Abstract: Across the US, millions of wells are reaching the ends of their productive lives—blocking new oil and gas development. Eventually, they must all be decommissioned, but it is very expensive to do so. Factors influencing the financial efficiency of plugging operations force decision-makers (who are using taxpayer dollars) to make tradeoffs between plugging a smaller number of high-priority wells and a larger number of lower-priority wells. PRIMO is a decision-support tool developed at NETL that uses machine learning and mathematical optimization to tell users which specific wells to plug to best navigate these tradeoffs according to their priorities. This ensures that every taxpayer dollar delivers its maximum value and clears the way for the next generation of American energy.

Bio: Dr. Will Strahl is a senior engineer site support contractor working with the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s Process Systems Engineering Research Team. In 2024, Dr. Strahl completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University where his thesis focused on advancements in combinatorial and nonlinear optimization methods for process systems engineering.  He served an extended residency at NETL through DOE’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) Program in 2023 working on projects that address critical energy challenges.