4th Meeting of the Wellbore Integrity Network Meeting

Publication Overview

The broad aims of the network remain unchanged, and they are:

• To provide confidence to all stakeholders that the mechanisms involved with maintaining wellbores are understood.
• That the safety of storage, specifically in relation to wellbores, can be ensured because the risks can be identified and minimised.
• That wellbores can be monitored for early signs of leakage and remediated as necessary. The meeting also had some specific aims identified in the conclusions from the 3rd meeting, and these included:
  • Investigating the contrast between field and lab results.
  • Updating the advances in technologies and understanding, as was seen between the 2nd and 3rd meetings.
  • Continued investigation of the advancements made in the modelling of wellbores and the reactions between CO₂ and wellbore materials.

Publication Summary

The key conclusions that can be drawn from the meeting are: 1. The contrast between field and laboratory based experiments noted at last years meeting is still present, but results are moving together, demonstrating a greater understanding of the interactions and reactions in the wellbore and near-wellbore environments. Laboratory experiments designed to simulate long-term exposure to CO₂ are showing results more inline with experience gained in the field. There is however still some question of the methods used to accelerate the ageing process, and this is an area for further consideration and development. 2. The models that have been developed to simulate long-term, large-scale CCS operations have improved greatly, and will be required to play a major role in addressing the concerns of both public and regulatory bodies alike. The models have been developed to allow feedback from real-life experience to improve and streamline the simulations, meaning that each subsequent simulation will be more accurate and reliable than the previous. 3. There remain a great variety of sampling techniques, and there would be a great benefit in rationalising these into a consensus methodology. This will also prove beneficial in presenting a unified approach when justifying actions and proposals to the general public and regulators. 4. The network organisers will attempt to facilitate at the next meeting the opportunity to bring samples together to allow comparison and contrast activities. It is envisaged that his may run alongside the poster presentation at the next meeting, but it is also accepted that transport of samples may not be possible.