Monitoring casing corrosion of legacy wells using CSEM: implications for large-scale energy and CO2 storage projects in shut-down hydrocarbon fields

Abstract

Large-scale CO2 and energy storage is a mandatory part of the green shift to reduce CO2 emissions and limit consequences of climate change. Large-scale storage will require the use of shut-down depleted hydrocarbon fields to take advantage of well-characterized reservoirs and cap rocks. Thanks to extensive data from historical hydrocarbon production, the uncertainties related to storage capacity, injectivity, and containment are limited. However, legacy exploration and production infrastructure, and especially legacy wells, are the main threat for possible fluid leakage toward the surface. Such legacy wells are numerous and penetrate the full rock column. In this paper, we describe a workflow to screen and monitor legacy wells in the shut-down Frigg Field in the North Sea. By using numerical modeling of electromagnetic (EM) field propagation in one of the Frigg Field wells, we explore the complex interactions of fields, currents, and well structure in the presence of corrosion. The corrosion is implemented as a change in the electrical conductivity of the innermost steel casing at different depths along the structure. To enhance probing depth, we plug the dipole source (1 km long) into the casing at the seafloor and excite the casing as an antenna. We find that at moderate levels of corrosion, the current distribution is significantly modified with respect to the uncorroded case. This generates a signal that propagates and can be observed at the seafloor in the numerical results. Other elements of the well geometry (e.g., concentric overlapping cement casings) have their own effect on the signal. This leads the possibility of estimating the location of the corroded area within the well geometry. These results suggest that by relaxing some of the model's approximations and implementing realistic transmitters, it will be possible to evaluate and optimize controlled-source EM survey strategies for detecting and monitoring corrosion levels.