A 1954 survey by NACE Subcommittee TP- IHIII on oil-string casing corrosion indicated that 79% of failures on producing gas or oil wells in the U.S. were due to corrosion. Battle (3) extrapolated the NACE 1954 survey to estimate the number of casing failures in the U.S. on all wells to be 1294. Considering that almost 35 years have passed since that survey, it is safe to assume that the number of production wells is now in the millions and the average age is much greater than the 15 years in the 1954 survey. Many production wells originally expected to have relatively short service life based on the initial production forecasts and on estimated recoverable reserves, are still in service since production enhancement techniques have improved, and the price of gas and oil has increased.

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