Oil well cementing

Dr. Ali Farag

Geoscientist
Dr. Ali Farag
Cementing – introduction and objectives

•  Understand the reasons for Primary and

Secondary Cementing

•  Improve knowledge of cement properties,

procedures and problems

• Demonstrate basic slurry calculations

Presentation Title
Primary cementing

•  Isolate production zones

•  Protect water zones
•  Isolate problem intervals
•  Protect casing
•  Support casing

Presentation Title
Cementing Practices – Primary or single stage cementing

•  COMPUTER SIMULATION •  PUMP CEMENT SLURRY

•  CONDITION MUD
•  RELEASE TOP PLUG

•  CONFIRM PLUG POSITION

•  DISPLACE

•  RUN CASING

•  BOTTOM PLUG RUPTURES

•  CIRCULATE ONE CASING VOLUME

•  CONTINUE DISPLACEMENT
•  PUMP SPACERS

•  RELEASE BOTTOM PLUG •  TOP PLUG BUMPS

Presentation Title
 Cementing Practices – Primary or single stage
cementing
Cement Head

• Common Rig Floor

cementing Ground Level

equipment
includes Drilling Fluid

• Float shoe Cement

Centralizer
Casing

• Float collar
• Centralizers
Float Collar

• Cementing Float Shoe

head

Presentation Title
Figure 9 Typical cementing equipment. 5
Cementing Practices – Primary or single stage
cementing

Top
Plug

Top Plug
Released
Cement

Bottom Displacement
Plug Fluid
Spacer
Fluid

Drilling
Fluid Plug
Bottom Bumped
Float Plug
Collar Ruptured
Shoe
Joint
Float
Shoe
A B C
Presentation Title
6
 Secondary or remedial cementing

•  Squeeze jobs

•  Top up job

•  Repair casing leak

•  Set a balanced plug

Presentation Title
 Types of cement

API Class Mix water gal / sx Slurry wt. ppg Depth ft BHST °F

A (Portland) 5.19 15.6 0 – 6000 80 - 170

B (Portland) 5.19 15.6 0 – 6000 80 - 170

C (High Early) 6.32 14.8 0 – 6000 80 - 170

D (Retarded) 4.29 16.4 6000 – 10000 170 – 230

E (Retarded) 4.29 16.4 6000 – 10000 170 – 290

F (Retarded) 4.29 16.4 10000 – 16000 230 – 320

G (Basic California) 4.97 15.8 0 – 8000 80 – 200

H (Basic Gulf Coast) 4.29 16.4 0 – 8000 80 - 200

Presentation Title
 Yield

The yield of the cement, in cubic feet per

sack, is the volume that will be occupied by
the cement, mix water and additives when
Class A
the slurry is mixed. Cement
94 lbs
It will vary depending upon the cement Absolute
class. volume
3.59 galls

10.78 galls MIX

1.44 cu/ft sack
Cubic ft
per sack 7.48 galls/
5.19
cu/ft galls
Water

MIX

2 galls
Additives

Presentation Title
 Slurry density

API Class standard mix

Water(%) Galls Class A

API Class
by weight per Cement
Cement
of Cement sack 94 lbs
A&B 46 5.19 Absolute
C 56 6.32 volume
D,E,F & H 38 4.29 3.59 galls

G 44 4.97

Total Mass = 94 lbs cement + 43.2 lbs water

5.19
galls
Water
Total Volume = 3.59 galls cement + 5.19 galls water
8.33ppg
43.2 lbs
Total Mass 137.2 = 15.6 ppg
Total Volume
Presentation Title 8.78
 Slurry calculation

It is decided to cement 500 ft up inside the previous string of casing using API
class A cement.

133/8” OD casing
Using information provide:

CEMENT CALCULATION HANDOUT

500ft

95/8” OD
casing
3000 ft

121/4” Open hole

80 ft Presentation Title
 Slurry calculation

The principal calculations required for a cement job are:

•  The amount of slurry required to fill the annulus outside the casing to the
programmed height.

•  The amount of mud needed to pump to displace the cement i.e. bump the top plug.
In all cement calculations, it is necessary to know the yield per sack of the cement
being used to be able to confirm that sufficient material is on site for the job
(including contingency).

The yield/sack depends on the amount of additives in the cement and the required
final slurry density.
Schematics are invaluable in clarifying the volumes required including details
regarding annular capacities (open hole and cased hole), different grade casings,
section lengths etc.

