Researchers explore new materials to cap inactive, leaking oil and gas wells

You don't have to go far to see them. At the end of overgrown service roads rest once productive pieces of Alberta's oil and gas landscape.


Innotech Alberta researchers Fred Wassmuth (left) and Gerry Boyer (right) explore the use of new materials to repair and cap leaky oil and gas wells.© Sarah Offin, Global News

Sarah Offin, Global News

While they may seem innocuous, inactive oil and gas wells can still be a significant source of methane emissions.

According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, over 170,000 wells across the province are currently either inactive or abandoned.

More than 130,000 wells have already been decommissioned and reclaimed. But the process for doing so isn't always perfect.

Read more:
Budget officer finds $1B oil and gas orphan well liability by 2025; critics claim underestimate

"In the past, we've used cement products. And cement products have their issues. They can crack and become porous over time and they can leak," said Fred Wassmuth, a researcher with InnoTech Alberta.

But inside the Calgary laboratory, Wassmuth and his team are trying out alternatives.

"We've come up with approximately 50 different products that have been recommended at one time or another for shutting off wells or fixing leaks in leaky wellbores," said Wassmuth.

The inventory includes a variety of resins, geopolymers and other materials - tested for things like strength, endurance and shrinkage - to see how they stand up to the highly corrosive environment standard in Alberta wellbores.

"This isn't going to happen with one testing protocol. It's going to be a package of work that goes on and on until we have a menu of appropriate products that are proven and well-defined with where they should be applied in the wellbore," said engineer and project partner Gerry Boyer.

If successful, cement alternatives could be used for thousands of remediations in Alberta every year - with the potential to save the province billions of dollars in interventions for leaking wells.

What's more, the new materials have the potential to reign in fugitive emissions by hundreds of thousands of tonnes every year.

Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips, Crescent Point Energy, the City of Medicine Hat, West Lake Energy

 Corp., Alberta Innovates (AI), Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC), Net Zero Technology

 Center (NZTC), and Frontier Solutions are among those collaborating on the project.

If successful, the technology could also be applied elsewhere.

"This isn't only a local problem. It's an international problem. We can potentially sell our services and techniques nationally and internationally," said Wassmuth.

There's hope the first products will be ready for market sometime next year.