A “Dragons’ Den” panel of oil and gas experts has narrowed down the finalists pitching innovative ideas for well plugging and adandonment.
Well plugging and abandonment (P&A) is one of the major decommissioning headaches for the North Sea industry due to its high cost, at around £5million a time.
But four ideas to help transform the process are now heading for a final showdown, with up to £1million in funding up for grabs.
The 12 finalists and their ideas, from across commercial, academic and independent fields, were whittled down from an initial 48 submissions to the Aberdeen based Oil and Gas Technology Centre.
The judging panel comprised members of the centre, including Chevron, Lloyd’s Register, Nexen and Total, as well as representatives for Decom North Sea and trade body Oil and Gas UK.
The key themes in the finalists’ pitches included biogrout, metal alloy sealing technology, multi-wellbore integrity inspection system and a multi-scale approach to modelling the probability of hydrocarbon flow to surface.
The final investment decision will be made by the centre’s board in December.
The next ‘call for ideas’ launches late November and will cover well systems, seabed pressure isolation and new ways to stimulate well flow.
Malcolm Banks, well construction solution centre manager, said: “The technology ideas could have a transformational impact on the industry and we look forward to the Board’s decision later this year.
“The response to the P&A Call for Ideas exceeded all our expectations, and we hope to see the same enthusiasm when our next Call opens in November.”
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