Strategic petroleum reserve caverns casing damage update 1997
- and others
Hanging casing strings are used for oil and brine transfer in the domal salt storage caverns of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Damage to these casings is of concern because hanging string replacement is costly and because of implications on cavern stability. Although the causes of casing damage are not always well defined, many events leading to damage are assumed to be the result of salt falls impacting the hanging strings. However, in some cases, operational aspects may be suspected. The history of damage to hanging strings is updated in this study to include the most recent events. Potential general domal and local operational and material factors that could influence the tendency for caverns to have salt falls are examined in detail. As a result of this examination, general factors, such as salt dome anomalies and crude type, and most of the operational factors, such as geometry, location and depressurizations, are not believed to be primary causes of casing damage. Further analysis is presented of the accumulation of insolubles during cavern solutioning and accumulation of salt fall material on the cavern floor. Inaccuracies in sump geometry probably make relative cavern insolubles contents uncertain. However, determination of the salt fall accumulations, which are more accurate, suggest that the caverns with the largest salt fall accumulations show the greatest number of hanging string events. There is good correlation between the accumulation rate and the number of events when the event numbers are corrected to an equivalent number for a single hanging string in a quiescent, operating cavern. The principal factor that determines the propensity for a cavern to exhibit this behavior is thought to be the effect of impurity content on the fracture behavior of salt.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 574269
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--98-0090; ON: DE98003220
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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