Head Recovery and Abandonment Monument Installation in Oil Well
In the last century, thousands of exploratory wells and producers have been excavated in Mexico, and many active oil wells have dried up or ceased to be economically viable to continue pumping. This has left the oil industry responsible for resealing oil wells to prevent oil and other toxic substances from damaging the environment or contaminating the soil and waterways. Becoming a great environmental liability.
Inactive wells because they do not have adequate abandonment represent a latent danger with a series of very likely effects on the environment and the economy.
On a basic level, oil can damage the aquatic environment, marine life and plants and animals on earth. An oil spill can also ruin the infrastructure and economy of a particular area, and the long-term effects can be felt for decades. Cleaning up an oil spill is very expensive and costs extend to government entities, non-profit organizations and the oil regulatory company itself.
Every time a spill occurs, the public loses faith in the ability of the government, those in charge of its extraction, and the oil companies to control this dangerous, but necessary, product.
The process of clogging and abandonment of a diminished, aged or unprofitable oil well represents a real challenge. In the first place because the regulations and regulations have become stricter, and secondly because the critical optics of environmental organizations are focused on this activity. Finally, there is a very high number of wells abandoned at other times, which are not governed by any security measure, and which require re-abandonment tasks.
There are several legal systems in several countries that contemplate the term 'abandoned well' and agree that it is the one that is inactive and on which, for technical or financial reasons, no exploitation tasks will be carried out. The abandonment can be temporary or definitive, in the latter one must apply cement on the layer that produced oil, in order to seal it completely and definitively. The objective of this definitive plugging is to prevent the fluids from leaving the injection zone towards the underground sources of drinking water, avoid the movement of liquid from the surface towards the bottom of the well and towards the same sources and protect the natural resources in the area below the injection site of the well and its surroundings.
The planning of an abandonment is one of the most important cost elements for the oil companies, despite the dismantling of the platform or counterpocket, pipes, facilities, infrastructure, the destination of the removed parts should also be included, since they could be an important factor of economic recovery due to the expensive value of trees and heads that can be recovered and reused, transferred to another well, repaired and marketed or finally treated as scrap or disposed of as waste, in which case they should receive due treatment.
The main barriers for oil companies that want to face a serious well-clogging project, including those that stopped producing years ago and were left to their fate, are the high cost that this operation requires, planning difficulties (due to the aforementioned lack of documentation, in many cases) and the fact that many cities have grown around old sites, so there are now population centers built on some well abandoned in an insecure and precarious way.
Despite all this, the development of work to deal with this situation is observed. For example, Pemex carried out throughout 2009 a strong task of abandonment of wells in the northwest area, with the result of 132 abandoned and signposted disused facilities, located in the States of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Coahuila ,. Currently, technology, environmental safety, legal instruments and economic means are available through the contract 424042833 Cutting works of casing pipes, with application of inert barriers and cold welding in wells of the Integral Assets of the Region North, with the purpose is to provide greater security to the population, in addition to avoiding damage to the ecological environment and comply with current environmental regulations
Our comprehensive intervention allows the conditioning of the well, withdrawal and recovery of the Head and the T.R. as well as the installation of a monument of abandonment with descriptive plaque in unproductive wells with risks of fluid leakage that would cause a severe environmental contingency.
Corrosion and desquamation due to the high degree of weathering to which the surface control components are exposed, which decreases their useful life, operational capacity and safety conditions, so it is convenient to proceed with the recovery of the head and installation of the monument of abandonment.
It is appropriate that the wells in abandonment be permanently clogged and install the monument of abandonment, definitively being secured in the future avoiding possible leaks or spills that may affect the environment including the population centers that have settled in areas near those wells .
Head Recovery and Abandonment Monument Installation in Oil Well PROPESA , applies its experience and the necessary technology by conditioning the Counterpozo to explore and discover the casing (TR) and Head pipes with accessories, performing Cold cutting of concentric or simple pipes, with or without cement, of different diameters, grades, weights, and / or plugs for removal of the Joint
(TR and Head), followed by the application of an inert barrier anti-flame safety to perform the application of cold welding for the installation of the monument of abandonment with descriptive plate of the Well; To these works, the filling and leveling is adhered to the surface of the counter well, as well as the casting of a concrete slab and the installation of a metallic tubular perimeter fence for protection and insulation to the outside.
Visual inspection of the well site, counter well dimensions, conditions and characteristics of casing pipes, head and accessories.
Conditioning of the counter well, cleaning, and discovery of casing pipes as well as the head and accessories.
Cold cutting of the casing pipes, proceeding with the removal of the head and the accessories.
Anti-flame safety barrier application, low temperature (cold) welding application for the installation of the abandonment monument
Conditioning and filling of surface counterpools, concrete slab casting, installation of perimeter protection metal tubular fence.