Orphan Well Association says drilling rig “best and safest option” to decommission leaking Trican well
A visual representation of how big the drilling rig is, and how it will sit during the remediation. Image: OWA.
Preparation work for the demolishing of two houses, plus a duplex, could begin as soon as this week, in anticipation of creating enough room for the summertime move of a drilling rig to remediate an abandoned well leaking methane.
Dozens of residents listened to Orphan Well Association (OWA) brass, joined by members of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), at their Open House on Thursday evening, hosted at the Bonnyville Seniors Centre.
Lars De Pauw, president of the OWA, gave some more detail on how the decommissioning of the residential well between 45th and 46th Avenue in Bonnyville will go.
Before they can get the drilling rig to the Trican well, they need to demolish the three properties, which they purchased over recent months, forcing the move of multiple individuals.
The precise dates of when the drilling rig will be moved into town is not known, but the prime contractor, Vertex, has been selected. It’s roughly estimated it will happen sometime in July or August, depending on the rig’s schedule.
An abandoned well just north of Town will be done first, giving roughly a week’s lead time before the move of equipment into Bonnyville.
De Pauw admits that the option of using a drilling rig is more expensive and requires more manpower than a service rig, for example, but in the interests of safety, and wanting this to be a one-time solution, said this is the path they’ve agreed upon.
“We’ve looked at all the technical options, and this is the best and safest option,” said De Pauw, during the presentation, when asked why they went with this option.
“It’s a lot more money too. Trust me, if it was easier and cheaper, we would have done it.”
When asked exactly what those costs were, they wouldn’t say.
However, the price tag does not come as a taxpayer expense, as the Orphan Well Association is a non-profit organization, funded primarily by oil and gas companies, and works as the backstop after bankrupt companies leave behind abandoned wells.
In this case, the well was drilled in 1954 by Trican Petro-Chemical Corporation. It never produced, as was remediated to the standard of the day, seven days after drilling, said De Pauw.
However, he cited experience with a similar residential well in Vermilion back in 2020.
“This project itself is obviously a little bit more complicated because of where the well is located, but the project itself from the well side is not as complicated as it may seem,” De Pauw said.
BACKGROUND: Abandoned well leaking methane in Bonnyville could require knocking down homes to decommission
Disruption
What residents close to the site will obviously notice is the noise.
The rig will run 24 hours a day for 2-3 days, which is their estimated time of completion. An average of 70 decibels in the immediate area at peak times is what’s estimated, with mufflers installed to try and mitigate sound impacts.
There will also be traffic constraints and light minimized on-site.
The rig itself will require 20 truckloads to haul in, along with other related equipment.
Traffic control pilots will be necessary to safely get the rig to the spot, travelling south initially from 46 Street from the previous wellsite. It will connect east to 54th Avenue, down 43 Street, connecting to the Main Street heading west, and then south again on 46th Street to the Trican well location.
Rig matting will be used to support the infrastructure, but also protect the road, sideway, and ground underneath.
Once the well has been safely decommissioned, the OWA still needs to monitor the area surrounding the well to ensure the repair worked and removed methane from the soil.
What will happen with that land afterward? That will be discussed later on.
The well will be cut and capped two metres below grade, with the landscaping and ownership to be determined in consultation with community stakeholders.
“I can tell you, a year after, no one is going to remember the three days or four days of noise. What my concern would be is exactly like my friend here has asked, what kind of cement are you going to use? Because the last thing we want to do is go through the 3 or 4 or 5 days or whatever of noise, we put that behind us, but a few years down the road, the well starts to leak again,” a resident asked during the presentation.
“If we can just go through those few days of noise — I’ll be fine.”
De Pauw responded, “That’s part of the reason that we’re bringing in the rig, as opposed to bringing in something smaller. We want this to be done right.”
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