AS US Gulf of Mexico operators struggle with increasingly onerous decommissioning obligations, other companies are finding innovative solutions to delay or chip away at the expense, writes Luke Johnson.
One such company is Houston-based Glori Energy, an enhanced recovery biotechnology specialist that reckons it can help operators defer abandonments of ageing wells by between five and eight years.
Glori’s proprietary technology, known as Aero, involves injecting a solution of micro-organisms into waterflooded reservoirs, stimulating naturally occurring microbes to free up substantial volumes of “trapped” oil so that it flows to the surface.
