SPE-198601-MS

Management of Sustained Casing Pressure in Offshore Gas Wells by a

Novel Casing-Surface Design that Suppress Gas Migration at the
Casing-Cement Interface

Alex William Mwang'ande, Hualin Liao, and Long Zeng, China University of Petroleum, East China

Copyright 2019, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Gas & Oil Technology Showcase and Conference held in Dubai, UAE, 21 - 23 October 2019.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Sustained Casing Pressures (SCP) is still a serious problem that challenges the offshore producing gas
wells. Despite existence of the many methods to mitigate it, SCP is still bringing severe health, safety and
environmental (HSE) concerns necessitating the need for new methods. This article brings a new method
of mitigating SCP caused by micro-annulus in offshore gas wells by designing a novel casing surface that
will increase the length of casing-cement interface (CCI) for the same planned cement column length and
thereby suppressing fluid migration through the CCI. Two new casing-surface designs were invented and
tested by inputting the field data from offshore gas well X in conjunction with an existing SCP prediction
model to verify the validity of the new method. The new developed method was found to have a great
potential of controlling SCP and improve the production life time of the offshore gas wells by suppressing
gas migration through micro-annulus.
Keywords: annulus pressure build-up, sustained casing pressure, offshore gas wells, wrinkled-casing-
surface design, casing-cement interface

Introduction
Literatures have proved that the problem of formation fluids migration to shallower strata or to surface
through casings annuli is mostly caused by uncemented or compromised cements, mostly at the casing-
cement interface (CCI), famously known as micro annulus. This phenomenon leads to undesirable Health,
Safety and Environmental (HSE) concerns. The initiation of micro-annulus is because the CCI has the
weakest bond strength compared to cement matrix itself and/or cement with the formation (De Andrade et
al. 2015, De Andrade et al. 2014, Wei et al. 2015). The broaching process in the annulus leads to build-up
of Sustained Casing Pressures (SCP) and eventually (if not properly managed) causes underground and/or
surface blowouts (Bly 2011, Bourgoyne et al. 1999, Salim1a et al. 2016). It is known to the vast extent that,
SCP in an A-annulus is mostly caused by either tubing connection or tubing packer leak and rarely from
production casing leak, whereas in the outer annuli, SCP is mainly caused by annulus cement problems
(API-RP90 2012). In this case, focus is made to micro-annulus only as one of the cement failures. This
2 SPE-198601-MS

means, if the CCI bond strength is improved, or the percolation length is increased, or both, the problem of
fluid migration behind casings can significantly be controlled and hence mitigating SCP.
Sensitivity analyses by (Tao et al. 2010) show that, effective cement permeability decreases as the leakage
depth (cement column) increases, and it increases as the length of mud column increases (for constant mud
density and well/leakage depth), meaning that, the longer the cement column the lesser the easiness of
fluids to pass through and vice versa. Further, it has been found that the increase in micro-annulus enhances
the increase of effective cement permeability (Zhang et al. 2018). Also, through series of experiments,
(Evans and Carter 1962, Bearden et al. 1965, Carter and Evans 1964) revealed that, rough casing surface
finishes, such as rusty, brushed or sand blasted resulted in improved casing-cement shear bond strengths
when compared with new pipes.
Among the factors causing initiation of micro-annulus failure at the CCI include but not limited to;
temperature variations during periodic production shut-downs/start-up and producing reserves in arctic and
deepwater environments (Carpenter et al. 1992, De Andrade et al. 2015, De Andrade et al. 2016), pressure
cycling caused by well stimulation treatments (Hudson et al. 2017, Lu et al. 2016), pressure variations from
integrity pressure tests of hydrocarbon wells (Goodwin and Crook 1992), cement displacement process
(Mwang'ande 2016, McLean et al. 1967, Piroozian et al. 2012, Lupyana 2015), and casing eccentricity (De
Andrade et al. 2014).
The current and general SCP mitigation methods include implementable use of the following techniques;
flexible and expanding cement systems (Al-Suwaidi et al. 2008), self-healing cements (Arif Khattak et
al. 2015, Taoutaou et al. 2011), fiber technology in weighted spacers (Eulberg and Hudson 2017), natural
magnesium complex with carbonate as an additive to the G-Class cement; injecting brine-like dense fluids
to casing annulus; and squeeze cementing (Ozyurtkan et al. 2013), unique Hybrid type Swellable packer
Isolation System (HSIS) (Stein et al. 2013), low temperature GASBlok additive (Alsubhi et al. 2017), setting
top of cement (TOC) above casing shoe of previous casing string (API-RP90 2012, API-RP96 2013, ISO/
TS16530-2 2013), expanding the inner casing to seal micro-annulus in cement sheath (Kupresan et al. 2014),
and sealing the annulus by using composite metals or some polymers (Carpenter et al. 2004, Ozyurtkan et
al. 2013). Despite existence of these methods, SCP is still challenging the petroleum industry, especially
offshore gas fields hence necessitating new methods.
In our previous work (Mwang'ande et al. 2019), we assessed how TOC with regard to previous casing
seat can help to control or avoid the annulus pressure build-up (APB) caused by both SCP and annulus fluid
expansion (AFE) in off-shore gas wells irrespective of casing surface design and bond strength between
casing and cement. This work is intended to assess how the modified CCI with the same planned cement
column length can affect fluid migration behind casings irrespective of TOC configurations with casing
seats. Two types of special casing-surface designs (wrinkled profiles) on the outer-casing-surface that alter
CCI length are designed and tested in this study assuming the only type of failure on the cement sheath is
creation of micro-annulus. Results from two types of the new wrinkled casing surfaces are compared with
those obtained in our previous work (normal casing surface) to see how this method can save the problem of
SCP in offshore gas wells. Field data from offshore gas Well X and an existing SCP prediction model from
previous published work are used for testing and comparing the new casing-surface designs with normal
casings.

