First-Ever Seven-Pipe Corrosion Evaluation for Comprehensive Assessment of Pipe Integrity in Complex Well Completions

Well completions typically encompass a series of multiple barriers, which are crucial for supporting both production activities and protecting aquifers from contaminants. Monitoring the integrity of these completions is pivotal for ensuring the reliability of oil and gas production while safeguarding the environment. In scenarios involving diverse pressure gradients, geological complexities, or corrosive settings, the number of barriers may exceed five to enhance protection. This amplifies the intricacy of assessing pipe integrity within such wells. Even if tubing extraction is feasible, the presence of multiple permanent barriers exacerbates the challenge for current nondestructive testing methodologies to accurately assess metal loss within each barrier. This paper presents a comprehensive demonstration utilizing a full-scale fixture, highlighting the application of a multifrequency electromagnetic (EM) pipe inspection tool with multiple transmitter and receiver arrays to estimate the individual wall thicknesses of up to seven barriers. The fixture comprises seven pipes with outer diameters (OD) ranging from 2.875 to 24 in., featuring non-uniform machined defects to mimic realistic metal loss profiles induced by corrosion. The effectiveness of the tool in scenarios involving seven pipes is demonstrated by leveraging yard test data acquired from a full-scale fixture and real well field data. These tests provide empirical evidence supporting the tool’s precision in accurately determining the extent and position of corrosion within each individual barrier up to seven nested pipes. Additionally, the field test demonstrates that this nondestructive testing tool can play an important role in the assessment of the root cause of metal loss in such complicated well completion and enable proactive planning for remedial measures.