Rig site construction
Completed rig site during drilling operations
Scheme for plugging and abandonment
Recultivated drilling site
Abandonment
If a well, contrary to expectations, is dry or not profitable it is abandoned and the site is recultivated.
Plugging a well
When a well is to be abandoned it is required by law to plug the well back with cement in several intervalls up to the surface. This is to ensure that individual rock formations are permanently sealed.
To that effect, the casings are cut some 2 meters below ground and closed by a welded on plate. On top of it, a 25 cm thick concrete slab is mounted.
Recultivation
After plugging and abandonment the drilling site is recultivated.
The grass layer that had been removed and stored elsewhere when the drilling site was built, is put back in place. After some months the site has recovered and the former drilling site can be used as originally intended.