Mr. Erik Milito - The House Committee on Natural Resources ...

Annex A
(informative)
Background and Technology
A.1 Background
A.1.1 General
In 2010, the Minerals Management Service was reorganized into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE). <strong>The</strong> BOEMRE in 2010 referenced API RP 90 and API RP 65-2 (first
edition), in addition to API RP 65, in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
A.1.2 Historical Background
On August 16, 2000, the MMS of the U.S. Department of the Interior presented safety concerns on uncontrolled
annular flows to a new API Work Group. This group included government and industry representatives from several
organizations including API Washington staff, API Executive <strong>Committee</strong> on Drilling and Production Operations, API
Subcommittee 10 on Well Cements, International Standards Organization, International Association of Drilling
Contractors, Drilling Engineering Association, the MMS, and other interested parties. Issues related to annular casing
pressure (ACP) were also discussed. This new group called “API Work Group on Annular Flow Prevention and
Remediation” agreed to document industry “best practices” to improve zonal isolation, reduce the occurrence of SCP,
and help prevent annular flow incidents prior to, during, and after cementing operations. Studies of available
information on flow event causes and prevention helped the Work Group write “best practice” documents for
publication as API Recommended Practices. <strong>The</strong> API Work Group is responsible for the following API Recommended
Practice publications:
1) API RP 65 entitled Cementing Shallow Water Flow Zones in Deep Water Wells,
2) API Std 65-2 entitled Isolating Potential Flow Zones During Well Construction (this document).
Another group has prepared API RP 90 providing guidance on managing ACP, if encountered. API RP 90 covers
procedures such as ACP monitoring, diagnostic testing, establishing maximum allowable wellhead operating
pressures (MAWOP), documenting ACP, and assessing risk to help determine the need for mitigation measures. API
RP 90 refers to API RP 65 for more information on ACP prevention and remediation methods and materials.
A comprehensive overview of API RP 65 and its API Task Group is available in SPE paper 97168 [3] . <strong>The</strong> following
section summarizes some of the key issues studied by this API Group and addressed herein.
A.2 Historical Data and Perspectives
Historical data and verbal communications obtained from many countries strongly suggests that annular flows, gas
migration, vent flows, ACP (both sustained and thermal annular casing pressure), pressure zone kicks, and LWC
incidents, particularly prior to, during or after cementing pipe strings, can have grave consequences. Some of them
have caused loss of human life and/or severe injuries, environmental pollution, loss of expensive facilities, and
negative effects on the operator’s future ability to obtain leases. Historical data also suggests that this is a common
problem and presents an opportunity for governments, industry, and other contributing parties to work together on
solutions. <strong>The</strong> API is committed to this task and continually works on relevant standard practices that help industry
work safely and protect the environment.
API’s publication of a series of API RP 65 documents is a key part of the solution by documenting proven technology
that can mitigate and prevent annular flows linked to the well’s casing installation and cementing process. Unforeseen
events can happen on any cement job, even when it has been properly designed, so relevant well design parameters,
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