Theory of wrinkled casing surface

The wrinkled casing surface is the wave-like profile with constant pitch length pt that, in this case is expected
to interlock firmly with cement sheath and lead to elongated interface, for the same planned cement column
length. Two types of casing surface wrinkling styles (Type I and Type II) are dealt with in this work to study
how they affect the effective length of CCI after their implementation. The effective length CCI is what is
SPE-198601-MS 3

expected to give a positive impact on SCP control. For both cases, the pt is defined as the distance between
two consecutive crests or troughs as shown in Fig. 1, which also depicts the profile design of Type I wrinkles.

Figure 1—Casing-Cement-Rock model showing Type / wrinkles on outer casing surface

If we consider one pitch as one complete circle as seen on Fig. 2, the length of CCI (red profile) covered
by one pitch is the circumference of a circle Cc given by Eq. 1.
(1)
Where, Cc is the circumference of one circle (covered by unit pitch), π is pie (a constant equal to 3.14)
and d is diameter of the circle. Due to small diameters of the circles in wrinkled profile, the circumference
is best calculated using the pitches. The relation between pitch and diameter is as described in Fig. 2 and
given in Eq. 2.
(2)

Figure 2—Relationship between pitch and diameter. Red profile shows the outer casing surface for one pitch

Where, pt is the pitch (length between two consecutive crests or troughs).

4 SPE-198601-MS

From the theoretical point of view, it is difficult to describe the size of CCI length by diameters of the
comprised circles and so it is important to establish a standard way of describing them and this is, number
of pitches per unit length. Substituting Eq. 2 into Eq. 1, the total CCI length, Lcci is therefore given by Eq. 3
(3)
Where, Lcci is the total CCI length, Lc is the length of cemented column and n is the number of pitches
per unit length. If we assume the only failure of cement sheath is micro-annulus and no other cement sheath
failures occurred, this casing profile design will result to 57% increase of the overall CCI length, Lcci. This
factor is not affected by size of pitch.
Similarly, type II casing profile is shown in Fig. 3. It looks a bit complex in design compared to type I
but its mathematical derivation is governed by similarity rules as seen on Fig. 4.

Figure 3—Casing-Cement-Rock model showing Type II wrinkles on outer casing surface

Figure 4—Type II casing profile for mathematical derivations. Red profile shows the outer casing surface for one pitch

This design is based on the reality that angle ACB is equal to angle GEF (each subtending 120°). It
follows also that; angles BCD and GED are equal (each subtending 60°). The profile of a unit pitch is made
SPE-198601-MS 5

of two arcs AB and GF together with one straight line BG. The length of CCI covered by unit pitch, Lp
is therefore given as,
(4)

Where; Lp is the actual CCI length covered in a unit pitch, is the arc length subtended by angle ACB,
and are linear lengths as seen on Fig. 4 and is the arc length subtended by angle GEF. Assuming
the diameters (or radii) of bigger and smaller arcs as d (or r) and do (or ro) respectively, and applying the
similarity theorem, the following equations are obtained.

