Grant: Alliance Grants

This proposal aims to harness natural resources in a sustainable manner through the use of managed pressure drilling (MPD) and Digitalization technology. Drilling though primarily used for oil and gas exploration and production has emerged as an important technology for harnessing geothermal energy and sustainable mining. The key challenges in the sustainable development of oil and gas are, preventing flaring and venting, maintaining safe operation. According to Word Bank, in 2020 only the global flaring of gas during oil production was 142 million-m3, in economic term this is over US $20 billion. Safety enhancements in drilling are essential to protect lives and the fragile environments from contamination. Drilling operations have many hazards which may lead to catastrophic events, such as the Deep Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, which cost 11 lives and over $62 billion in clean up and compensation costs. MPD can mitigate risk in operation, mitigate flaring and venting, reduce greenhouse gas emission, allows for autonomous operation, reduce downtime and improve overall productivity of drilling operations applied to oil and gas exploration and production, developing geothermal energy, and sustainable mining. Through this proposed project we plan to field test our theoretical and lab scale research results and further develop them for commercial application. The proposed project will help Canada meet its net zero target and avail new economic opportunities, such as, development of geothermal energy in a more efficient manner.