Why Oilwells Leak: Cement Behavior and Long-Term Consequences

Abstract

Abstract Oil and gas wells can develop gas leaks along the casing years after production has ceased and the well has been plugged and abandoned (P&A). Explanatory mechanisms include channelling, poor cake removal, shrinkage, and high cement permeability. The reason is probably cement shrinkage that leads to circumferential fractures that are propagated upward by the slow accumulation of gas under pressure behind the casing. Assuming this hypothesis is robust, it must lead to better practice and better cement formulations Introduction, Environmental Issues This discussion is necessarily superficial, given the complexity of the issue and attendant practical factors such as workability, density, set retardation, mud cake removal, entrainment of formation gas, shale sloughing, pumping rate, mix consistency, and so on. A conceptual model will be developed in this article to explain slow gas migration behind casing, but we deliberately leave aside for now the complex operational issues associated with cement placement and behavior. In 1997, there were ~35,000 inactive wells in Alberta alone, tens of thousands of abandoned and orphan wells1, plus tens of thousands of active wells. Wells are cased for environmental security and zonal isolation. In the Canadian heavy oil belt, it is common to use a single production casing string to surface (Figure 1); for deeper wells, additional casing strings may be necessary, and surface casing to isolate shallow unconsolidated sediments is required. As we will see, surface casings have little effect on gas migration, though they undoubtedly give more security against blowouts and protect shallow sediments from mud filtrate and pressurization. To form hydraulic seals for conservation and to isolate deep strata from the surface to protect the atmosphere and shallow groundwater sources, casings are cemented using water-cement slurries. These are pumped down the casing, displacing drilling fluids from the casing-rock annulus, leaving a sheath of cement to set and harden (Figure 1). Casing and rock are prepared by careful conditioning using centralizers, mudcake scrapers, and so on. During placement, casing is rotated and moved to increase the sealing effectiveness of the cement grout. Recent techniques to enhance casing-rock-cement sealing may include vibrating the casing, partial cementation and annular filling using a small diameter tube. Additives may be incorporated to alter properties, but Portland Class G (API rating) oil well cement forms the base of almost all oil well cements.2 Generally, slurries are placed at densities about 2.0 Mg/m3, but at such low densities will shrink and will be influenced by the elevated pressures (10–70 MPa) and temperatures (35 to >140°C) encountered at depth. The consequences of cement shrinkage are non-trivial: in North America, there are literally tens of thousands of abandoned, inactive, or active oil and gas wells, including gas storage wells, that currently leak gas to surface. Much of this enters the atmosphere directly, contributing slightly to greenhouse effects. Some of the gas enters shallow aquifers, where traces of sulfurous compounds can render the water non-potable, or where the methane itself can generate unpleasant effects such as gas locking of household wells, or gas entering household systems to come out when taps are turned on. Methane from leaking wells is widely known in aquifers in Peace River and Lloydminster areas (Alberta), where there are anecdotes of the gas in kitchen tap water being ignited. Because of the nature of the mechanism, the problem is unlikely to attenuate, and the concentration of the gases in the shallow aquifers will increase with time.