Presentation Title
 STATIC BOTTOM HOLE
TEMPERATURE vs
CIRCULATING TEMPERATURE

THICKENING TIME

hrs

Example of API
Casing Tests on
Class A or B slurry
3

4 6 8
ft x 1000

BHCT BHST HOTTER

Presentation Title
COOLER
Cement Job

•  Cement must support the pipe and isolate zones

•  Most cement mixtures will accomplish that objective
•  The difficulty is in getting the cement all the way around the pipe
•  The industry assumes that if the cement has a compressive strength of 500
psi it will support the pipe
•  The 500 psi includes a safety factor from two to five
•  Cement must also isolate the zone
•  Hydraulic bond strengths were tested in the laboratory and the hydraulic
bond varied with the roughness of the pipe
•  Sandblasting the casing was popular for a while along with Ruff Coat (resin
and sand coated pipe)
•  There was no correlation between hydraulic bonding and compressive
strength
•  The trick is to get the cement all the way around the pipe

Presentation Title
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Cement Job

•  There are a number of things we can do increase the

odds of getting a good cement job

•  Centralization of the casing

•  Pipe movement - rotation and/or reciprocation
•  Drilling fluid condition
•  Hole conditions
•  Displacement velocity
•  Spacer fluids
•  Mud - cement density differences
•  Contact time
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15
Cement Job

•  Centralization
•  We have known for more than half a century that centralizing the
casing will aid in getting a good cement job
•  For a non-Newtonian fluid, the velocity on the narrow side of the
annulus is slower than the velocity on the wide side of the annulus
•  It is the “Popcorn Theory”

Presentation Title
16
Cement Job

•  Eccentric annulus promotes channeling

•  Centralizers are used to keep the pipe in
the center of the hole
•  The point between the centralizers is the
hardest to centralize

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17
Cement Job

•  The degree of centralization is commonly termed % standoff

•  100% is perfectly centralized and 0% would be touching the wall of

the hole

Rb − Rc − C − D
% S tan doff = x100
Rb − Rc

Presentation Title
18
Cement Job

•  As a rule of thumb, one centralizer per two joints in vertical wells and
one centralizer per joint in directional wells
•  High angle or horizontal wells may require two centralizers per joint
for adequate centralization
•  Smaller hole clearances will require more centralizers

•  Pipe movement
•  It has been shown that pipe movement can increase the displacement
efficiency
•  Pipe movement is rotation and/or reciprocation
•  Pipe rotation helps the most

Presentation Title
19
Cement Job
•  Drag forces associated with
rotation will pull the cement into
the narrow side of the annulus
•  Rotation requires specialized
equipment No Rotation Rotation
•  Some liner hangers can be Flowing Cement
rotated

Gelled Mud

Presentation Title
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Cement Job

•  Reciprocation does not require any extra equipment and is free

•  Reciprocation has a tendency to break the gel strengths of the mud in the
narrow side of the annulus
•  The pipe should be reciprocated from the time the pipe reaches bottom until the
cement plug bumps

•  Pipe sticking may be a problem

•  Land the casing if it starts to stick
•  Might not reciprocate when using a subsea wellhead or mud line suspension
hanger because it can be very expensive if the pipe is stuck off bottom

Presentation Title
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 Cement Job

•  Drilling fluid condition

•  Higher viscosity mud is harder to displace
•  Reduce the viscosity of the mud prior to cementing by adding water (or thinners in
a weighted mud)
•  Move the casing
•  The absolute minimum volume to circulate is bottoms up or casing volume,
whichever is greater

•  The thicker the mud, the longer you should circulate

•  Hole condition
•  A clean hole allows the ease of running casing and getting centralizers to bottom
•  Washouts are hard to cement
•  If washouts are a problem, change the mud to try and minimize the washouts

Presentation Title
22
Cement Job

•  If you are getting adequate cement jobs, don’t spend more money on
the mud

•  Displacement velocity
•  Is turbulent, laminar or plug flow better?

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23
Cement Job
•  Plug flow is the lowest annular
velocity (30 to 90 feet per
minute (10 to 30 m/min),
depending upon cement
properties)
Turbulent Flow

Laminar Flow

Plug Flow

Presentation Title
24
Cement Job

•  Laminar flow should be avoided since it promotes channeling

•  Some cement studies touted plug flow while some indicated that turbulent flow
was better

Presentation Title
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Cement Job

Presentation Title
26
 Cement Job

•  It is better to pump thin cement slurries at higher flow rates

•  If ECD or hole size prevents higher flow rates, consider plug flow
•  For plug flow, you may have to take the U-tube effect into account

