A.G. Lebed’ko, G.I. Lebed’ko

 

Commercial potential of plugged and abandoned wells from unallocated fund of subsurface mineral resources in Southern Russia

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DOI 10.31087/0016-7894-2018-5-95-103

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There are several thousands of wells previously drilled for hydrocarbons all over the southern territorial entities of Russian Federation. Many of them are environmentally hazardous objects. First of all, this concerns the wells drilled in 1950–1960-s. Methods of wells abandonment and suspension were imperfect that years, which caused destruction of cement lining, pipes, and wellhead equipment corrosion, and resulted in considerable damage to ecosystems. Account must be taken of the fact that monitoring of the plugged and abandoned wells from unallocated fund of subsurface mineral resources is insufficient. Possibilities to rework some of these wells that can be involved in the development of remaining resources according to geological and economic indicators are also not evaluated. The chances to develop the plugged wells within the southern Russia are discussed in the paper. It is noted that the majority of ex-operated wells (more than 4000) are situated in unallocated fund of subsurface mineral resources of the Krasnodar Territory. The Indol-Kuban Trough area is the most promising in this context as the deep thrusted Akhtyrsky zone recommended for the further development is situated there. Analysis of License Agreements indicated reduction of existing incenses number (especially NP and NR licenses). At the same time, an interest of subsoil users in the southern region still remains. In this regard, arrangements should by focused on preparing a special national program for involvement of wells from unallocated fund of subsurface mineral resources into commerce.

 

Key words: plugged wells; unallocated fund of subsurface mineral resources; Maikopsky series; shale reservoirs; fracture traps.

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For citation: Lebed’ko A.G., Lebed’ko G.I. Commercial potential of plugged and abandoned wells from unallocated fund of subsurface mineral resources in Southern Russia. Geologiya nefti i gaza. 2018;(5):95–103. DOI: 10.31087/0016-7894-2018-5-95-103.

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A.G. Lebed’ko

Institute of Earth sciences of the Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia;

tiger71@mail.ru

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G.I. Lebed’ko   Scopus

Institute of Earth sciences of the Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia;

tiger71@mail.ru