SPE-198570-MS

Effective Solutions To Well Integrity Management Using Multi Finger Caliper

And Electromagnetic Tool

Nadir Ajgou, Bachir Graba, and Laid Sayah, HESP; Moustafa Ismail, Alfir Yakupov, Mahmoud Saada, Marvin
Rourke, and Mongi Abdelmoula, GOWell International, LLC

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
of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written
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Abstract
A multi-sensor magnetic thickness detector tool has been developed specifically for the corrosion evaluation
of multi barrier pipes. The electromagnetic tool would be able to identify a metal reduction of each pipe
individually. The tool is combinable with Multi-finger caliper, which provides three-dimensional profiling
of the internal pipe. Combining both tools together would provide a better assessment of well integrity and
corrosion management.
The magnetic thickness detector tool is based on the physics of pulse eddy currents. It can detect up
to three barriers and measure circumferential average metal loss at each barrier. Simulation software with
advanced modeling techniques will aid to identify corrosion extent through a comparison of simulated model
decay curves with real tool response. The Multi-finger caliper tool provides direct measurements of internal
tubing and casing diameters. The mechanically measuring fingers will move radially along the inner pipe
wall, which provides accurate diameter change.
In this paper, we are presenting a case study where a magnetic thickness detector tool detected corrosion
in the outer barrier and was able to provide both pipe assessments individually. These results have been
confirmed with running Multi-finger caliper and showed that the first pipe was of good condition. Later on,
the tubing was retrieved and circumferential acoustic scanning tool was run and confirmed the metal loss
detected by magnetic thickness detector tool. Similar cases showed that the combinability of Multi-finger
caliper and magnetic thickness detector tool would help to identify inner versus outer corrosion in which it
would save both time and money through real-time operational interventions.

Introduction
During a well's life cycle, multiple well integrity issues may arise and would lead to potential loss of
production due to leaks over a vast period of time. Periodic monitoring and inspection of well bore would
save both cost and risk to the current and future production. Over the last few decades, the dependency of
Cased hole logging tools have been arising, and implementing logging tools to detect corrosion and well
completion failures have proven successful.
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One of the tools is Multi finger Caliper, the tool depends on the direct measurement of the mechanical
fingers and provides dimensional profiling of the inner pipe, which can lead to identify well deformation and
corroded pipe joints along with effectiveness of completion items (Mahmoud et. al, 2018). 3D visualization
of Multi finger caliper data allows quickly and accurately understands the details of localized tubing damage,
and can be used as a correlation of tubing damage to well bore geometry, other leak detection logs, previous
caliper data of the same well interval and cross-correlation of data with different wells. (Julian J et al, 2007).
Multi finger calipers are used to investigate casing wear that is caused by drill pipes, the wear could weaken
the casing and in such case well monitoring can prevent casing collapse (Maxted, L., 1995)
Pipe corrosion is natural phenomenon in harsh environment of oil and gas wells, and the monitoring
of the corrosion in multiple tabular would allow to prevent casing failure. Many tools was introduced to
monitor casing corrosion, one is Remote eddy field current tool which responds to total metal thickness of
all combined casings (Brill et al., 2011). Latest technologies is Magnetic Thickness detector which is based
on the physics of pulsed eddy current and provides quantitative metal loss computation up to three barriers
separately (Marvin et. al, 2013). The electromagnetic tool is based on the physics of pulse eddy currents.
It can detect up to three barriers and measure circumferential average metal loss at each barrier. With the
aid of advanced modeling algorithms that combines a powerful forward modeling module and simulation
tool, it can be used to predict job specific tool responses to allow effective job planning and comparison
of simulated model/nominal decays with actual (tool) responses enables the calculation of wall thicknesses
of the first, second and third barriers thicknesses independently. The simulated model decays are used to
estimate tubing/casing Electro-magnetic parameters; electrical conductivity & magnetic permeability and
estimate their thicknesses.
One of the main industrial problems that threaten the life of the well is Sustained Annulus Pressure. It
refers to a pressure build up within the annulus, either tubing casing annulus or casing-casing annulus. Main
causes of pressure build up are the corrosion of the outer casing and channeling of gas and fluid in poor
cement, or the failure of one of completion items. Understanding the source of pressure build up will allow
us to proper intervene and control it. The key point to identify the down hole leak source is to choose the
proper diagnostic tools. The capabilities of using through tubing logging tools to identify source of leak is
considered one of the most efficient techniques implemented. Combining Both Multi Finger Caliper and
Magnetic Thickness detector along with Cement bond logs / Circumferential Acoustic scanning tool would
provide full diagnosis of well integrity challenges and pinpoint main source of damage/ failure in pipes.
In this paper we will present real time operation intervention using Multi finger caliper and Magnetic
thickness detector where they were able to detect the source of annulus build up, also the results were
confirmed with Circumferential Acoustic scanning tool data after the tubing was retrieved.

