Recent studies have shown an increase in the percent of wells affected by sustained casing pressure over time. Both the oil and gas industry and governments are studying the causes of sustained casing pressure and methods to help prevent undesired flow that can potentially result in the loss of wellbore integrity and environmental problems.In the Caribbean region in northern Colombia, various natural gas production fields have been developed for decades. Because of mechanical problems or low economic return rates, some producing gas wells have been abandoned. Some wells in this area have been abandoned using conventional cement techniques without success, sometimes resulting in gas communication through the annulus to the surface. This has even been observed in some cases where the primary top of cement (TOC) was planned to surface. Potential gas communication through the wellbore annulus has been an issue in the industry for a long time. There are several factors influencing gas communication, such as flow through mud channels, micro-annuli, and flow through unset cement, among others. This paper presents the successful application of a new resin with superior mechanical properties and solids content designed according to the needs of the well, which allow it to penetrate areas previously inaccessible to conventional cement slurry, such as small fractures, channels, or micro-annuli. The case study presented shows how a sustained casing pressure problem was caused by a channel in the primary cement job. The novel resin system was pumped successfully as a squeeze job ahead of neat cement slurry to isolate the gas-producing formation, and no further gas production was observed at surface, bringing the well back into compliance with government regulations for proper well abandonment.
Casing rotation is a mechanical aid that improves fluids displacement efficiency and helps achieve zonal isolation. A Colombian oil company faced its biggest challenge to successfully place cement across zones with washouts, rate restrictions, and difficult mud removal. This paper describes the deployment of a rotating cement head for cementing services on a land operation in Colombia. The Casing Running Tool (CRT) Adapter provided an enhanced system to reduce stuck pipe risks and decrease rig up time. The main solution selected to enhance results was implementing casing rotation; nevertheless, execution had to be completed safely and efficiently. Top-drive cement heads are commonly used in offshore operations. In Colombia, the use of a top-drive cement head was targeted as a safe solution to rotate intermediate and production casings in land operations. This method would allow for rig up, pressure test, and execution of the cement job (including rotation throughout the entirety of the job) without having to break connections or shutdown operations. The main component of the system is the cement head itself, but it was necessary to also incorporate a triple water bushing that serves to connect the cement head with casing and cementing plugs for the specified casing size. The system was enhanced by incorporating an adapter that allows connecting the assembly directly to CRT. This configuration enabled us to complete cementing without any connection make-ups during job, which reduced personnel risk and saved any flat time. During the installation process in prior operations, it was necessary to disconnect and rack back the casing running tool and then connect the cement head to the top drive. In some cases, the overall time to perform these actions was about 1 hour and 30 minutes. On certain wells this additional time could increase the risk of stuck pipe and prevent our ability to rotate the casing during cementing. The system has been improved by adding a CRT adapter that joins the cement head to the top drive without disconnecting the CRT. This new system helps mitigate stuck pipe risks by reducing connection time to as little as 10 minutes while safely enabling casing rotation to improve cement isolation. This configuration enables casing rotation during cementing in wells with high torque requirements and stuck pipe risks while improving annular cement placement. The system makes the operation safer and more efficient.
Well Integrity is a critical compliance requirement during oil and gas operations. Abandonment procedures must ensure that all hydrocarbon sources are properly isolated and effective barriers are placed. This paper describes the use of resin systems to isolate annular gas migration identified during the Obiwan – 1 well abandonment in Colombia. The main challenge was to select and design fluid systems capable to fill tight spaces and isolate the annular channel. Resin systems are high-strength, elastic polymers which act as dependable barriers to isolate fluid flow. They can be designed as a solid-free, pure liquid or may contain solids (cement with a formulated percent of resin). Solid-free formulations are ideal for remedial operations, such as isolating annular gas. Acoustic logging enabled identification of the influx zones. Annular isolation was achieved by executing two cementing remedial operations using the bradenhead squeeze technique. A tailored resin system was selected to deliver the proper barrier addressing the influx zones after injectivity tests were performed in each interval. For the first intervention a solids-free resin system was used, and for the second one a resin-cement composite system was applied. During cementing remedial operations, it was determined that the resin systems were able to achieve deep penetration into the channels more readily and form a seal. The correct system was selected for each case, and during execution, the required volume was injected to intersect and properly isolate the annular gas channel. As a result, the tailored resin systems isolated the gas channel eliminating annular pressure and gas migration to surface. In addition, a post remedial operation acoustic log indicated that the influx zones were successfully isolated. Well abandonment was accomplished according to country regulatory requirements and delivered dependable barriers both annular and interior pipe sections. Use of resin to repair channels of this type exhibited a higher success rate and improved reliability in comparison to conventional particulate-laden fluids, which helps to decrease costs for additional remedial treatments.
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