(5)

It follows that, using Eq. 5, and by trigonometric relation we have,

(6)

(7)
Substituting Eq. 5, Eq. 6 and Eq. 7 into Eq. 4, calculating the two arc lengths and collecting like terms
and simplifying, the length of CCI covered by unit pitch Lp is given as,
(8)
Since it is the number of pitches per unit length that is used to describe the size of wrinkles on the casing
surface, the relationship between pitch and diameter of the bigger arc in type II casing profile design is
given in Eq. 9.
(9)
Where; and are linear lengths as seen in Fig. 4. By applying similarity theorem described by Eq.
5 and trigonometric relations, it follows that,
(10)

(11)
Substituting Eq. 5, Eq. 10 and Eq. 11 into Eq. 9, collecting the like terms, simplifying and making d the
subject we have,
(12)
Substituting Eq. 12 into Eq. 8, we then have length of CCI covered by unit pitch Lp expressed in terms
of pt as seen Eq. 13 and the total CCI length, Lcci is given in Eq. 14.
(13)

(14)
Using the same assumption as in type I that the only cement failure is creation of micro-annulus, type
II casing profile design will result into 27.5% increase of the overall CCI length, Lcci which is not affected
by pitch size.

Results and Discussion

The basic input parameters for calculations of SCP are adopted from Well X and given in Table 1.
6 SPE-198601-MS

Table 1—Basic input parameters for SCP calculations

Parameter Value

Zi (unitless) 0.89

T (°C) 95.5

Twh(°C) 81.3

μi (cp) 0.3

ρm (g/cm3) 1.3

cm (MPa−1) 0.00058

An existing SCP prediction model by (Rocha-Valadez et al. 2014) presented in Eq. 15 was adopted and
used to predict SCP effected by type I, type II and normal casing surface designs. Well X data was inputted
to this model while modifying effective length of CCI depending on the type of casing profile (adding either
57% or 27.5% to the cement column length for type I or type II respectively) and the obtained (comparison)
results are presented in Figures 5 to 11. Only calculations for annulus B pressures as influenced by the
preset range of- cement permeability, mud compressibility and annulus fluid density are analyzed. The SCP
analysis is done only for production casing since for most hydrocarbon wells, it is the production casing
annulus that penetrates the reservoir. Similarly, a research by (Bourgoyne et al. 1999) shows that about
50 percent of SCP on the outer continental shelf (OCS) in the offshore gulf of Mexico (GoM) occur in
production casings annuli of hydrocarbon wells necessitating focus in annulus B. If that is not enough,
the results from numerical calculation analysis for both shallow and deep formation by (Zhou et al. 2019)
illustrated that production casing cement sheath has a much higher stress level than cement sheaths on the
outer annuli and therefore more prone to sealing failure, a finding which is similar to (Shadravan et al.
2015), all together necessitating testing SCP in annulus B.
Calculations of SCP in annulus B were done based on the differential equation that governs the transient
behavior of casing pressure;

(15)

where k is cement permeability to gas in md, A is cross-sectional annular area in cm2, Twh is wellhead
temperature in K, Lc is length of cement in cm, μi is initial gas viscosity in cp, Zi is the initial gas-law
deviation factor, T is reservoir temperature in K, pf is formation pressure in MPa, p is casing head pressure
in MPa, ρm is mud density in g/cm3, Lm is length of mud column (true vertical depth) in m, Vi is initial gas
chamber volume in m3, Vl is annulus fluid volume in m3 and cm is mud compressibility in MPa−1. The reader
is referred to (Rocha-Valadez et al. 2014) for detailed information of the model.
Figure 5 shows a comparison of SCP as effected by Normal-, Type I- and Type II- casing profiles at
different cement permeabilities. It is observed that, for constant cement permeability and constant cement
column length, SCP responded differently from the three types of casing surface designs. Considering only
Fig. 5a with cement permeability of 0.1md, when normal casing surface finish is used, the stabilized SCP
is reached after around 70 years whereas for type I and type II casing designs, a stabilized SCP is reached
after around 120 years and 95 years respectively. Similar trend is depicted by Fig. 5b to 5d with cement
permeabilities varying from 0.2md to 0.4md confirming that, if CCI can be increased for the same cement
column length and permeability, SCP can significantly be reduced and so production life of well increased.
This can then be translated into improving the reservoir exploitability and hence good economy of the well.
SPE-198601-MS 7

