Primary Cementing

Client Cementing Seminar

An asterisk is used throughout this presentation to denote a mark of

Schlumberger. Other company, product, and service names may be
trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of others.

Schlumberger Private

Schlumberger 2009

Revision History
Description

Prepared by

Reviewed by

1.0

Revise content and slide master

Tanvi Chikara

Shailesh Dighe

Sep 5, 2011

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Rev Date
.

Agenda
Basic Well Construction

Process

Objective of a Primary Cement Job

Primary Cementing Jobs summary

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Basic cementing Design Steps

Life of the well

Seismic

Drilling

Data Management

Cementing
Production

Cementing
Perforating

Testing

Cementing

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Open hole Logging

Construction of a well
Primary Cementing
Conductor Casing

Surface Casing

Intermediate Casing

Production Casing / Liner

Remedial Cementing

Plug & Squeeze

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Objectives of Primary Cementing

The placement of a cementitious
material into the annulus between casing
and open hole to :
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Provide zonal isolation

Support axial load of casing strings and
strings to be run later
Provide corrosion protection
Support the borehole

Zonal Isolation
Poor or non-existing cement could allow
salt / water / gas / oil to travel along the
annulus and:
contaminate fresh water bearing
formation

loose production

corrode casing, etc

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Zonal Isolation

Formation with
Salt Layers
Shale

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As the OKN 32 Algeria well

proved, poor or non-existing
cement allowed fresh water to
travel along the casing
dissolving upper salt layers.
The well was lost and a huge
salt lake can now be found in
the desert supplied by a very
precious fresh water layer.

Fresh Water
bearing Formation

Zonal Isolation
Well OKN 32 in Algeria (drilled in 1979)

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SPE 94427

Whats this?

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Same size as Astrodome, Houston from 4300 ft elevation

Sahara

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Bad zonal isolation - Blowout

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Cementing General Job Procedure

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Design Process
Job Objectives

Data Collection

Slurry Properties

Pumping Schedule

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Design Stage I
Job Objectives

Uncontaminated
competent cement
sheath
with no mud or gas
channels and adequate
set properties

Casing string purpose (surface,

production liner, etc.)

Cement fill (required TOC, formation

depths)

Tops of cement
as designed

Completion plans (perf, prod, injection,

stim, testing, etc.)

Cement bonds to
casing & formation

Regulations (government, local, operator)

Isolated

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Pay zone
No losses
Good
cement
in shoe-track

Design Stage II Data Collection

Casing (size, type, depth, hardware, previous casing)

Required fill Top of cement

Lithology, depths, problem zones(losses, washouts, water flow, HP gas, etc.)

Open hole geometry (caliper, excess, depths, etc.)

Survey (KOP, bearing, azimuth)

Pore and fracturing pressures

Temperature

Mud properties (density, type, etc.) - Samples

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Design Stage III Slurry Properties

Density - control pressure and lost circulation

Compressive Strength

Thickening time

Fluid loss control

Slurry stability

Rheology

Special properties (expansion, flexibility, gas migration control)

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Design Stage IV- Pumping Schedule

Mud removal
Centralization
Displacement regime (turbulent preferred)
Spacer and washes selection (fluid compatibilities)
Contact time (for turbulent flow)
Recommended - conditioning, plugs, centralization & pipe movement

Job sequence and execution

Pumping and displacement rates

Dynamic pressures (pore, frac, friction and surface pressure)

U-tubing (annular rates, contact time, etc.)

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Caliper
Two-arm

Hole Size (in.)

4

12

16

20

14400

14500

14600

Three-arm

14800

14900

Four-arm - two diameters

15000

15100

15200

15300

Six-arm 6 independent readings

15400

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14700

Well Survey
Necessary
To calculate hydrostatics

For centralizer calculations

To calculate mud displacement/removal

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3D Survey

Well Temperature
BHST - Bottomhole static temperature
T

From mean temperature gradient (oF / 100 ft)

BHST = MST + (depth x TG)
From interpolation of bottomhole logs

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BHCT - Bottomhole circulating temperature

From API correlation

Not linked to circulation rate or volume

May overestimate BHCT

Computer simulations
Circulating hot spot is not at bottom

BHCT

BHST

Mud Removal
Displace Mud from Annulus

Controlled & optimized mud properties

Wiper trips
> 95% Total hole volume in circulation
Caliper log

Conditioning Mud
Stabilise wellbore and reduce wellbore
temperature
Break gel strength
Lower ty + pv
Drill solids < 6%

Optimized slurry placement --->

CemCADE
Casing centralization optimized (STO
> 75%)
Casing movement
Washes and Spacers

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Hole Cleaning

Centralization
Rigid centralizers
Gauge hole

Liner lap

Below casing hanger

Bow-spring centralizers

Gauge hole

Oversized hole

Others- Semi rigid, centralizer subs, torque

reduction etc.

