The Future of Wellbore Intercept Technology: Adhering to the Strictest Environmental and Economic Standards in Complex Well Abandonments

Abstract Objectives/Scope Modern environmental regulations require operators to address issues with problematic old wells before being permitted to drill new ones. Furthermore, in places such as California, USA, and other environmentally cautious countries, operators must also commit to greenhouse gas mitigation activities, such as carbon capture and storage, to secure and maintain permits for their conventional operations. Wellbore intercept and complex plug-and-abandonment techniques are often necessary to regain access to old wells that are inaccessible from the surface to seal depleted reservoirs and prepare them for CO2 storage. Methods, Procedures, Process Wellbore intercept techniques have seen a rise in use in recent times to unconventionally plug and abandon problematic wells through magnetic ranging, intercept, milling, and re-entry. The ranging and intercept segment of the drilling industry has gained significant experience in delivering reliable results. However, these operations can still be costly due to the traditional sequence of wellbore intercept activities: drilling a short interval, tripping the drilling Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) out of the hole, conducting open-hole wireline active ranging log, tripping the drilling BHA back into the hole, and repeating this cycle multiple times. Depending on the phase of the operation and the open-hole conditions, additional activities may be required, such as tripping a protective carrier pipe string for wireline operations and running wireline gyro surveys. These activities are time-consuming and significantly inflate the cost of well intercept operations. Rigorous environmental and economic requirements have driven the development of new technology that enables both active and passive ranging, as well as gyro surveying, while drilling, eliminating the need to trip the BHA and perform open-hole wireline logging. This new technology employs wired coiled tubing or wired drill pipe to deliver the high electrical energy needed to excite and detect the target well casing from distances of up to 100 meters without requiring surface access to the target wellhead. It also offers real-time communication options, using wireless mud pulse telemetry to transmit preprocessed ranging and gyro survey data to the surface. Results, Observations, Conclusions This approach has the potential to achieve up to an 80% reduction in wellbore intercept operating time and cost, making it more economical for the operators to address problematic wells sooner rather than later, and promoting greenhouse gas mitigation initiatives that help neutralize the negative environmental effects of conventional hydrocarbon field development. This paper will discuss advancements in ranging-while-drilling, using recent case histories from the U.S., Australia, and Europe. Novel/Additive Information Decades of experience, methodology, and technology development from conventional wellbore intercept operations for complex plug and abandonment have been seamlessly integrated into the new while-drilling ranging and intercept technology, resulting in significant time and cost reductions while maintaining the highest rate of success.