resins as alternative abandonment barrier materials for high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells: a multi criteria decision making approach.

Chukwuemeka, Augustine; Njuguna, James; Oluyemi, Gbenga; Attar, Suhail

Abstract

Portland cement is the predominant material for permanent abandonment of oil and gas wells. However, resins are increasingly finding applications in the mix of barrier materials for plug and abandonment of wells because of unique features that enable their flow into areas where solid bridging makes cement ineffective, their superior mechanical properties and the chemical stability to reservoir fluid. This study demonstrates how multi criteria decision making techniques can be applied for the selection and ranking of polymers as barrier materials in a high-pressure high temperature well abandonment scenario. Four materials shortlisted through material screening in Ansys Granta materials selector are ranked using Technique for Order of Preferences Similar to Ideal Solutions (TOPSIS) againstResAMBER and ThemaSet resins which have been applied in well abandonment operations. A combination of bubble diagrams, a defined boundary/limit operating conditions reflective of HPHT wells, and material performance indices, were used for materials screening in Ansys Granta. A sensitivity test indicates that the top-ranking materials remain unchanged within reasonable variations of the weights assigned to the ranking criteria. The resulting materials ranking shows that the mechanical properties and chemical stability of materials from the Polyamide-imide (PAI), Phenol formaldehyde (PF) and Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) groups support their potential application as barrier materials for the abandonment of high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) wells. The simplicity of this combination of multi criteria decision making techniques and its proven application for solving material selection problems in other industries suggestthat this strategy suitable for application in plug and abandonment.

Citation

CHUKWUEMEKA, A., NJUGUNA, J., OLUYEMI, G. and ATTAR, S. 2024. Assessment of polymer resins as alternative abandonment barrier materials for high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells: a multi criteria decision making approach. In Proceedings of the 2024 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria annual international conference and exhibition (NAICE 2024), 5-7 August 2024, Lagos, Nigeria. Hosted on OnePetro [online], paper number SPE-221795-MS. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2118/221795-ms

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 2024 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria annual international conference and exhibition (NAICE 2024)
• Start Date: Aug 5, 2024
• End Date: Aug 7, 2024
• Acceptance Date: May 20, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 5, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 5, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 12, 2024
• Publisher: Society of Petroleum Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• ISBN: 9781959025474
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2118/221795-ms
• Keywords: Casing and cementing; Geologist; Abandonment; Wellbore design; Geology; Complex reservoir; High pressure high temperature; Cement chemistry; Well decommissioning; Wellbore integrity
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2474715
• Additional Information: The files accompanying this output are the presentation slides. The full-text paper is available to purchase from OnePetro: https://doi.org/10.2118/221795-MS