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 rests once productive pieces of Alberta's oil and gas landscape.

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.

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.

“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.