Improved Method for Testing Integrity Loss of Wells with Sustained Casing Pressure

The pressure bleed-down/build-up (B/B) testing is enforced by the Bureau of Safty and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) regulations in the US for gas-leaking wells with recurrent casing head annular pressure dubbed “Sustained Casing Pressure” (SCP). The bleed down test involves bleeding the pressure with a needle valve. Once the pressure reached to zero or stabilized, the valve is closedand a 24-h pressure monitoring starts. Analysis of the tests mandated by regulations involves merely a qualitative assessment of the low or high level of environmental risk measured by leak size. A quantitative analysis—based on mathematical models—has been already proposed and used for sizing cement leaks but the models give ambiguous results due to oversimplifying assumptions of the cement leak system and disregard for the testing procedure. This work addresses shortcomings of the current B/B testing and analysis methods by approaching the testing procedure as a source of useful information about the system of annular well leakage. We demonstrate that using a mathematical model for globally matching all stages of the B/B test data would prioritize the pressure bleed-down stage over the buildup stage thus making the latter stage mostly irrelevant in providing information on the whole gas migration system. We verify the hypothesis that a stage-wise analysis would improve the results by separately considering three stages of the B/B test: pressure bleed down, constant flow (steady-state), and pressure buildup, and, then, comparatively reconciling values of the system parameters. The stage-by-stage approach is feasible because—as shown by the sensitivity analysis—each stage is controlled mostly by a single parameter. Also presented is the development of an improved procedure for performing the B-B test. The study shows that the operational parameters controlled by the test operator—duration and size of the needle valve opening, and pressure recording time step, might significantly change values of the test output—the minimum bleed down, and the maximum 24-h buildup pressures. It is also found that the zero bleed-down pressure does not necessarily indicate that the leak is small as it also depends upon the length and properties of the annular fluid column above the cement top.