Cement Placement with Tubing Left in Hole during Plug and Abandonment Operations

Abstract

Abstract Well abandonment operations can be very time-consuming and costly, and thousands of wells need to be permanently plugged and abandoned offshore Norway during the upcoming years. One possible way to reduce costs during P&A operations is to leave most of the production tubing in the well, as this would save significant rig time. A major concern with such an approach is, however, whether the cement will properly displace the original fluid, due to lack of tubing centralization and possible unfavorable flow dynamics in the annulus. In this paper, we demonstrate by full-scale experimental tests that it is possible to obtain good cement placement when the tubing is left in the hole, with and without control lines. Full-scale tests have been performed with both conventional and expandable cement to determine the sealing ability of annulus cement when tubing is left in hole. The quality of the cement placement was evaluated by pressure tests with water; where leakage rates and pressure drops over the test sections were recorded, and by visual inspection after cutting the test assemblies at different places. It is seen from the experiments that cement is well placed in the annulus when tubing is left in hole, but some microannuli are detected.