Following a review of novel abandonment technologies to retire a field located off the Northwest Shelf of Western Australia, a super major operator invited Wellcem to assist in the decommissioning of onshore wells through collaboration with R&D Solutions. These onshore assets had serious integrity challenges with shallow gas anomalies in tight siltstone lithology that provided negligible injectivity coupled with failed cement sheaths across multiple annuli. This presented challenging downhole scenarios that would require an unconventional abandonment approach to restore isolation to these wells.
Wellcem was able to assist the operator in overcoming the compromised integrity of these wells through the provision of industry adapted methodologies and engineered ThermaSet® solutions. Wellcem successfully restored isolation to several wells to mitigate any further gas migration to the surface so that the operator could complete the final stages of upper abandonment to ultimately prepare the onshore leases for future decommissioning.
The operator continues to monitor the abandoned asset field and has reported zero pressure buildup on all annuli to date, validating the successful use of the specific ThermaSet solution as a well barrier element for plug and abandonment.
Contractual Engagement!
The expertise of Wellcem technical staff and the proven success of ThermaSet in the onshore campaign instilled confidence within the operator to engage in a single-source contract with the newly formed Wellcem Australia Pty. Ltd. This time for an offshore abandonment campaign within the Northwest Shelf. ThermaSet was provided as a contingent solution for the upper abandonment for the offshore wells. All offshore assets were successfully abandoned and allowed the operator to progress onto the final retirement phases of the non-productive asset field.
The establishment of Wellcem Australia Pty. Ltd. enables a domestic presence across Australia to provide new clients with engineered solutions to meet the well integrity needs of operators within Oceania. The proven track record of the organization led to an operation in the Cooper Basin to repair a casing leak and restore integrity to the failed primary annular cement of a Coal Seam Gas (CSG) well. Wellcem continues to develop the region and can offer lean operations and streamlined precision to help save time and money for onshore and offshore operations.
