Today, we released a new edition of Directive 020: Well Abandonment. We have amended the requirements for cased-hole well abandonment for routine commingled abandonment, layered cement plugs for remedial cementing, and retrievable plugs or packers. These changes were reflected in the draft directive released on August 8, 2024, and on which public feedback was received (see Bulletin 2024-21). A summary of the feedback we received and our responses is available on the Directive 020 webpage.
We made the following changes to section 5 of the directive:
- Retrievable plugs or packers may remain in place during non-level-A abandonments when zonal abandonment requirements are met (section 5.4.5.2).
- A “Layered Cement Plug Variance Submission” template is required when cement squeezing multiple intervals at the same time using layered cement plugs for remedial cementing (section 5.2.3).
- Licensees must review offset well operational activities (for wells with publicly available information) in the routinely approved subsurface geological strata within a 1.6 km radius of the subject well (section 5.6.2).
- Reorganized section 5 and grouped the requirements for routine commingled abandonment into a new section (section 5.6).
- Added content on commingling regions to section 5.6, including information on new qualified pools for commingled abandonment in central Alberta and a map of a new routine commingled abandonment region. This information was previously on our website.
The revised edition of Directive 020 is available on our website at www.aer.ca. If you have any questions, contact our Customer Contact Centre by phone at 1-855-297-8311 or by email at inquiries@aer.ca.
