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CLIMIT-Program for CO2-håndtering

RePlugReady: CO2-ready well and plugging cement as a preferred choice for most oil and gas reservoirs to enable early full scale CO2 storage

Alternative title: RePlugReady: CO2-klare brønn og pluggesementer som et førstevalg for de fleste reservoarer for å stimulere tidlig fullskala CO2-lagring

Awarded: NOK 5.5 mill.

Project Number:

281831

Project Period:

2018 - 2020

Organisation:

Location:

Partner countries:

The petroleum- and cement industry is under strong pressure to reduce their climate-damaging footprint. At the same time the petroleum industry is interested in better well cement to ensure safe well operations during exploration, production and abandonment of petroleum fields. The goal of the project RePlugReady is to further develop a new cement additive material that can be used for cementing: and Plugging and Abandonment of CO2 wells. This is particularly important for the wells that are crossing formations that have potential for CO2-storage. Our cement additive material with the name RePlug(R) will increase the lifespan of a cement plug that is exposed to CO2 and therefore will reduce the potential for leakage of CO2 to the atmosphere. RePlug can also be used in construction industries for concrete. ReStone has in this project (and in the RePlug project) developed a patent pending high-quality well-cement with name RePlug (R). By using RePlug (R) instead of the cement clinker mostly used today the CO2 footprint is reduced with 1:1. RePlug (R) reduces the CO2-footprint for oil-well cement products by at least 20% and will, if implemented in all clinker cements, reduce global anthropogenic CO2-emissions by 1% or 1/2 Gigatonnes. The mineral product RePlug (R) is a waste product from existing minerals production. By using this in the concrete industry the waste product is to become a high end product. ReStones strategy and value creation to the petroleum industry is to deliver a better cement product with better climate footprint to a correct price. Well Barrier Acceptance Criteria (WBAC), as applied by regulators world-wide, are met by RePlug (R). RePlug (R) is a self-healing and patent pending cement mixture that improves petroleum well completion performance compared to ordinary well cement products. RePlug (R) is designed to use the same infrastructure, methods and procedures as exists for well cements today, reducing risks for the operators. RePlug (R) is a patent pending new future-proof and environmentally friendly cement additive. By using a binder as a platform, RePlug(R) will have the shortest way to market as we are building on knowledge accumulated over 200 years world wide. RePlug(R) uses the leading binder, the Portland G Cement-system as a platform due to NORSOK D010 and API 10B regulations for improved well management and P&A. The more RePlug (R) is weathered, the tougher it gets. RePlug(R) has the following properties: Self healing and CO2-resistant. It can be designed to deform by ductile crushing, not brittle failure. It reacts to formation water by reduced porosity and permeability Porosity is reduced by extended curing periods 20-80% lower CO2 footprint than ordinary Portland G Slight expansion (not shrinkage) on setting Tests suggest better bonding to steel and formation RePlug(R) is PLONOR eligible RePlug(R) is pumpable and can be designed to have the same rheologies as ordinary well cements. The project was managed by ReStone, which owns the RePlug (R) technology. SINTEF Industry AS, Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh UK and University of Maryland, USA, are research partners and suppliers. These are all professional and world-leading institutes that secure effective and experienced execution of scientific research. The work was separated in six work packages (H1-H6). ReStone led the H1 administration, which also included workshops and meeting activity between the partners. SINTEF performed rheological characterization of RePlug slurry (H2), unconfined compressive strength tests of RePlug samples (H3), long-term aging in carbonated brine of RePlug samples under static conditions (H4), cement plug tests of RePlug samples in a setup developed at SINTEF (H5) and logging behind casing tests of RePlug samples in a setup developed at SINTEF (H5). Heriot Watt University investigated in-situ electrical measurements for early cementing using RePlug in blends up to 90degC. They have developed a test for the binding forces between cement and steel tubing, and a test for sandstone. The test is patent pending. The University of Maryland is testing RePlug (R) to understand the deformation mechanisms for RePlug (R) (H6). The industrial research performed in this project has shown that RePlug(R) does not only have the properties postulated in our hypotheses but the project work has indicated even better performance, particularly for CO2-resistance and self healing. The petroleum industry has signalised that they want to make use of this low-CO2-product not only in CCS wells but also in ordinary well operations, making the NCS CCS-ready for the future. ReStone has published their work at conferences, as three patents and two publications. ReStone received Fredrikke Qvam award 2020 for being the female innovator of the year.

RePlug will ensure safe and economically sustainable operations of wells, including CCS and can be used in the whole life cycle of the well. ReStone has protected their cement technology RePlug (R) by three patents. Britcol Ltd invested in ReStone as in late 2019, and ReStone is receiving attention from other investors that want to contribute. RePlug (R) has gained market recognition from operators, service companies and authorities, including Petroleumstilsynet. ReStone has for some time had a cooperation with a leading petroleum service company that has over 30 % of the world market. They are preparing commercial blends for testing and trial of our product for cementing of wells in three oil-and gas operators who want to use our cement product RePlug (R). DEMO (Gassnova) is relevant to consider when developing our cement RePlug (R) for the general construction market. We see that it may be necessary to do some further testing before entering this market segment.

RePlugReady is the next step of the development of the patent pending well cement product RePlug. ReStone AS is developing a cement product that will improve the outcome of well cementing where the wells may in the future encounter CO2 weathering in the next 10 000 years, as required by EU legislation. If the NCS become a hot-spot for CCS this may mean most of the wells that must be plugged. We are expanding the possibilities for use of our material to other well operations that need resilient, expandable, earthquake-proof wells and plugs. ReStone is working with SINTEF, Heriot Watt University and University of Maryland to ensure the efficient and experienced execution of tests and qualifications. If successful, ReStones products may introduce a new way to introduce a CO2-proof and -ready well cement that may be a standard product used in Petroleum well operations. ReStone is taking the product a step further in order to be ready for a DEMO project and be able to test the material on the macro scale in full scale operations. By getting our product to market, it will be used both in CCS operations but also in other well cementing operations and therefore paving the way for the Early full-scale CCS value chain in Europe and the Large-scale storage of CO2 on the Norwegian shelf in the North Sea, themes A and B of the Climit Strategy from 2017-2022. RePlugReady is the middle project in a series of three. The next will be our macro scale DEMO with GassNova ASA, called "RePlugGo!"

Funding scheme:

CLIMIT-Program for CO2-håndtering