Life Cycle Assessment of Deployment of Liner Hanger vs Long String
Authors: Minhas Naeem , Davis Alexis , Sharrofna Hussain , Kalaimani Sathish , Khan Parvez , Abdelrahim Faisal , Robinson Lee 
Published: March 2023

Tackling the global warming challenge by limiting it below 2°C requires serious efforts in reducing the carbon footprint. Oil & Gas industry is one of the major sources of GHG emissions, upstream operations included. There is a major shift in focus to incentivize decarbonization and reduce carbon emissions. Emissions management starts with quantifying the sources of emissions in granularity. This needs quantification and assessment of energy requirements of all the associated activities, from raw materials to manufacturing, transportation, deployment as well as decommissioning and all the intermittent steps in between – a detailed life-cycle assessment. Only then, one can find the opportunities and make informed decisions to reduce overall emissions. In this paper, we describe a method to understand the net environmental impact of deploying Liner-Hanger vs Long Casing String by carrying out life-cycle assessment of both systems across their full value chain, including how and where to make improvements based on carbon assessment specific to greenhouse gas (GHG) Scopes 1 & 2 using ISO standards 14044,14040 and 14067.

Fulfilment of the net zero commitment by several industrial service companies as well as various customers require identifying sources of the green-house gas emissions as a first step before mitigation and emissions reduction strategies are made and executed. Identification of areas with highest potential for improvement helps in maximising the Return on Investment (ROI) from carbon emissions investment standpoint to make informed decisions.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools are used to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions for both the casing deployed with a liner hanger (liner) and long string or casing to surface. Carbon emissions are quantified at every step of the process from raw material, manufacturing, wastage, transportation, assembly to the final stage of deployment in the oil or gas well. All the emissions associated with each step of the process are analysed to find potential areas of improvements from the manufacturing scale to selecting an optimum method for well construction. Effects of localized manufacturing on the carbon footprint is also quantified by making direct comparison between carbon cost of manufacturing in various locations worldwide.

Detailed Life Cycle Assessment of the two different methods of well construction can help in making informed decisions to select the right method to optimize the process for cost, carbon footprint and safety. It also helps making informed investment decisions on manufacturing plans with the focus on sustainability, efficiency, and cost. Finding the areas with highest potential of carbon footprint reduction makes it easier to target efforts where ROI can be potentially maximized.

Detailed carbon footprint calculations of both liner hangers and long string deployment along with manufacturing methods have not been carried out before. It will help operators and decision makers with making informed choices.