Ragnhild Skorpa - SINTEF
Ragnhild Skorpa - SINTEF

interview with a DrillWell researcher

Name: Ragnhild Skorpa
Age: 29
Nationality: Norwegian
 
Education: MSc in inorganic chemistry, PhD in Theoretical/physical chemistry. Both from NTNU.

Department: SINTEF Drilling and Well.
 
Ragnhild, I see cement samples all over your desk. A wild guess; cement is a central component in your current research project?
That’s correct, I work with thermal cycling experiments to investigate the integrity of a cement sheath located between a formation and a casing. In the DrillWell research centre we have developed a unique laboratory setup to perform realistic and controlled thermal cycling experiments of downscaled samples consisting of rock, cement and casing.

Why do you fid this interesting?
The annular cement sheath is one of the most important well barrier elements in the well, both during production and after abandonment. Research related to understanding the mechanisms behind loss of zonal isolation, to help prevent this in the future, inspires me.

You work in close collaboration with the oil and gas industry, would you say this adds any extras to the project?
Undoubtedly. For instance, one gets a more accurate picture of the challenges the industry faces. It is of great benefit to get a chance to work with highly relevant projects andresearch to provide solutions the industry really needs

Especially at the moment, we see changes in the industry. Do you see yourself working within oil and gas in ten years’ time?
I cannot see why not. By then I have 10 more years with experience of the petroleum industry and I have had the chance to work with many challenging and interesting projects both experimental and theoretical related to the petroleum industry, some purely academic but mostly in close collaboration with the industry.