{"id":81856,"date":"2019-12-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.corrosionpedia.com\/2019\/12\/06\/decommissioning-your-cathodic-protection-well"},"modified":"2019-12-06T13:47:33","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T18:52:11","slug":"decommissioning-your-cathodic-protection-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.corrosionpedia.com\/2\/6500\/cathodic-protection\/decommissioning-your-cathodic-protection-well","title":{"rendered":"Decommissioning Your Cathodic Protection Well"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cathodic protection (CP)<\/a> systems are often used to protect oil & gas wells from corrosion. However, at some point all wells are eventually decommissioned; doing so requires some thought and planning.<\/p>\n In the oil and gas industry, plugging and sealing of production wells that have reached the end of their natural life has been a common practice for decades. The oil and gas industry uses the term “plug and abandon” (P&A) for this operation. For oil and gas wells that often extend several thousands of feet into the earth, this can be an expensive undertaking. In the cathodic protection (CP) world, deep anode groundbed systems<\/a> are installed at much more shallow depths (generally no deeper than a few hundred feet) and have typically been excluded from the same filling and sealing requirements. Cathodic protection well abandonment was merely a matter of removing the surface equipment (rectifier, junction box, meter loop and pole) and cutting the wires connecting to the anode(s)<\/a> down hole. (For background reading, see Corrosion Prevention in Buried Pipelines<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Decommissioning a deep anode well, or ground bed<\/a> simply by removing the surface hardware and walking away is often no longer acceptable. This is due to concerns with environmental impacts and safety hazards associated with the deep hole into which the anode assembly was installed. A growing number of states and local jurisdictions both within the United States and abroad have passed regulations requiring owners of deep anode groundbed cathodic protection systems<\/a> to follow similar plug and abandonment requirements as those in place for production wells. Basically, the owner is required to seal the hole completely prior to abandoning the cathodic protection well.<\/p>\n The primary reason for abandoning a cathodic protection borehole<\/a> is that it could become a conduit for contaminating drinking aquifers<\/a>. While many cathodic protection boreholes are not deep enough to reach into or cross aquifers or other sub-surface water zones, the very existence of a borehole can be perceived as a problem. As noted in the California Well Standards:<\/p>\n “Cathodic Protection wells, along with other types of wells, can allow groundwater degradation to occur. Improperly constructed, maintained or abandoned cathodic protection boreholes can constitute a preferential pathway for the movement of poor quality water, pollutants and contaminants.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n An additional concern with improperly abandoned cathodic protection wells is the potential safety hazard that they may present. (Learn more about pipeline safety in The Impact of the Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 on the Industry<\/a>.) Fortunately, cathodic protection boreholes have small diameters, are almost always backfilled<\/a> and plugged at the top, and therefore are not a hazard to children or animals.<\/p>\n In general, plugging and abandoning a cathodic protection<\/a> well consists of three basic requirements:<\/p>\nCathodic Protection (CP) Well Abandonment<\/h2>\n
Concerns over Cathodic Protection Boreholes<\/h2>\n
Cathodic Protection Well Abandonment Steps<\/h2>\n
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