Reduce emissions with dissolvable plug technology.
Nine conducted an analytical study with ERM to quantify cradle-to-grave emission reduction of a dissolvable versus a composite plug completion. Here are the findings.
Significant and scalable emission reductions
Dissolvable frac plugs on a 6-well pad take 84 cars off the road. That equals around 404 metric tons of CO2e
Takeaways
Dissolvable plugs reduce carbon emission intensity in a scalable way that can be applied on a per-well basis. There is a significant and immediate reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when using a dissolvable plug versus a composite plug.
By eliminating coil intervention entirely, dissolvables reduce carbon footprint by 91% or ~67.3 metric tons of CO2e
Assuming a 3-day coil tubing cleanout run, dissolvables reduce carbon footprint by 18% or ~13.3 metric tons of CO2e
Methodology
Carbon footprint is “the sum of greenhouse gas emissions and removals in a product system, expressed in CO2e and based on life cycle assessment, considering a single impact category - Climate Change” (ISO 14067: 2013).
ISO 14067: Quantifying and reporting the carbon footprint of products.
Established in 2013, the standard sets out four phases for the development of a carbon footprint study (in accordance with life cycle assessment studies):
Scope & Boundaries
Functional Unit: One typical deployment and extraction/clean-out process of 70 plugs
Approach: Cradle-to-grave
Geographic Coverage: United States, Permian Basin
Scenario 1: Coil clean-out run (assumes 3 days of clean-out and 4 days for conventional drill-out)
Scenario 2: Elimination of coil usage (assumes 4 days for conventional drill-out)
Elimination of Coiled Tubing
The life-cycle carbon footprint of the dissolvable plug would be 91% smaller per wellbore than the conventional composite plug. This equates to ~67.3 metric tons of CO₂e or 14 passenger cars driving per year.
Dissolvable With Clean-Out
The life-cycle carbon footprint of the dissolvable plug is 18% smaller per wellbore than the conventional composite plug. This equates to ~13.3 metric tons of CO2e or 3 passenger cars driving per year.