Techniques
Multi Finger caliper is considered one of the most accurate measurement tools to assess pipe integrity.
Multi-Finger Caliper tools provide direct, precise and consistent measurements of internal tubing and casing
diameters that is used in various environments; drilling/work-over, injection and production. While up pass
logging, the measuring fingers move radially along the inner casing or tubing wall, detecting any diameter
change. This produces a high-resolution record of the tubular geometry which can be viewed and presented
as a conventional log, a cross section, or 3-D color enhanced image. It is also used to measure the build-
up of scale, paraffin or other mineral deposits in the wellbore and across completion components which
can act as flow restriction.
Magnetic thickness detector is used to evaluate condition of the pipe and the corrosion extent in multiple
tabular. The tool employs an electromagnetic transmitter and receiver coils to induce transit or pulsed
eddy currents in the cross section of tabular being evaluated and measure the decaying electromagnetic
response generated from the induced signal with receiver coil (Javier et al, 2013). The physical fundament
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of Magnetic thickness detector is Faraday's law of induction. When applying Pulsed current into the
transmitting coil, there will be time – varying electro motive force in the receiving coil. So when there
is any thickness variation either a gain or a reduction than the nominal, the induced electro motive force
shall alternate timely. Since the electromagnetic properties of plastics, cement, air and any other insulating
material are equal to vacuum; the electromagnetic field only magnetizes the carbon steel pipes. The tool has
two sets of sensors, one is short "C" sensor and the other is long "A" sensor. Sensor A examines a wide range
of signals from the fast decay alloys to far field signals from larger pipes, while the C sensor is concerned
with smaller measurement aperture which means better resolution for inner smaller pipes.

Statement of the problem

A Middle East operator is currently examining number of wells that has records of Sustained annulus
pressure. The operator needs to assess the casing integrity in rigless operation (thru tubing) prior to the
work over rig move, hence a fast and efficient solution is required to achieve the objective of the survey.
The main objective is to detect the casing failure in the outer pipes and to inspect if it has reached to the
internal pipe as well.
Oil producing well, where sustained annulus pressure was observed, was put under examination to locate
source of leak / component failure prior to a work over rig move. Based on the diagnosis of the problem,
Magnetic Thickness Detector and Multi-Finger Caliper survey were scheduled over the entire wellbore
interval from the surface to the bottom. The well completion diagram is shown in the Fig 1 below:
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Figure 1—Well Diagram

The operation plan proposed was to run 40-arm multi-finger caliper to inspect maximum penetration in
7" casing and Magnetic Thickness Detector to inspect metal loss in 7", 9 5/8" and 13 3/8" casings. Taking
into advantage of tools combinability, both tools will run in the same string which will reduce the total
logging time.

Field Verification
Prior to logging, few verification steps should be performed to ensure the Magnetic thickness detector tool
is fully functional and ready for logging. One of them is using the field verifier, which is made from 2 7/8"
and 5" tubing joint, and its main role to validate the acquired data range of each sensor.
The tool has different mode schemes for different well bore details; each mode is concerned with the
optimum operation duration and data acquisition for each interval. Mode selection is done using a pre job
planning software, in which the casing details and pipe weights are input into the simulation software and
based on the sensitivity analysis and Model response, the proper mode is suggested.
For the Multi finger Caliper tool, the Arms should be calibrated to ensure their condition are good enough
prior to logging. One is Master calibration, where the arms are verified using calibrator ring, and it should be
SPE-198570-MS 5

close to Casing or the tubing ID targeted. The fingers are moved on the calibrator ring (at different ID's) one
by one, then the calibration data is saved and ready to use for logging. This calibration along with deviation
and relative bearing calibration are saved in one file which would be used later in logging.

Processing Workflow
The processing of Multi Finger Caliper and Magnetic Thickness Detector data are done in the same
commercial software platform. The electromagnetic processing principle is based on empirical equations
developed using collective data measured at various well completion scenarios. These data are normalized
and presented as thickness curves, along with visual representation of the normalized curves in a colored
visualization map (Marvin 2014). The normalized data is based on the average nominal thickness of the
pipe, where green represents " Clean" nominal pipe condition, red represents a metal reduction and blue
refers to an increase in metal (completion items, packers, collars) at specified interval, an example of the
Color Map is shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 2—Field verifier

Figure 3—Calibrator ring

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Figure 4—Example of Normalized color map

The Caliper tool main step for processing would be centralization, as the tool center line may not be
exactly at the pipe center line due to gravity in deviated wells, tool vibration or deformed pipe. Maximum
penetration, mean wall loss and other outputs are calculated automatically in the software, along with the
ability to have the data visualized in 3D format.

Results and discussions

According to the Magnetic thickness detector and Multi Finger Caliper results overall 7", 9 5/8" and 13 3/8"
casings are in good condition with exception at one joint in the 9 5/8" cased interval with significant metal
loss and one joint in the 7" casing that has significant damage.
In the single 7" casing interval the Magnetic Thickness detector computed a 29% wall loss and the Multi
Finger Caliper measured a maximum penetration of 100 % at the X523 interval (Fig 5). Review of the 3D
image generated from the Multi Finger Caliper data it can be observed there are two small holes with 100%
penetration and overall wall-loss of 21 % at the damaged interval. Since the Magnetic Thickness detector
log measures the average wall-loss circumferentially the 29% average wall loss combines both the moderate
wall loss and the small holes.
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Figure 5—Magnetic Thickness Detector shows Intensive wall loss in 7" casing

Figure 6—3D view from Multi Finger Caliper at the damaged interval in 7" Casing
8 SPE-198570-MS

Another zone of interest with high metal loss was located in the two pipe 7" and 9 5/8" section. Magnetic
thickness detector computed a 79 % wall loss in the 9 5/8" at X204 and minor metal loss in 7" casing at the
same interval (Fig 7), which was confirmed by Multi Finger Caliper results.

