Advanced Bismuth Alloy Development for Downhole Casting & Plugging of Oil Wells

Completed

Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Oil and gas conversion)

Applied Research and Development

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Rawwater Engineering Company Limited

Collaborative R&D

Innovate UK

01 February 2018

31 July 2019

18 months

£297,534

North West

Competition Call: 1611_MM_R2_24M - Materials & Manufacturing Round 2 13-24 Months. Activity Materials & Manufacturing R2 - 13-24 Month Projects

Project Contact, Rawwater Engineering Company Limited

Project Contact, ASTRIMAR LTD

This project addresses the need for high integrity offshore oil and gas well abandonment plugs, required for the North Sea in the upcoming wave of platform removals (decommissioning). Currently, wells are abandoned through plugging the well bore with two columns of cement up to 160 meters in length. The industry has concerns over the cost and long term seal integrity of cement plugs and has been seeking an alternative solution for years. This project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a cost effective, high reliability plugging technology for oil & gas well applications. The project aims to develop a new bismuth based metal alloy to use as a plug, leveraging the unique property of bismuth (expansion upon freezing) to deliver high integrity seals. The project also aims to demonstrate a method of casting the molten alloy down hole to deliver a cost effective deployment method. The use of metal alloy plugs for well abandonment has already been demonstrated in shallow onshore wells in Canada. This project aims to develop superior performance alloys and deployment methods to demonstrate that metal alloy plugs are feasible as a solution for the more demanding, deeper offshore wells in the North Sea and elsewhere in the world.

19/05/20