A Technology Roadmap to Improve Wellbore Integrity

Canada is one of the world’s largest oil and gas producers. With the exception of mined oil sands deposits, wells are used to access and produce crude oil and natural gas. Nearly 600,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in Canada since the beginning of our oil and gas industry. Wellbore leakage, mostly of methane, is a pressing environmental and economic issue because it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and is costly to fix.

In order improve the environmental and economic performance of this important industry, CanmetENERGY-Ottawa and Canada’s Wellbore Integrity and Abandonment Society (WIAS) jointly led the development of a Technology Roadmap to Improve Wellbore Integrity (TRM).  Since the TRM would address all phases of a well’s life – from design and construction, through to abandonment – the subject of wellbore integrity was broken into six subjects. Reports were procured for each from a cross-section of experts from industry, academia, and consultants. The reports were presented at an open workshop in Calgary which was attended by over 100 participants. Based on expert reviews and workshop feedback, the reports were finalized. The highlights of the individual reports were summarized into the Technology Roadmap to Improve Wellbore Integrity.

Funding for the technology roadmap exercise was provided by Natural Resources Canada.

Download theTechnology Roadmap to Improve Wellbore Integrity (PDF, 3MB)