Figure 7—Magnetic Thickness Detector shows Intensive wall loss in 9 5/8" casing
SPE-198570-MS 9

The conclusion from the logging results is the source of Annulus-B pressure build up (i.e. SAP between
7" and 9-5/8" casing) was corroded 9-5/8" pipe most probably caused from electrochemical (EC) corrosion
on the outside of the 9-5/8" casing. This can happen when formation water from active aquifer reservoir
come in contact with outer casing and after long exposure period significant corrosion can build up which
eventually leads to a 100% pipe penetration (hole) that causes pressure build up in the Annulus.
Based on these conclusions, the client decided to cut and pull out the 7" casing to verify the MTD log
findings and the conclusion that the 9-5/8" casing was penetrated at X204 interval. After the 7" casing was
removed a Circumferential Acoustic Scanning Tool was run across the 9-5/8" casing to evaluate cement
conditions and for pipe inspection.
The Circumferential Acoustic Scanning Tool is an ultrasonic tool with rotating scanner head that provides
high-resolution images of the inner casing ID and pipe thickness together with cement bond information.
The tool contains a high-frequency acoustic transducer to provide a full 360° profile of the pipe, cement and
rocks. (www.Hallibutron.com). The Circumferential Acoustic Scanning Tool operates with pulsed acoustic
energy so that it can image the borehole environment. Short flash of acoustic energy are emitted by a
rotating transducer in pulse-echo mode. Acoustic signal travels through the wellbore environment and incur
partial reflection at the inner pipe wall, cement and rocks. Reflected pulses are received by the receiver.
The amplitudes of the reflected pulses form the basis of the acoustic image of the casing geometry, cement
bond quality and formation properties.
The results from the Circumferential Acoustic Scanning tool identified the damage in 9 5/8" casing (Fig
8, 9) from the pipe ID (radii) and casing thickness images.
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Figure 8—Raw data Image of Circumferential Acoustic Scanner tool and

Magnetic Thickness Detector in the interval of Intensive wall loss in 9 5/8" casing
SPE-198570-MS 11

Figure 9—Circumferential Acoustic Scanner tool internal radii (ID) measurements shows Intensive wall loss in 9 5/8" casing.

A comparison between the acoustic scanning tools log and the Magnetic Thickness detector thru tubing
results (Fig 10) shows a good match across the 9 5/8" casing damage interval. The close correlation
between Magnetic thickness detector and Circumferential Acoustic Scanning Tool results demonstrates
that evaluating damage geometry and differentiating external/internal corrosion as well as intervals with
throughout of holes in the casing.
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Figure 10—Comparison of Circumferential Acoustic Scanner tool and Magnetic

Thickness Detector in the interval of Intensive wall loss in 9 5/8" casing

Conclusions
In this paper we have demonstrated the following points;
1. Magnetic Thickness detector was able to identify that the source of Annulus pressure is intensive
metal loss in the outer 9 5/8" casing, and inner 7" casing metal loss.
2. Multi finger Caliper confirmed the results of the Electromagnetic tool in 7" casing with 100%
penetration.
3. The inner 7" casing was cut and pulled and an alternative log (Circumferential acoustic scanning tool)
was ran to verify the Magnetic Thickness Detector results of 9 5/8" outer casing corrosion.
4. The scanning tool is showing a good match with The Electromagnetic tool around the damaged zone,
also confirmed was high metal loss and poor cement at that interval.
5. Magnetic Thickness detector tool showed high accuracy to detect the outer casing and provide both
inner and outer pipe conditions independently.
6. The combination of caliper and electromagnetic tool provides comprehensive results to detect
corrosion intervals and to identify the corrosion extent in multiple pipes.
7. The combinability of both tools in one string proven to be time and cost effective, and the fast
turnaround time for the answer report was helpful to decide the adequate work over plan suitable for
the well.
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8. This case study encouraged the Middle East operator to launch a campaign in nearby wells to have a
comprehensive assessment of well integrity and monitoring.

Abbreviations
ID – Inner Diameter in – inches
OD – Outer Diameter
MFC- Multi Finger Caliper
MTD- Magnetic Thickness Detector
CAST- Circumferential Acoustic Scanning Tool
SAP – Sustained Annulus Pressure
EC – Electrochemical
CHP – Casing Head Pressure

References
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Appendix

Figure—Multi Finger Caliper tool

Figure—Magnetic Thickness Detector tool

Table 1—Multi-Finger Caliper Tool Specification

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Table 2—Magnetic thickness detector tool