Can Plasma Pulse Technology breathe new life into old wells?

A new technology could present an environmentally friendly way to rev up well productivity.

Plasma Pulse Technology, or PPT, is a new technology developed to find oil in previously tapped-out wells, or to enhance production in existing wells. According to PPT’s founder Novas Energy, a high-power shockwave pulses through the well, increasing the mobility of crude oil to water, ultimately clearing away excess sediment from well perforations.

The increased production flow can last for up to 12 months and serves as an alternative to traditional enhanced oil recovery methods, which involve injecting high-pressure fluid into the well. PPT is touted as an environmentally friendly way to increase well productivity without using water resources and without creating the chemical byproduct resulting from other enhanced oil recovery methods.

Novas Energy undertook a joint venture in 2015 to integrate PPT into the United States, and by October, 2015, the company announced that PPT programs were underway in the United States and Canada. PPT has already been used in Russia, China, the Middle East, and Europe. In using PPT, the hope is that the United States will rely less on imported OPEC oil and provide a less expensive, more environmentally friendly method of enhanced oil recovery.