Successful Barrier Enhancement Application of Epoxy Based Resin for Multiple Casing to Casing Annuli Having Tight Injectivity - Case Study from Saudi Arabian Peninsula

This study describes the approach used for enhancing the well integrity that was compromised with gas flow through a casing-casing annulus (CCA). Extremely tight injectivity at a CCA demands a solid free solution which not only can be injected but also resist high differential pressures to provide a long-term barrier in CCA. In this paper a successful leak remediation using an epoxy resin system helped the operator save a well and restart its production. Several pressure tests were conducted for identifying an extremely tight casing leak which was causing formation gas travelling to surface through the annulus. This issue required the customer to look for an efficient remedial solution to seal off the gas leakage and regain productivity. Due to the extremely low injectivity, a conventional cement squeeze or any solid laden particle-based squeeze approach was prone to fail. Alternatively, a tailored solid free epoxy resin system was placed in the annulus using an unconventional placement technique resulted in barrier enhancement and helped the operator place the well back into production. For a mature well flowing through 7 × 9 5/8‑in. and 9 5/8 × 13 3/8‑in., a tailored epoxy-based resin system formulation was placed in the well bore with modified surface operations procedures which helped in eliminating current annular pressure to regain well integrity and production. Remedial operations were performed from the surface by squeezing to seal off the gas coming from the annulus. A Tailored design derived from rigorous lab testing and perfect field execution resulted in CCA pressure remediation in a single attempt of the treatment injection, proving that the concept of using a solids-free resin to enhance existing deteriorated barriers is a reliable method. This epoxy resin system helped the operator to regain the well integrity and production in the shortest time without expensive well intervention operations. Epoxy resin based systems have been identified as a novel solution to remediate barrier integrity for well construction and workover operations, hence such case histories with enhanced operations procedures are helpful in increasing awareness of the benefits that can be attained in challenging high-pressure, low-injectivity environments, and can improve well economics.