KU TORP Hosts Shut-In Webinar With More Than 100 Participants Wednesday, August 5, 2020
August 5,2020
After a long hiatus, the University of Kansas TORP hosted a webinar to more than one hundred participants looking to learn about best practices for temporary oil well abandonment and reopening.
Over the years, KU TORP had witnessed its share of industry and organizational changes; however, their commitment to the regional oil and gas industry, as well as the industry at large, remains the same as when they were founded years ago. The most recent change has been the appointment of Dr. Reza Barati as TORP director whose vision includes expanding the original TORP principles to include improved outreach and technology transfer and internal and external services, including; core lab services and lab support, as well as technical and field services. Additionally, the TORP commitment to collaborative research will continue to be a guiding principle of the enhanced organization.
One of the first acts of today's TORP organization was to host the five-hour web event discussing best practices in shutting in well and reopening recently in partnership with PTTC. The event, which was primarily focused on the north mid-continent, focused on several key categories related to temporary well abandonment, including chemical considerations, reservoir and production, production case studies, Kansas regulations, and legal perspectives from Kansas and Oklahoma.
The day's events included:
- ChampionX (formerly NALCO CHAMPION), "Chemical Considerations to Ensure Reopen Production," delivered by Josh Waddell and Mahdi Kazempour. The discussion highlighted considerations when designing a shut-in program, including a checklist of potential risks including general corrosion, under deposit corrosion, microbiologically induced corrosion, and gas attack, to name a few. They highlighted treatment design and had a great discussion about how to enhance recovery during shut-in using production enhancement technologies designed to change the wettability from oil-wet to water-wet.
- DeGolyer & MacNaughton, "Reservoir and Production Engineering Considerations during Shut-In and Reopening," from Rafael Gallardo and Neha Bansal from DeGolyer & MacNaughton. In this presentation, participants heard about production considerations related to a temporary shut-in, including mechanical integrity and pressure testing, ongoing maintenance, well reactivation, and production enhancement after reactivation.
- Mark Linroth from Kinder Morgan, who talked about the evolution of shut-in observations, pressure, and rate rebalancing with a SACROC field-wide example.
- Jim Reisch and Daniel Hayes from Chesapeake Energy, who discussed their work in the Powder River Basin. In this presentation, Chesapeake sought to identify the short- and long-term impacts of shutting in wells.
- Ryan Hoffman from the Kansas Corporation Commission focused on regulations and considerations around temporary well abandonment. Hoffman specifically discussed the provisions of KAR 82-3-111, which states that after 90 days, the well must be plugged, or the operator must file an application for temporary abandonment status.
- Jon Schlatter from the Law Offices of Morris Liang, who highlighted the legal considerations around temporary abandonment in Kansas's state. Jon's presentation began with the advice to "read the agreement," noting that the rights of the lessor and lessee are governed by the terms of the lease first and foremost.
- Finally, Roberto Seda from SEDA Law discussed the legal considerations around abandonment in the state of Oklahoma, whose regulations and contracts are quite different from those in Kansas.