Real-Time Well-Integrity Monitoring Using Fiber-Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing

Summary Proper cemented casing strings are a key requirement for maintaining well integrity, guaranteeing optimal operation and safe provision of hydrocarbon and geothermal resources from the pay zone to surface facilities. Throughout the life cycle of a well, high–temperature/high–pressure changes in addition to shut–in cyclic periods can lead to strong variations in thermal and mechanical load on the well architecture. The current procedures to evaluate cement quality and to measure downhole temperature are mainly dependent on wireline–logging campaigns. In this paper, we investigate the application of the fiber–optic distributed–acoustic–sensing (DAS) technology to acquire dynamic axial–strain changes caused by propagating elastic waves along the wellbore structure. The signals are recorded by a permanently installed fiber–optic cable and are studied for the possibility of real–time well–integrity monitoring. The fiber–optic cable was installed along the 18⅝–in. anchor casing and the 21–in.–hole section of a geothermal well in Iceland. During cementing operations, temperature was continuously measured using distributed–temperature–sensing (DTS) technology to monitor the cement placement. DAS data were acquired continuously for 9 days during drilling and injection testing of the reservoir interval in the 12¼–in. openhole section. The DAS data were used to calculate average–axial–strain–rate profiles during different operations on the drillsite. Signals recorded along the optical fiber result from elastic deformation caused by mechanical energy applied from inside (e.g., pressure fluctuations, drilling activities) or outside (e.g., seismic signals) of the well. The results indicate that the average–axial–strain rate of a fiber–optic cable installed behind a casing string generates trends similar to those of a conventional cement–bond log (CBL). The obtained trends along well depth therefore indicate that DAS data acquired during different drilling and testing operations can be used to monitor the mechanical coupling between cemented casing strings and the surrounding formations, hence the cement integrity. The potential use of DTS and DAS technology in downhole evaluations would extend the portfolio to monitor and evaluate qualitatively in real time cement–integrity changes without the necessity of executing costly well–intervention programs throughout the well's life cycle.