Gas Migration and Surface Casing Vent Flow Reporting

Contact 1-844-764-3637, the ministry's Petroleum and Natural Gas Emergency Support Line, if a gas migration or surface casing vent flow issue is identified at a site.

Well failures that result in gas migration or surface casing vent flow are readily identified at the surface, near the wellhead, and can often be corrected through repairs.

Depending on its severity, the ministry will direct the licensee to either:

• Repair the well immediately; or
• Monitor conditions for changes until the issue can be addressed at the time of abandonment.

Refer to the regional office map to determine the field office responsible for the area where the gas migration or surface casing vent flow issue occurred; you will be prompted for this information when you call the emergency support line.

The Guideline PNG026: Gas Migration provides further information on when to repair a well based on the type of well it is (cased for production, previously abandoned, etc.) and where the gas migration is observed.

Before submitting an application for well repair due to gas migration that requires immediate attention, the applicant must:

• Report the gas migration issue to the appropriate Field Office, and be instructed by the Ministry that immediate well repair and gas migration testing are required.
• Have an Integrated Resource Information System (IRIS) account and the appropriate permissions assigned by your IRIS Security Administrator.
• If well repair of the gas migration is postponed until the abandonment of the well, then the well repair program must be submitted as part of the well abandonment process as per Directive PNG015: Well Abandonment Requirements.

To report a gas migration that requires immediate attention and requires well repair, the applicant must:

1. Ensure the eligibility criteria is met.
2. Complete the Gas Migration and Surface Casing Vent Flow Form. The abandonment information does not need to be completed if you are only repairing the well.
3. Compile the required supporting documentation to accompany the form as separate documents:
   • Application to Repair Well
   • Program of Operations for Well Repair
   • Well Schematic
   • Miscellaneous (correspondence for example)
4. Log in to IRIS and complete the appropriate application for authorization process and attach the required documents.

IRIS Login

Once the well repair application is reviewed and approved by the ministry, authorization is communicated as a notification in IRIS. The licensee may commence work to repair the well once authorization is granted.

The ministry will continue to conduct spot checks at wells to confirm the accuracy of the submitted data through IRIS.