Developing a synergistic partnership with Federal Regulators to Manage the Challenges of Orphaned Wells

Introduction: This poster outlines the challenges and potential solutions for the U.S Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in managing orphaned wells in the Federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including presenting the stakeholders involved and the context of orphaned wells arising due to bankruptcies.

Problem: The emergence of orphaned wells creates a complex socioeconomic situation fo r BSEE. This shift required BSEE, in short order, to engage industry and acquire services of uniquely skilled and highly trained personnel and form business partnerships with versatile and capable firms to perform the following:

• Establish new processes to manage an across the Gulf of Mexico campaign to plug and abandon (P&A) wells.
• Navigate stringent auditable reporting requirements like those required by IOC’s and multinational corporations.
• Utilize new processes for government database applications, and adapt legacy systems not designed for well operations.
• Assure safety & environmental stewardship for assets with limited legacy data available.

Utilize industry experience to forecast and develop work scopes, cost estimates, and scheduled for funding sourcing and allocation.

Process and Tools: The solution required a combination of commercially available tools typically used in the drilling market, available on an as-needed basis, and modified to address the specific need s of this government orphaned wells project.  These tools prioritize auditability while acknowledging the distinct requirement of this project compared to the traditional US Land market.

The solution emphasizes an open-architecture approach, ensuring data compatibility and integration across different tools.

SLB WellBarrier – Engineering:

Simplify risk and engineering plan for consistent communication to non-technical stakeholders.

Document and visually track the actual exécution of these plans, enhancing trasparency and accountability.

SLB IDS: Reporting & Analytics:

Comprensive activity and cost tracking across various wells, campaigns and vessel vendors.

Robust change management process for auditability, catering to several types of Management of Change.

WellDrive: Document Control

An efficient platform for managing well files crucial to all stakeholders.

Conclusion:  Endeavor, through an NTG/SLB/WellDrive workflow, has delivered a long-term system solution on a SaaS basis that will work for multiple campaigns and wells effectively addressing the challenges associated with managing orphaned wells.

This solution leverages existing technology and expertise, promoting cost-efficiency and expedited execution of crucial environmental protection measures.

Weekly Surveillance Report
MI657 Well D003

Engineering Plan
MI657 Well D003