B025
Characterizing the Environmental Impacts of Active, Abandoned, and Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells, Locating Undocumented Orphan Wells, Prioritizing Plugging, and Advancing Well Reuse for Renewable Energy Applications
Session ID#: 251315
Session Description:
As part of the energy transition, abandoned and low-producing oil and gas wells need to be permanently plugged or repurposed for novel subsurface energy and storage operations. Federal legislation set aside more than $6 billion in recent years with additional funding from states, carbon credit markets, and non-government organizations. There is a pressing need to characterize potential environmental impacts of active and abandoned wells, locate undocumented legacy orphaned wells, and understand the factors that contribute to oil and gas well leakage. For this session, we invite submissions that focus on these issues including field studies (e.g., air quality monitoring, flux measurements, gas and water geochemical sampling, aerial surveys, mobile surveys, and geophysics), laboratory analyses, modeling studies, risk assessments, economic analysis, database analyses including using historical, commercial, or public databases and documents, and policy analysis. This session examines the vast problem of legacy oil and gas wells, and explores the solutions.
Co-Sponsor(s):
Index Terms:
0432 Contaminant and organic biogeochemistry [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0933 Remote sensing [EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS]
1831 Groundwater quality [HYDROLOGY]
1871 Surface water quality [HYDROLOGY]
Primary Convener: Margaret Coleman, Environmental Defense Fund, New York, United States
Conveners: Nicholas J. Gianoutsos, U.S. Geological Survey, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Denver, United States and Greg Lackey, National Energy Technology Laboratory Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, United States
Student/Early Career Convener: Sina Saneiyan, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, United States
Locating legacy oil and gas wells from drone-based magnetic surveys at Stonewall Jackson Lake, WV, and best practices (1861581)
Colton Kohnke, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Geologic & Environmental System, Pittsburgh, United States, Raghava Gorantla, Leidos, San Diego, CA, United States, James Sams, Leidos, Pittsburgh, United States and Richard w. Hammack, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Geologic and Environmental Systems, Pittsburgh, United States
An investigation of the temporal variability of hydrocarbon gas loss rates from orphan wells (1862389)
Natalie Pekney, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, United States, Anjum Shahina Karim, Villanova University, Department of Geography and the Environment, Villanova, United States, Raghava Gorantla, National Energy Technology Laboratory Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, United States and Matthew Reeder, Leidos, Pittsburgh, United States
Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions from Kentucky Oil and Gas Legacy Infrastructure (1878498)
Zachary Walton1, Alex Washburn2, Deron Zierer3, Madison High2, Andrew Hawksley1 and Thomas Parris2, (1)Kentucky Geological Survey Lexington, Lexington, KY, United States, (2)Kentucky Geological Survey Lexington, Lexington, United States, (3)Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States
Distribution of Hydrocarbon Gas Loss Rates from Orphaned Wells (1927839)
Anjum Karim1, Raghava Gorantla2, Matthew Reeder3 and Natalie Pekney3, (1)National Energy Technology Laboratory Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States, (2)National Energy Technology Laboratory Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, United States, (3)National Energy Technology Laboratory, Pittsburgh, United States
Estimating Long-Term Fractional Cover of Oil and Gas Well Pads in the Permian Basin Using Landsat Time Series (2000–2023) (1937657)
Haijun Li, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, Xiao-Peng Song, Univeristy of Maryland, College Park, United States and Yue Ma, University of Maryland, College PARK, MD, UNITED STATES
Methane Emissions from Orphan Wells: Insights from Subsurface and Well Characteristics in Louisiana (1955326)
Ipsita Gupta, Louisiana State University, Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, Baton Rouge, LA, United States, Otto Santos, Louisiana State University, Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, Baton, United States, Francis Driscoll, Louisiana State University, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Baton Rouge, United States, Mohamed Abdelaal, Louisiana State University, Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, Baton Rouge, United States, Kevin McCarter, Louisiana State University, Department of Experimental Statistics, Baton Rouge, United States and Jordi Garzona, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States
Occurrence of hydrogen sulfide in abandoned oil and gas wells across Canada (1959942)
Khalil El Hachem1, Lauren Bowman1, Louise Klotz1, Adam Fernandes1, Gloria Ding2, Olivier Gregoire3, Ralf M Staebler4, Christian von Sperber3 and Mary Kang1, (1)McGill University, Department of Civil Engineering, Montreal, QC, Canada, (2)McGill University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Montreal, QC, Canada, (3)McGill University, Department of Geography, Montreal, QC, Canada, (4)Environment and Climate Change Canada, Air Quality Research Division, Toronto, ON, Canada
Measuring Methane Emissions Legacy Infrastructure in Kentucky (1982868)
Andrew Hawksley1, Alex Washburn2, Deron Zierer3,4, Zachary O Walton2 and Madison High2, (1)Kentucky Geological Survey Lexington, Lexington, KY, United States, (2)Kentucky Geological Survey Lexington, Lexington, United States, (3)University of Kentucky, Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington, United States, (4)Kentucky Geological Survey, Lexington, United States
Machine learning approaches to identify orphaned wells using aerial imagery (1983916)
Anastasiia Kim1, Teeratorn Kadeethum2, Paul Kim3, Mohamed Mehana3, Christine Downs2, Hari Selvi Viswanathan3 and Daniel O'Malley3, (1)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Computing and AI Division, Los Alamos, United States, (2)Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, United States, (3)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos, United States
Legacy Well Identification and Energy Infrastructure Planning Using a Geospatial and Data-Driven Approach (1999278)
Catherine Schooley1, Isabelle Rose Pfander1, Stellamaris Nakacwa2, Daniel Tetteh1, Jay Oliver2, Jacob Shay1, Karla Hoover1 and Jennifer Bauer1, (1)National Energy Technology Laboratory, Albany, United States, (2)National Energy Technology Laboratory Morgantown, Morgantown, United States
