Lean Rig-Less and Explosiveness Abandoning in Morocco

A 5-well rig-less & explosiveness abandonment campaign by 2 project partners operator and service provider was made a reality in Morocco whereby a novel method of cementing squeeze of perforations and an annular fill-up were established in one single operation. This is called LEAN abandonment and the method was masterminded as a result of intense collaboration between both partners. The method is scale-able and has full merit to target existing legacy wells for abandonment in Morocco and world-wide where appropriate. In this LEAN approach the tubing and annulus were communicating via SSD / non-explosive created tubing punch by holding backpressure on the annulus till perforations squeezed or pressure lock-up and subsequently immediately opening the annulus and releasing the annular pressure whilst continuing pumping and filling the annulus with some 800 m of cement creating the firm additional barrier. Clinical planning by operator and service provider on a establishing a new abandonment process that is opening-up further in-country and beyond opportunities was the critical success factors in this work. It led to organic improvement on a well by well basis in the campaign, it resulted in safe and successful operations and achieving abandonment objectives cementing to surface in tubing and annulus. LEAN Abandonment forms a paradigm shift. It may be different in different down-hole settings and there is no single solution however like in our case working a bottoms-up approach has resulted the lowest cost solution and having done so ways to improve overall safety and efficiency were identified. The use of non-explosive technology is a very good example.