Systematic Experimental Investigation on In-Situ Self-Adaptive Sealing Property of Composite Pressure-Activated Sealant for Curing Minor Tubular Leaks

Lin Xu, Xiaohe Huang, Xin Huang, Jie Xu, Xijin Xing, Mingbiao Xu, Chao Ma and Meilan Huang
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Lin Xu: School of Petroleum Engineering & Environment, Zhejiang Ocean Univerisity, Zhoushan 316022, China
Xiaohe Huang: School of Petroleum Engineering & Environment, Zhejiang Ocean Univerisity, Zhoushan 316022, China
Xin Huang: Unconventional Oil and Gas Science and Technology Research Institute, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Jie Xu: Institute of Exploration Techniques, CAGS, Langfang 065000, China
Xijin Xing: Beijing Research Center of CNOOC (China) Co., Ltd., Beijing 100027, China
Mingbiao Xu: Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Unconventional Oil and Gas, College of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China
Chao Ma: Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Unconventional Oil and Gas, College of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan 430100, China
Meilan Huang: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT95AG, UK

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Curing minor leaks and restoring the integrity of a wellbore in a safe and economical way is always challenging in oil and gas production. In this work, a composite pressure-activated sealant, combined with liquid and solid sealing materials, was prepared via the demulsification approach. The structure, morphology, and size distribution of key particulates in the sealant were examined, and the in-situ self-adaptive sealing property was examined with a specially design dynamic sealing detector. The results indicated that the pressure-activated sealant was a multi-dispersed phase system, and the dispersed colloid particles were regular in shape and had a narrow size distribution of 300–400 μm. The solid sealing materials were introduced to construct a composite pressure-activated sealant, and the sealing capability can be markedly reinforced by cooperativity of liquid and solid sealing materials. A mechanochemical coupling model was put forward to rationalize the dynamic sealing process. Finally, such sealant system was employed in a certain offshore gas well with sustained casing pressure to verify its applicability in minor defect repairs.

Keywords: composite pressure-activated sealant; minor leak repair; self-adaptive sealing property; liquid-solid jamming transition; cooperative sealing effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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