AOGCC changes Prudhoe well integrity order

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has made a change to the order it issued relating to the mechanical integrity of Prudhoe Bay wells. Following leakages from two wellheads resulting from permafrost subsidence, the commission ordered field operator BP to recover casing and tubing from at least two of the wells that have casing designs associated with the well failures, with further rig interventions needed on other wells identified through negotiations between BP and the commission.

The idea is to examine and test the tubing and casings, to better understand the impacts on the wells of the subsidence of surface casings, thus enabling more complete insights into how to prevent similar well failures in the future.

According to an AOGCC order issued on April 1, BP told the commission that it may not be technically feasible and may present unnecessary risk to fully recover the well tubing and casings, as required by the commission. Consequently, the AOGCC has modified its original order, to require the tubing and casing to be recovered, to the extent approved by AOGCC on a well-by-well basis.

- ALAN BAILEY