A major operator on the Caspian Turkmen shelf has started to encounter sustained casing pressures (SCP) attributable to insufficient isolation across a hydrocarbon gas zone, due to downhole stresses and other contributing factors. Enhanced placement techniques of conventional cements failed to prevent SCP, confirming the requirement for an alternative cement system that can withstand anticipated stresses and resolve this challenge. An innovative and cost-effective solution was applied and successfully solved the SCP challenge due to its unique self-healing properties.

If cracks or microannuli occur and hydrocarbons reach the cement, the system has the capability to repair itself, restoring integrity of the cement sheath without external intervention. The cement system is placed conventionally in the annulus across or above the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. It then acts as a pressure seal, expanding to accommodate downhole changes and healing if any hydrocarbon reaches it. This technology has been used in four wells in the field with excellent results.

Two wells were used to demonstrate the capabilities of the self-healing cement as a lead cement slurry, which created a cap over the pay zones. The self-healing cement was designed with low Young's modulus for optimum flexibility. To minimize the risk of set cement integrity failure due to microannuli or microdebonding from chemical shrinkage after setting, linear expansion up to 1.2% was incorporated into the design. After cementing, the wells were intentionally exposed to a sequence of high-pressure tests, which induced annular pressures in the wells. However, because of the self-repair capability of this cement, isolation and integrity were effectively restored in the two wells within 1 to 2 weeks without external intervention. As a result, the self-healing cement technology has become the standard for the field for all future wells, and the operator plans to extend the self-healing cement technology to other fields with similar challenges.

This paper clearly demonstrates successful casing pressure remediation without intervention by engineering a flexible, self-healing cement system. The design strategy, execution, evaluation, and results for two wells are discussed in detail and will help to guide future engineering and operations around the world.