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IMPROVED CORROSION INSPECTION FOR OIL WELL PRODUCTION TUBING

Ziel

A novel ultrasonic tool has been developed to the prototype stage for early detection of corrosion damage in oil and gas well production tubing. This programme is to carry out the work needed to upgrade and demonstrate the prototype system for the first time in production wells. Nine wells have been chosen to provide a sufficient range of operating conditions to enable the tool performance to be determined and optimised, and to demonstrate its capabilities to the European market.
The tool offers the potential of detecting corrosion damage, even in deviated wells, with much greater reliabiliy than with existing tools. The risk of failures of production tubing will therefore be reduced and the safety of oilfield operations significantly improved.
The upgraded system has been used to inspect two onshore water injection wells. These were the first operational trials, with the caliper connected via 20,000 ft (6,000 m) electrical wireline. There were no significant operational problems, and approximately 2,000 m of each well were inspected - including operation in a well deviated up to 35 deg.
Useful inspection data were obtained on a 5x5 mm grid over the entire surface. The on-line data display system worked well, and off-line statistical analysis used to investigate system performance. The oil company partners are using the data to optimise reporting formats. A number of improvements have been identified for incorporation in the upgrade task. Parallel work is incorporating a gas phase head into the caliper which will be tested in the remaining onshore trials before progressing to offshore high temperature pressure wells.
Produced oil and gas is frequently corrosive to the steel tubulars through which it flows. The most common aggressive constituent is carbon dioxide, which dissolves in associated water to form an acid solution. This can cause a form of damage known as 'sweet corrosion'. In the early stages this is typified by general area pitting but soon transforms to very localised deep pitting or line grooving of the production tubular. Production engineers need to be able to check the condition of tubulars, looking both for corrosion and for build-up of calcium or barium scale. A prototype ultrasonic caliper for inspection of oil well production tubing has been developed during a major industry-funded R&D programme. The caliper tool is designed to provide much more useful data on the condition of tubulars than existing mechanical tools. This novel caliper is designed to :
* inspect all of the type wall at typical logging speeds,
* collect information about the condition of external as well asinternal surfaces,
* measure the thickness of the pipe wall,
* operate in deviated wells.
The prototype underwent laboratory and test well trials in the final stages of the R&D programme, but the next key step is to demonstrate that the tool can perform in operational oil and gas wells. The overall objective of the proposed programme is to establish, optimise and demonstrate the performance of the system in a sufficient number of wells to represent a range of operating conditions. If the new tool is successful, it is envisaged that the improved knowledge of corrosion in tubulars will improve operational safety, and enable more efficient planning of workovers to replace corroded tubing. Even saving the equivalent of 1 workover per year would save more than UKL 2M of lost oil production and engineering costs of order UKL 1.5 M.
The main objectives are therefore:
(1) To upgrade the current prototype caliper tool and software to enable its use in production wells.
(2) To perform a progressive sequence of trials in wells ranging from the relatively easy access of an onshore field to a shut-in well offshore and finally to production wells offshore covering different production fluids and temperature and pressure conditions.
(3) To establish the performance and limitations of the system, including identification of conditions which make operation difficult and the expected performance in different type of well.
(4) To provide sufficient to enable dissemination of overall performance to the European market, and to enable European service companies to exploit the technology worldwide.

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UK AEA PETROLEUM SERVICES
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BUILDING 5251 HARWELL LABORATORY DIDCOT
OX11 0RA
Vereinigtes Königreich

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