North Kuwait Down-hole Corrosion Management Challenge and the Use of New Corrosion Detection Tools to Define the Extent of the Problem

Abstract

Abstract The North Kuwait (NK) Development Plan calls for rapid increase in NK production, mainly through the implementation of waterflooding in NK major reservoirs. The new production profile incorporates increased water production and, based on corrosion prediction models, results in elevated corrosion rates in down-hole completion equipment. This predicted increased corrosion has already become a reality in the past three years. Severe down-hole corrosion in production and injection wells has resulted in tubing and casing failures and severe casing/tubing corrosions. Remediation of these wells has resulted in problematic, high cost workovers, and in one case, the loss of the productive interval and the associated reserves. To manage current and future corrosion in NK, an extensive corrosion-monitoring program has been implemented to initially identify the extent of corrosion in the current well stock and then to adopt corrosion prevention strategies to mitigate the problem and reduce the associated cost and production impact. The down-hole internal corrosion monitoring effort is one of the first steps in implementing the NK Corrosion Management Plan. This paper discusses the results of the program to date and describes the diagnostic tools used to effectively monitor the extent of down-hole corrosion in North Kuwait. Different tools such as the caliper, MicroVertiLog tool (MVRT), and surface inspection methods have been utilized to quantify down-hole corrosion. The paper also compares MVRT tool response with caliper and surface inspection data in an effort to ensure down-hole corrosion detection corresponds with results measured at surface. This will allow immediate corrective action to be taken for the completions based on down-hole log results.