Figure 5—Comparison of SCP effected by Normal-, Type I- and Type II- casing profiles at different cement Permeabilities

It is also observed that, increasing cement permeability affects reservoir exploitability as for the same
cement column length, 0.1md reached a stabilized SCP after 70, 120 and 95 years, whereas 0.4md reached
after 20, 30 and 25 years for normal-, type I-, and type II- casing profile designs respectively. That means
if a certain SCP value should not be allowed during production, the new casing designs will give a longer
production time than normal casing type as seen in Fig. 6. However, variation in cement permeability does
not change the magnitude of stabilized pressure in all the three casing types.
8 SPE-198601-MS

Figure 6—Increasing cement Permeability shorten the time to

reach maximum SCP and hence reduces the well production time

Figure 7 shows the magnitudes of SCP as influenced by the three casing surface designs for different
annular fluid (mud) densities. A similar effect to SCP for the new casing designs as seen in Fig. 5, is also
observed here. Implementing normal casing, type II and lastly type I casing designs, in that order, increases
the well production time. In Fig. 7a with a mud density of 1.0 g/cm3 for example, a SCP stabilizes at around
75, 120, and 100 years for normal casing profile, type I and type II casing designs respectively. This confirms
that increasing the CCI for constant cement column length helps reduce the SCP problems.

Figure 7—Comparison of SCP effected by Normal-, Type I- and Type

II- casing profiles at different cement Annulus fluid (Mud) densities

It is also found that, increasing mud density reduces the magnitude of stabilized SCP as see Fig. 8. This is
according to Eq. 15 which if equated to zero, it simplifies to p+0.0098ρm Lm= pf whereas; p is the casinghead
pressure, 0.0098ρm Lm is mud column pressure and pf is the formation pressure. Once the sum of casinghead
pressure and that exerted by the mud column equals the formation pressure, there is no pressure differential
SPE-198601-MS 9

available for gas to continue seeping into the annulus, and in this sense, the maximum casinghead pressure
has been attained. However, the time to reach stabilized SCP does not change significantly within the same
type of casing at different mud densities as seen in Fig. 9.

Figure 8—Increasing mud density reduces the magnitude of stabilized SCP for all types of casings

Figure 9—Time to reach stabilized SCP does not change significantly with increasing mud density

In Fig. 10a through 10d we see how varying mud compressibility affects the SCP for normal-, type I-,
and type II- casing designs. As it was in the cases for cement permeabilities (Fig. 5) and mud densities (Fig.
7), this case also shows an increase in CCI length for the same cement column length has the potential of
reducing SCP problems. That is, with normal casing, a stabilized SCP is reached earlier than for cases with
either type I or type II casing designs.
10 SPE-198601-MS

Figure 10—Comparison of SCP effected by Normal-, Type I- and Type II- casing profiles at different Mud compressibilities

Contrary to cement permeability, where its increase shortened the duration to reach stabilized SCP for
all the three casing types, increasing mud compressibility increases the duration of reaching stabilized SCP
for all the three casing designs as seen in Fig. 11. This is because, compressible muds cushion SCP the most
and vice versa. However, variation of mud compressibility does not change the magnitude of stabilized SCP
in all the three casing designs which is 20.5MPa.

Figure 11—Increasing mud compressibility increases the duration of reaching stabilized SCP for all the three types of casings
SPE-198601-MS 11

The new casing designs (both type I and II) are also expected to have a good and positive response
to casing axial movements. Axial movements are influenced by the resultant axial loads (compression or
tension forces) which may be caused by weight of the string, thermal extension or contraction, ballooning
effect, and bending of pipe due to dogleg in the wellbore or buckling. Since thermal expansion or contraction
is the most obvious phenomenon for producing wells, it is considered the most effective cause of axial load
to casing. The new casing surface designs are expected to provide a tighter annular seal compared to normal
casing design during slight axial movements due to banking resistance offered by the interlocking profiles
between cement and casing.
On the other hand, the new casing designs can challenge the processes of running-in the casings, and
wellbore cleaning before cement slurry is pumped. The side rubbing of the new casings on the walls of
the open hole can cause caving which may result into incorrect calculations of the required cement slurry
volumes. The washed-out materials will lead to severe well cleaning job due to huge carvings mass that
need to be removed through mud circulation. Not only that, some of the sticky carvings may also stick in
troughs of casing profiles and cause poor cement sealing ability and make the well prone to broaching or
micro-annulus at the CCI. This challenge is especially expected for type I casing profile (Fig. 12a) due its
sharp corners the mud must pass past each crest to clean the trough compared to type II where mud flow
hits properly to the portion expected to trap clay as seen in Fig. 12b.

