Wellbore Integrity and Drilling Technologies DOE SubTER Briefing Nov 17, 2015 Douglas Blankenship, SNL Yarom Polsky, ORNL November 17, 2015 Multi-Lab Working Group: Nick Huerta, Hector Santos, Rob Podgorney, Tom Butcher, Susan Carroll, George Guthrie, Barry Freifeld, Barbara Kutchko, Bill Carey, Yarom Polsky, Doug Blankenship SAND2015-10354 PE

Wellbore Integrity & Drilling Technologies Motivation and Objectives

Motivation • Current well systems may not meet long term integrity needs and these well systems require further advancement to meet goals of SubTER Objectives and Goals • Improve understanding of interaction between well system and natural environment in order to: – Engineer wells that maintain integrity over decadal time scales – Engineer wells that facilitate SubTER other pillar goals

(from Gasda et al., 2004)

Integrity Assessments Differ “Statewide data show a sixfold higher incidence of cement and/or casing issues for shale gas wells relative to conventional wells.” From: Ingraffea, et. al, (2014) Assessment and risk analysis of casing and cement impairment in oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania. 2000–2012. PNAS. Vol. 111, no.30.

“For US wells, while individual barrier failures (containment maintained and no pollution indicated) in a specific well group may range from very low to several percent (depending on geographical area, operator, era, well type and maintenance quality), actual well integrity failures are very rare. From King and King, (2013) Environmental Risk Arising From Well Construction Failure: Difference Between Barrier and Well Failure, and Estimates of Failure Frequency Across Common Well Types, Locations and Well Age.

“18% of the wells in the survey have integrity failure, issues, or uncertainties, and 7% are shut-in because of well integrity issues.” From: Birget and Aadnoy (2010). Well-Integrity Issues Offshore Norway. SPE112535-PA

Wellbore Integrity R&D Justification

Jan Saeby, Norske Shell WI Workshop Presentation May 2011

Is there a consensus on some WI issues? - SCP/Barrier failure not uncommon as evidenced by O&G well studies. - Management of barrier failures lacks specific guidance. Why should this be our focus? - Focused science and engineering can be applied to address long-term concerns - Need an objective scientific viewpoint to evaluate problem and restore public confidence

State-of-the-Art Knowledge and Materials Examples •

Knowledge of the evolution of the physical and chemical environment experienced by the rock-cement-casing is not well constrained across SubTER applications – Constitutive models accommodating time, temperatures, pressures, and chemical effects are lacking across the range of SubTER environments

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Materials lack important performance requirements – For Example: There have been great improvements in CO2 resistant cements, H2S resistance suffers (Simon James, Schlumberger, BNL Workshop, Feb 2015)

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Performance testing of new materials not standardized. – Development of independent and industry accepted standard for evaluation of new materials is needed

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Casing centralization is passive (fixed offset or bow-springs) – Low-impact / active centralization could ensure necessary annulus

State-of-the-Art Monitoring Examples •

Formation imaging tools (e.g., televiewers) provide high resolution of wellbore wall but no tools provide mm scale resolution beyond the hole for fracture identification – SubTER Seedlings at LANL and ORNL attempting to address

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Completions to enable installed monitoring of wellbore integrity are being pursued in some high value environments – Limited real estate for annular monitoring and potential compromise of well integrity needs addressing (OTC 24515, 2013) – Increased instrumentation results in more data – overloaded humans make poor decisions (SPE 128202, 2010) – Application specific systems needed (e.g., corrosion & chemistry)

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Long-term functionality of downhole systems limited above 175 C – Electronics, elastomers, seals needed for HT / High Rad operations – HT / High Rad = High Reliability

State-of-the-Art Well Construction Examples •

Exploration and development drilling similar – Low-cost technologies to supplement traditional systems will allow greater access to the subsurface needed to fulfill SubTER goals. – Microholes are an example of technology that to date is an unfulfilled promise

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Drilling technologies are mature with significant advances over the last decade.

Well Construction Cost Breakdown by Category 3% Drilling 8% Consumables 1% Drilling Services 21% Cementing Casing Consumables Casing services Logging 17%

Polsky, et.al. SAND2008-7866

– Transfer of technology across sectors is lacking - not all potential transfers are from O&G – O&G has developed mature drilling methods and processes that lower costs while improving well integrity - adoption in other sectors is poor From Dupriest F., et al., 2011

50%

Wellbore Integrity & Drilling Technology Pillar Elements Improved well construction materials and techniques

Autonomous completions for wellbore integrity monitoring

Wellbore Integrity and Drilling Technology

New diagnostics for wellbore integrity Remediation tools and technologies

Primarily Future Wells

Existing and Future Wells

Fit-for purpose drilling and completion tools (e.g., anticipative drilling, centralizers, monitoring)

Future Wells

HT/HP well construction/ completion technologies

Cross Cutting Within Pillar

Wellbore Integrity and Drilling Technology Improved well construction materials and techniques Autonomous completions for wellbore integrity monitoring New diagnostics for wellbore leakage

Remediation tools and technologies

Fit-for purpose drilling and completion tools (e.g., anticipative drilling, centralizers, monitoring) HT/HP well construction/ completion technologies

10 Year Element Goals  Develop novel cements, cement-like materials, sealants, casing materials, fluids and deployment schemes that improve long-term wellbore integrity.  Enable wellbore completions able to autonomously identify isolation and reliability issues over decadal time scales.  Develop deployable technologies and interpretation methods that produce data that can be directly related to wellbore integrity and zonal isolation issues with high confidence  Develop remediation tools that can selectively repair compromised well regions, including implementation of “self-healing” or externally activated cements and completions, without the use of a drilling or workover rig.  Develop or implement economical fit-for-purpose wellbore construction methods across a wide range of applications  Develop extreme environment versions of the other pillar elements that are available for use as needed.

Metrics for success • Will vary in nature depending on element goals • Example types of metrics include: – Definition of performance requirements for relevant applications – Quantitative studies that can be used to inform future engineering design or practice – Proof-of-concept laboratory test of candidate technologies – Field trial implementations

Improved Well Construction Materials Activity Understanding stress / chemical evolution needed for material/process improvements Numerous Possible Subtasks

Year 2 Goals

Year 5 Goals

Activity Improved Materials and Processes Numerous Possible Subtasks

• Establish industry partnerships • Define basis for evaluating performance of candidate materials/technologies. • Perform synthesis and laboratory testing of 5 materials and methods compatible with representative subsurface environments. • Plan for performing field-like deployment • Perform field demonstration of candidate systems using advanced materials and/or processes that provide, for example, at least a 25% increase in bond strength for anticipated range of well conditions (100-foot demo wells). • Establish standards and protocols for evaluating long-term performance of well construction materials in representative environments and loading conditions. • Develop methodologies for understanding the effect of in situ stress evolution and other forcing functions on the wellbore sealing system.

Year 10 Develop or implement economical fit-for-purpose wellbore construction methods across a wide range of applications (e.g., producing wells, disposal wells, monitoring wells, etc.). Goals

Anticipated Collaborations • Projects may be led by National Laboratories, Universities or Industry • Multiple organizations will be required to meet project goals depending on expertise needs • Industry will play critical role in defining application requirements and transitioning developed technologies to field practice

Thank You