SPE Austin Section September Luncheon

The lecture examines how zone permeability, fluid content, formation pressure—including reservoir recharge prediction—and caprock integrity inform subsurface isolation requirements and abandonment barrier placement. It addresses technical and operational challenges of well abandonment, including defining key isolation parameters when data is limited, what happens when an abandonment plan proves unworkable in practice, and cost implications and optimization opportunities. Case studies demonstrate collaboration between subsurface specialists, well engineers, and operators to develop a robust subsurface basis of design for abandonment. The presentation covers effective decision-making, risk-mitigation strategies, the benefits of engaging a subsurface team throughout the project, and a data-driven, risk-based approach to well decommissioning.

Examines how casing design has evolved from early load-case frameworks and why traditional tubular stress analysis can fall short in complex wells. Topics include HPHT wells, extended-reach drilling, multistage-fractured unconventionals, subsea wells with sealed annuli and trapped-annular risk, CO₂ injection for carbon capture and storage, and super-hot geothermal wells. The presentation addresses how incomplete or oversimplified pressure, temperature, and load descriptions contribute to tubular failures; the role of rigorous load cases in consistent design; and engineering judgment, model selection, and improved load modeling across well lifecycles.

The workshop focuses on practical well integrity solutions across barrier design, remediation, qualification, and lifecycle risk management, emphasizing applications, new technologies, and process methodologies. Field lessons, technical perspectives, and interactive discussion connect engineering principles with real-world deployment challenges. Session topics include cement as a barrier, including establishing cement barriers in a complex onshore U.S. exploration well with a narrow pore-pressure/fracture-gradient window, cementing best practices, and wellbore cementing. Another session covers production-casing integrity risk management, detecting fluid- and cement-driven casing defects through the production life cycle, and artificial-lift decisions under wellbore constraints. An interactive case study has teams solve well integrity challenges and exchange lessons learned and best practices. Further topics include barrier qualification and P&A operations; rigless well integrity remediation; surveillance technology; integrated monitoring for CCS well integrity; corrosion and materials challenges in CCUS Class VI wells; thermal heavy-oil well design; quantitative risk analysis; DHSV strategies in subsea wells; FEP risk assessment using individual barrier evaluation; alternative barrier materials for conventional Australian well abandonments; Permian well integrity solutions; and sealants for flow through narrow pathways.

Co-hosted by SPE FMTS and TÜV SÜD NEL, this technical forum focuses on defensible, traceable flow measurement for production, allocation, custody transfer, emissions reporting, regulatory compliance, commercial settlement, and emerging-energy applications. The program is being developed around six technical sessions, with moderated discussion and posters; final session groupings are to be set after abstracts are reviewed. Topics include field measurement challenges across changing operating conditions and brownfield or offshore installations; meter design, manufacturing controls, technology selection, and quality assurance; calibration, qualification, laboratory-to-field transferability, and uncertainty; deployment, diagnostics, data quality, and continuous assurance; single-phase measurement, custody transfer, and allocation; CCUS, hydrogen, methane, and emerging-energy measurement; and validation, governance, and decision-grade evidence. Specific issues include meter performance limits, sensor and meter-body design, traceability, reference quality, commissioning and configuration control, anomaly detection, fiscal measurement assurance, emissions evidence, uncertainty propagation, and criteria for recalibrating, repairing, or replacing meters.

The presentation examines how bottomhole assembly (BHA) design can change gas fraction, solids concentration, and pressure and velocity conditions at the pump intake—conditions that surface adjustments such as pumping speed, stroke length, and pump-off controls cannot change. It analyzes a six-year dataset of Bakken rod-pump wells, treating the BHA as a single hydraulic system rather than evaluating components individually. The comparison covers a conventional arrangement, where the tubing anchor restricts flow through the remaining casing annulus, and a flow-through arrangement that routes flow past the anchor using ported subs. The described design provides parallel internal and external flow paths for gas and liquid, with a higher-velocity solids section below the degassing section. For the evaluated configuration in 7-inch casing, the effective open area is 18.45 square inches, compared with 5.41 square inches for a conventional full-bore anchor; the source reports approximately 70% lower local superficial velocity. A six-year paired evaluation of more than 1,200 Williston rod-pumped wells found median fluid and gas increases of 17.5% and 23.3% among wells adopting the geometry, compared with same-configuration controls. The presentation also addresses where the response is most consistent—below approximately 300 BFPD—and the economics of making the change during a scheduled workover.

