Abstract The regulation of well abandonment activities presents challenges for oil operating companies seeking to reduce risk, costs, and CO2 emissions in decommissioning portfolio. Abandoning wells through the production string is restricted by completions with control lines, significant mechanical restrictions, high deviated wells, and pumping with flow limitations. The project being developed by Petrobras and Archer do Brasil aims to create a technology capable of ablating control lines and performing cleaning and pumping in wells currently viable only through conventional abandonment. The development started with a small-scale proof of concept, followed by validation of each component, SIT of the final BHA, and field testing in a representative well. Numerical studies in CFD, the selection of the concept based on risk assessment, physical testing, and system integration will be presented. The results demonstrated technical feasibility for the destruction of control lines without damage to the production casing using shaped charges. For the cleaning and displacement of cement, a technology of expandable cups was developed, capable of passing through restrictions and ensuring isolation throughout the entire interval of the permanent barrier. This work presents a technical alternative that is not yet known for well abandonment techniques that are currently technically unfeasible, which require the full removal of the production string as a conventional method significantly reducing the ESG, risk and duration of well abandonment campaigns.
Gama et al. (Tue,) studied this question.