Presentation Title
27
Cement Job

•  Spacer fluids
•  Cement and mud are not compatible and should be kept separate
•  A spacer fluid is used to separate the cement and mud in the annulus
•  The spacer fluid should be compatible with both the cement and the mud

Presentation Title
28
 Cement Job

•  For water based muds, water is a very good spacer

•  Water is a thin fluid that will easily go into turbulent flow
•  It is compatible with both cement and mud
•  It is cost effective
•  The spacer volume should equal at least 500 ft (150 m) in the annulus

Presentation Title
29
 Cement Job

•  In weighted muds, the spacer may have to be weighted with barite

•  Can add products from service companies to enhance displacement
•  Mud-Cement density difference
•  There is little affect on displacement efficiency
•  The cement should be at least 0.5: 2 ppg (60 : 240 kg/m3) greater than mud density
to prevent movement after the pump stops

Presentation Title
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Cement Job

•  Directional wells
•  More difficult to get adequate centralization
•  Will need to run more centralizers than a vertical well

Presentation Title
31
Cement Job

•  There may be a cuttings bed

on the bottom of the hole
•  Try to remove the cuttings bed
before cementing

Cuttings Bed
Presentation Title
32
Cement Job

Free Water Channel

•  Free water content should be zero

to minimize the possibility of a free
water channel on the high side of
the hole

Presentation Title
33
Cementing Problems
•  Poor hole condition

•  Poor mud condition

Poor displacement of the drilling mud, solids, and cuttings beds

Bridges composed of cement filter cake.

Swapping out of drilling mud left below the pipe and cement

•  Poor centralisation

•  Lost circulation (Lost circulation during or after cementation)

•  Abnormal pressure

•  Subnormal pressure

•  High temperature

•  Flash setting of cement.

•  Shrinkage of cement.
Presentation Title
Cementing Problems
•  Permeability after setting.

•  Gas migration (percolating gas) during the setting of the cement.

•  Micro-annulus from pressure and temperature.

•  Temperature strength retrogression of the cement.

•  Perforation of cement.

•  Cement settling in high angle holes.

•  Equipment, planning, and execution failures (people errors) and the quality of
cement and additives.

Presentation Title
 Problem 1 (Poor displacement of mud)

Mechanism :
The volumetric fraction of the mud removed from the wellbore annulus by the
cement slurry is called displacement efficiency.

•  High displacement efficiencies increase the probability that the set cement will
not contain channels of mud.

•  Or that the cement will not have channeled through the mud.

•  Satisfactory displacement efficiencies depend on many factors.

•  The type of flow regime in which the cement slurry and the mud being
displaced is dominant

Presentation Title
 Problem 1 (Poor displacement of mud)

Solution:
The recognized flow regimes are:

(1) plug,
(2) laminar and,
(3) turbulent.

•  The dominant solution to poor mud displacement is cement hydraulics.

•  Other factors aids are pipe rotation and reciprocation:

•  Mobil showed rotation speeds of 35 rpm are sufficient.
•  Exxon showed 80% standoff with centralizers is sufficient with proper cement
and hydraulics

Presentation Title
 Problem 1 ( Poor displacement of mud)
Plug flow cementation
•  The plug flow technique is very efficient.
•  It is limited to cementations of small volumes and where the mud in the hole is of low
density.
•  The technique calls for Reynold's numbers of 100 or less,
•  No cement slurry retarders or thinners or spacers.
Plug cementation variables
1- Nr ≤ l00
2- Low hydraulic horsepower
3- No spacer
4- Low Pressures
5- No retarders
6- Low Displacement rates
7- No thinner
8- Long cementation times
9- No friction reducer
10- Low circulating
Presentation Title
bottom pressure
 Problem 1 (Poor displacement of mud)

Turbulent Flow Cementation

•  The turbulent flow technique gives high displacement efficiencies.
It is applicable to:
•  Large volume cementations.
•  Where the mud and cement slurry weight are similar.

Two critical factors limit its use:

(1) excessive bottom hole circulating pressures.
(2) insufficient surface pump horsepower or pressure.

•  Rates places mud, spacer which should be used, and slurry which is usually thinned
(PV and YP are reduced) all into turbulent flow.
•  Fully developed turbulent flow calls for Reynold's number of 3000 or more.
•  In all cases the Reynold's number should be calculated with the power law equation.
•  Primarily chosen because they require the shortest cementation times.
•  Not chosen because of high circulating bottom hole pressures.
Presentation Title
 Problem 1 (Poor displacement of mud)

Laminar flow cementation

•  Has the smallest displacement efficiencies (75% and less) of the three flow regimes.
•  Gives inadequate cementations.
•  Should be avoided when possible.
•  However, because of equipment limitations and poor planning, the technique is often
inadvertently used.