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Centralizer Installation
Placement designed for mud removal
Proper attachment
Between stop collars

Over stop collars

Over casing collars

Integral collars

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Stop Collars

Pipe Movement
Rotation

Requires special equipment

Danger of twisting off

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Reciprocation

Easily done without special equipment

Mud

Cement
slurry

Standoff = 20%

No Movement

Standoff = 100%

Reciprocation

Wiper Plugs
Purpose of wiper plugs is to:
Separate fluids inside pipe

Wipe inner surface of pipe

Give surface indication (pressure) of

downhole event

With 1 bottom plug

With 2 bottom plugs

Mud

Mud

Spacer

Bottom plug 1

Bottom plug

Spacer

Cement

Bottom plug 2

Top plug

Cement

Operate downhole tools

Top plug

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Shoe Track
Ensure good cement around casing
Receptacle for trash picked up by plug
1-3 joints between float shoe and float collar
Length depends on

Whether bottom plug used

Efficiency of plugs
Thickness of film
Length of casing
Mixing of mud film with cement

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How Long?
Per 1000 ft of casing

9 5/8 in. (8.5

16 in.

(4.95 ID)

ID)

(15.125 ID)

Vol

Fill

Vol

Fill

Vol

Fill

(bbl)

(ft)

(bbl)

(ft)

(bbl)

(ft)

1/16

0.6

25

1.0

15

1.8

1/8

1.2

50

2.1

29

3.7

17

1/4

2.3

99

4.1

58

7.3

33

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5 1/2 in.

Placement Pressures
Well Security
Pressures during placement
Hydrostatic

Friction

Burst
Collapse
Pore
Fracturing

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Pressures During Job

9000

20

8000

18
Pressure

Density

14

Pressure (psi)

Spacer

Cement

12

5000
10
4000
8
Shut down, drop plug

3000

2000

1000

0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Job Time (min)

180

200

220

240

260

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6000

Rate (bpm) & Density (lb/gal)

16

Rate

7000

Wellbore Conditions
Permeability
Fluid loss control

Flow of gas or liquid

Salt formations
Salt-containing slurries

Wellbore stresses
Flexible or elastic cements

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Gas flow control slurries and techniques

Wellbore Stresses
Wellbore system (pipe/cement/formation) is subject to changing
stresses Cement expansion or contraction

Temperature changes
Production
Injection

Pressure changes
Production / non-production
Pressure treatments

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Stress Effects on Isolation

Changing wellbore stresses can result in
Microannulus formation

Radial cracking of cement

Complete deterioration in extreme cases

New technology in cement formulation - Flexible cement

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Flexible Cement

Design of flexible cement by

Wellbore model simulators
Empirical results (trial and error)

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Flexibility more important than compressive strength

Flexibility related to Youngs Modulus
Youngs Modulus can be measured
Flexural strength can be measured

Well Plan

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Conductor Casing Cementing

30 casing in 36 hole or 20 casing in 26 hole @ 30 ft - 200 ft

Cementing Challenges:
Possible occurrence of shallow water flows
Low temperatures (offshore)
Drilling through gas hydrates under deep water conditions (offshore)

Others:

Large excess
Stab-in cementing common
Accelerated Slurry

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Thru-Drill Pipe Cementing (Stab-in)

Key Points:
Less cement contamination
Less channelling
Small displacement volume
Pump until cement to surface
Less job time (rig time)

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Top Job Cementing

Key points:

Bring cement to surface

Macaroni tubing used
Max. depth 250-300 ft
High friction pressures
Non-standard connections

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Surface Casing Cementing

16 casing in 20 hole or 13 3/8 casing in 17 hole @ 100 ft 3000 ft

Cementing Challenges:
Possible occurrence of shallow water flows
Low temperatures (offshore)
Drilling through gas hydrates under deep water conditions (offshore)

Others:

Often up to surface by using light weight lead / fill up slurry and heavy
weight tail slurry
Large excess (50-150%)

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Intermediate Casing Cementing

13 3/8 casing in 17 hole or 9 5/8 casing in 12 hole @ 3000 to

10,000 ft (vertical or deviated)

Cementing Challenges:
Potential problems: over-pressured, loss zones, salt formations or heaving shales
Narrow pressure window, between pore @ bottom & frac @ top

Others:

Often need a two-stage job

Cemented to surface or to previous casing shoe
Typically filler slurries followed by high compressive tail
Specialised slurries (light, heavy, salt etc)

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Two Stage Cementing

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Production Casing Cementing

Depths and sizes varying considerably as in the case of Intermediate casings

- typically 4 1/2, 5, 7 up to 9 5/8.

Centralization of casing to achieve a proper Mud removal & Slurry

placement
Selection of slurry & additives according to well data, to achieve payzone
isolation and withstand future treatments such as stimulation jobs
Thickening time must be adjusted according to operation time
Well security checked

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Cementing Challenges:

Liner Cementing

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Key Points:
Deeper wells Temperature!
Small annular clearance ECD!
Specialized equipment planned
ahead with companies involved
Fluid placement & displacement
rates
Pipe rotation improves quality of
cement job
Cementing Liner Overlap is critical!

Summary

Slurry density
Slurry rheology (friction pressure)
Pumping rate

Slurry
Properties such as fluid loss control, free fluid, gas migration control, etc.

Job execution
Running casing, casing hardware, etc.

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Criteria for Successful Cementing

Zonal isolation
Well security