The cement sheath, serving as the primary element of well barriers, plays a crucial role in maintaining zonal isolation, protecting the casing from corrosion, and providing mechanical support. As the petroleum industry shifts from conventional to deep unconventional resources, the service environment for cement sheaths has become increasingly complex. High temperatures, high pressures, cyclic loading, and thermal stresses in downhole conditions have significantly increased the risk of cement sheath failure. A growing trend toward theoretical analysis of stress distribution, failure modes, and control mechanisms within the casing-cement sheath-formation system is evident. This paper comprehensively reviews theoretical research on cement sheath integrity from four key perspectives: (1) the concept of cement sheath integrity failure, (2) cement sheath constitutive models, (3) analytical models of the cement sheath-casing-formation system, and (4) numerical simulations of the cement sheath-casing-formation system. Through these discussions, this review provides profound insights into cement sheath integrity failure and offers valuable guidance for future research and practices.

Underground gas storage reservoirs (UGSRs) are used to keep the natural gas supply smooth. Native natural gas is commonly used as cushion gas to maintain the reservoir pressure and cannot be extracted in the depleted gas reservoir transformed UGSR, which leads to wasting huge amounts of this natural energy resource. CO₂ is an alternative gas to avoid this particular issue. However, the mixing of CO₂ and CH₄ in the UGSR challenges the application of CO₂ as cushion gas. In this work, the Donghae gas reservoir is used to investigate the suitability of using CO₂ as cushion gas in depleted gas reservoir transformed UGSR. The impact of the geological and engineering parameters, including the CO₂ fraction for cushion gas, reservoir temperature, reservoir permeability, residual water and production rate, on the reservoir pressure, gas mixing behavior, and CO₂ production are analyzed detailly based on the 15 years cyclic gas injection and production. The results showed that the maximum accepted CO₂ concentration for cushion gas is 9% under the condition of production and injection for 120 d and 180 d in a production cycle at a rate of 4.05 kg/s and 2.7 kg/s, respectively. The typical curve of the mixing zone thickness can be divided into four stages, which include the increasing stage, the smooth stage, the suddenly increasing stage, and the periodic change stage. In the periodic change stage, the mixed zone increases with the increasing of CO₂ fraction, temperature, production rate, and the decreasing of permeability and water saturation. The CO₂ fraction in cushion gas, reservoir permeability, and production rate have a significant effect on the breakthrough of CO₂ in the production well, while the effect of water saturation and temperature is limited.

Maintaining the cement sheath mechanical integrity is the key to ensuring the benefit and safety of oil and gas well drilling and production. The main function of the cement sheath is to isolate oil and gas from water layers, which prevents the formation fluid from channeling to other layers. At present, how to effectively evaluate the cement sheath sealing performance is the fundamental problem to be solved urgently. This paper first carried out the cement sheath annulus isolation experiment and analyzed the main forms of cement sheath seal failure. Then, the interaction of the cement sheath, casing, and surrounding rock in the initial state and subsequent wellbore operations was explained. An analysis model for the cement sheath mechanical integrity incorporating the nonlinear elastic constitutive equation was proposed. Based on the statistical damage variable in continuum mechanics theory, a damage variable was established. The results show that the main form of cement sheath integrity failure is tensile crack damage and micro-annulus caused by plastic yielding. The damage variable can quantitatively describe the cement sheath mechanical integrity. The field case analysis shows that the damage variable is highly correlated with wellbore pressure and also verifies the applicability of the variable. Reducing wellbore pressure will help maintain the mechanical integrity of the cement sheath, providing sealing performance. This research can provide a reference for designing the mechanical properties of the cement sheath and improving the sealing ability of the cement sheath.

In the context of carbon neutrality, the phase-out of coal from the energy structure has resulted in numerous old coal mines that possess abundant underground space resources suitable for underground pumped hydroelectric energy storage (UPHES). Site selection and estimation of potential are critical to the planning and implementation of UPHES in old coal mines. This paper introduces a two-step site selection concept, including a screening assessment followed by a comprehensive assessment, to determine suitable locations for UPHES. The screening indicators in the screening assessment comprise geological features, mine water disasters, and minimum installed capacity, while the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied in the comprehensive assessment. Additionally, coal mines in Henan Province are preliminarily screened through the screening assessment and the potential for UPHES is thoroughly investigated. The estimated volume of the drifts and shafts in old coal mines is approximately 1.35 $\times$ 10⁷ m³, while in producing coal mines, it is around 2.96 $\times$ 10⁷ m³. Furthermore, the corresponding annual potential for UPHES is 1468.9 GWh and 3226.3 GWh, respectively. By consuming surplus wind and solar power, UPHES is able to reduce 4.68 $\times$ 10⁵ tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The study provides preliminary guidance for policy-makers in developing UPHES in old coal mines.