Mitigating emissions from methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a critical task of fossil fuel alternatives in energy generation as well as in other sectors with large environmental impacts such as agriculture. Agricultural methane emissions have not been given sufficient attention in social science approaches to the human dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions. Given the importance of methane emissions, the need for renewable energy development, and the relationship between hydropower and agricultural systems, we ask: Does hydroelectricity development influence agricultural methane emissions? If so, under what socioeconomic conditions? Using the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and FAO data, we present fixed-effects models with robust standard errors to predict agricultural methane emissions from 1975-2015. Our results show that in low middle income nations and across all nations, increased hydroelectricity generation was associated with increased agricultural methane emissions during this period. We suggest hydroelectricity generation and affluence are associated with a suite of agricultural techniques, including the organization of agricultural waterbodies and animal feed, which may contribute to higher levels of agricultural methane emissions. Given the pressing need for alternatives to fossil fuels, we recommend further examination of the economic conditions for implementing alternative fuels to avoid unintended environmental harms, including those which directly counteract the intended emissions-reduction purpose of these alternatives.
A high-pressure gas field in Egypt includes eight development wells drilled and completed: three wells in the West and five wells in the East. The reservoir management team had considered increasing the reservoir recovery by lowering the reservoir abandonment pressure below the initial design value. The eight wells in the field had slightly different production casing ratings and different liner hanger suppliers with different ratings and mechanisms. The impact of lowering the reservoir abandonment pressure had to be checked against all the eight wells in the field in terms of design assumptions and casing/equipment ratings. The main challenge was to lower the reservoir abandonment pressure while maintaining the wells integrity and reliability.
The production packer splits the production pipes into two pressure regimes: above and below the packer. The production pipe section and liner hanger above the production packer will be exposed to the reservoir abandonment pressure in case of communication below and above the packer (e.g., a packer leak near depletion). During the planning phase, the main limiting factor for the reservoir abandonment pressure was the liner hanger in most of the wells. When re-evaluating the potential for a lower abandonment pressure, multiple well barrier elements were considered in their as-installed condition, including pipe collapse, hanger hold-down capacity, and liner top packer differential pressure.
The conclusion of these assessments showed that the weak point was still the liner hanger system in most of the wells, so a further failure-based analysis was conducted on the liner hangers. The results defined an updated reservoir abandonment pressure that maintains well integrity.
This paper outlines the thorough well barrier elements design check and methodology used to support the decision to lower reservoir abandonment pressures and maximize reservoir recovery for the field.
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