Figure 12—Assumed mud flow patterns for exaggerated casing profiles (red)
for both Type I and Type II. Probable trapped clay matter is shown in Type I.

It is important to note that both type I and II new casing designs create imperfections on the surface
of casing, that is, the casing will have thin wall across troughs and thick wall across crests. According
to (Adams et al. 2018, Huang et al. 2007, Lin et al. 2014, Wu and Zhang 2005), as referred to the
American Petroleum Institute (API), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards
for predicting casing burst pressure, these new casing designs will lead to elevated casing-outer-diameter
to thickness ratio across the troughs thereby lowering the bursting pressure, and vice versa. That is to say,
the bigger the pitch of the wrinkles the weaker the strength of casing, and vice versa. Since for any size of
12 SPE-198601-MS

pitch, the new casing designs offer a constant factor for CCI length improvement, the size of pitch can then
best be determined based on the casing strength requirements.
In all cases (k, Cm and ρm), type I casing design shows a big improvement in SCP mitigation, but it is
the most likely to challenge the pre-cementing wellbore cleaning job and so type II is more preferred for
implementation. However, if the section to be cemented is vertical and its formation is well known to be
strong enough to resist caving from rubbing, type I casing should be selected to benefit the maximum SCP
control.

Conclusions
Through this study, a new method to manage SCP caused by micro-annulus in offshore gas wells is found
and the following concluding remarks are therefore drawn:

• Testing the new method through predetermined values of cement permeabilities, mud densities and
mud compressibilities revealed a potential ability of the new casing designs to reduce the problem
of SCP by increasing well production time.
• Type I casing design controls SCP the most but can be prone to pre-cementing well cleaning
challenges as can trap sticky clay within its profiles.
• Since any pitch size yields a constant factor for increasing CCI length for both type I and II casings,
decision on the appropriate pitch size depends on casing strength requirements by the particular
well because the size of pitch affects casing wall thickness.
• Although this new method is targeted for off-shore gas wells, it can also be used for onshore gas
wells to reduce the number of SCP bleeds because pressure build-ups are delayed.

Acknowledgement
The authors express their appreciations to the supports from Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
51274235) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 15CX05038A).

Nomenclature
A = cross sectional annular area, cm2
AFE = Annulus Fluid Expansion
APB = Annulus Pressure Build-up
API = American Petroleum Institute
Cc = circumference of a circle, m
cm = mud compressibility, MPa−1
CCI = Casing-Cement interface
d = diameter (for type I casing and bigger circle in type II casing), m
d0 = diameter of smaller circle in type II casing, m
GOM = Gulf of Mexico
HSE = Health, Safety and Environment
ISO = International Organization for Standardization
k = cement permeability to gas, mD
Lc = length of cement column, cm or m
Lcci = total or effective length of casing cement interface, m
Lp = effective length of casing cement interface covered by unit pitch, m
Lm = length of mud column (true vertical depth), m
n = number of pitches per m
OCS = Outer Continental Shelf
SPE-198601-MS 13

p = casing head pressure, MPa

pf = formation pressure, MPa
pt = pitch
r = radius of bigger circle in type II casing, m
r0 = radius of smaller circle in type II casing, m
SCP = Sustained Casing Pressure
T = reservoir temperature, K
TOC = Top of Cement
Twh = wellhead temperature, K
Vi = initial gas chamber volume, m3
Vl = volume of annulus fluid, m3
= straight line length from point X to Y, m
= arc length from point X to Y, m
Zi = initial gas-law deviation factor,unitless
μi = initial gas viscosity, cp
ρm = mud density, g/cm3

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Author Biography
Alex Mwang'ande is a Doctoral degree candidate at China University of Petroleum (East China) since
2017 under supervision and mentorship of Professor Liao Hualin. He works as Assistant Lecturer at Mbeya
University of Science and Technology. Alex has authored an article titled Mitigation of Annulus Pressure
Buildup in Offshore Gas Wells by Determination of Top of Cements. His research direction is Integrity
failure of well cements and management of annulus pressure build-ups. He holds a MS degree in Petroleum
Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.