The technical program covers pipeline integrity management, in-line inspection (ILI), engineering assessments, geohazards, crack and dent assessment, seam-weld threats, repairs, and hydrogen transportation. Plenary topics include operator guidelines and specifications, technical knowledge management, assessing existing pipelines for hydrogen service, selective seam-weld corrosion, and PHMSA MAOP reconfirmation requirements. Parallel technical tracks address landslide monitoring and pipeline strain; crack characterization and management; ILI applications, analysis, and verification; hard spots; dent assessment; engineering assessment; hydrogen transportation; integrity management; difficult-to-inspect pipelines; materials verification; and repair technologies. Presentations include work on ILI run comparisons, risk-informed assessment choices under the PHMSA Gas Mega Rule, dent engineering critical assessment, non-intrusive pipeline assessment, material testing, and repair qualification. A panel addresses PHMSA repair criteria for hazardous-liquid and gas-transmission pipelines.

The biennial symposium focuses on proven and emerging technologies for oil and natural gas development and production. Technical papers address commercially viable solutions to drilling, completion, and production engineering challenges. The 2027 theme, “Fueling the Future,” examines the industry’s role in providing low-cost, reliable energy as energy sources diversify. The program also includes events supporting a lower-carbon future, with goals of improving well and program economics, extending commercial success, and addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations.

URTeC and the Offshore Technology Conference will be co-located while retaining distinct technical focuses. URTeC centers on unconventional resource development, with shared industry priorities that include capital efficiency, digital transformation, emissions reduction, and operational performance. Technical themes include operator case studies integrating geology, geophysics, geomechanics, completions, and reservoir engineering across exploration, appraisal, pilot testing, and development; advanced formation evaluation using well logs, core and fluid characterization, digital rock technologies, and petrophysical interpretation; geological and geophysical methods for prospectivity, acreage assessment, seismic imaging, reservoir characterization, and produced-water management; and geomechanics in well design, hydraulic fracturing, production, and refracturing. Other themes address geochemistry and fluid-rock interactions, including applications to geothermal energy and critical minerals; AI and data science for subsurface characterization, reserves estimation, drilling, completions, and production forecasting; enhanced recovery and restimulation, including gas and CO₂ injection, chemical agents, simulation, and field surveillance; and reserves estimation and production forecasting. Clean-energy topics include methane monitoring and mitigation, electrification, flaring reduction, geothermal development, infrastructure repurposing, helium and hydrogen, critical-mineral extraction, and produced-water treatment, reuse, and mineral recovery. Well-level interventions include remediation, sidetracks, artificial lift, diagnostics, and intervention economics.

The program’s technical sessions cover environmental issues, geotechnical engineering, mineral processing, mining, Mexico-focused projects, geology, and new projects. Topics include Arizona’s WOTUS status; machine-learning-based representative sample selection; open-pit slope stabilization; alkaline-flush treatment of metals-impacted water; numerical mine modeling, geotechnical monitoring, and tailings-storage-facility stability; flotation technologies, ADR processes, and SAG mill sizing; mine-permitting timelines, pump failures, electrical maintenance, water treatment, and autonomous operations; and mineral resources, drilling confidence, tailings water balances, and mine-project development. Featured presentations address Resolution Copper’s next chapter and large-load electrical growth in Arizona. New-project updates cover the Santa Cruz Ivanhoe Mine, Florence Copper, Faraday Copper’s Redhawk Complex, and Hudbay CopperWorld. The program also includes a student poster session and a student pitch session. Pre-conference programming includes a course on proposed NI 43-101 disclosure changes and a Women in Mining workshop on boundary-setting skills.