Presentation Title
 Problem 2 ( Lost circulation )

Mechanism :

ECD is greater than the fracture strength of the hole.

•  Solution:
Reduce the density of the cement column and the circulating friction pressure
loss.

Presentation Title
Problem 3 (Bridges composed of cement filter cake)

Mechanism :

•  Bridges from cement filter cake are formed on thick permeable beds and thereafter
until the cement sets.
•  Once the cake grows to a point that it contacts the casing, it begins to support the
weight of the cement and mud above it.
•  This in turn releases part of the pressure below the bridge which permits gas to
percolate through the cement.

Solution:

use a filtrate control additive in the cement

Presentation Title
Problem 4 (Swapping out of mud and cement below pipe)

Mechanism:

Casing or a plug back pipe is not run to the total depth of the well and the mud below
the pipe buoyantly rises into the annulus where the cement was circulated.
•  While the mud is rising, the cement must be falling along side it; thus, mud and
cement are "swapping out.“

Solution:

•  If pipe is close to the bottom of the hole (50 feet or so), a pill of a density equal or
slightly greater than that of cement may be circulated to the bottom of the hole prior to
the cementation of the pipe.

•  If an up hole cement plug is to be set, the pipe is run one stand below the desired
location of the bottom of the plug and a very viscous bentonite pill is circulated.
•  Thereafter, the pipe is raised one stand and the cement is circulated into place.
Presentation Title
Problem 5 (flash setting of cement)

Mechanism:
•  Careful studies of flash setting of cement indicates that the mix water
was much harder (Mg, Ca, and Fe) than anticipated.

Solution
•  Check the mix water and retard the cement as needed.

Presentation Title
Problem 6 (Cement can shrink and may fail to isolate zones)

Mechanism:
•  Laboratory measurements have shown that cement can shrink as much as 5%.

Solution:
•  Use non-shrinking cement.
•  Non-shrinking cement has about 15% sodium chloride added to the base
cement.

Presentation Title
Problem 7 (Permeability of cement may cause an interzonal flow)

Mechanism:

•  Laboratory measurements have shown that cement permeability increases to

values of 5 millidarcys after 30 days. This may fail to isolate zones.
Solution:

•  Use an additive which blocks the growth of permeability in cement. Bentonite is

good at low temperatures.

Presentation Title
 Problem 8 (Gas migration may fail to isolate zones)

Mechanism:
There are two mechanisms of gas migration:
•  The first is that during the setting of the cement, pencil size (1/8") channels
form vertically allowing gas to flow either to the surface or to another zone.
•  The second is that in inclined drill holes.
•  The cement particles settle to the low side allowing a water (or nearly water)
channel to form on the high side of the hole.

Solution:
•  The gas migration resulting from the first mechanism has not been totally
solved.
•  Sometimes successful additives are latex flakes and alumina particles.
•  The second mechanism requires careful planning of setting and circulating
times to eliminate long periods of quiescent unset cement in the hole.

Presentation Title
 Problem 9 (A micro-annulus)

•  A micro-annulus can occur during and after pressures or temperatures are

reduced in a casing or pipe.
•  The pipe shrinks away from the cement.
•  Isolation of zones may be lost.

Mechanism
•  Steel shrinks as temperatures are reduced.
•  Pipe diameters decrease as pressures are reduced.

Solution
•  One solution is to reduce the pressures within casing while the cement is
setting.
•  This may be done by bumping the cement plugs with a light fluid and not
holding a surface pressure while the cement sets.
•  Another is not to lower the pressure in the pipe at critical times.

Presentation Title
 Problem 10 (Temperature retrograde of cement)

Mechanism
As temperatures approach 247° F, calcium silicate hydrate converts to crystalline
forms which are weak and permeable.
•  If at least 35% fine silica is added then tobermolite is formed (at 247° F).
•  Xonotlite crystals which are strong and moderately impermeable form at
temperatures of 302° F if at least 35% fine silica has been added.

Solution
•  Use 35 to 50% by weight of silica flour to prevent the formation of weak and
permeable cement.

Presentation Title
Problem 11 (Perforation of cement mechanism)

Mechanism
Cement may shatter behind casing during perforation of the pipe
leaving the cement weak and permeable.

Solution
It has been found in the laboratory that cements with higher modulii of
elasticity give less shattering (neat cement).

Presentation Title
Problem 12

•  Equipment, material, planning, and execution failures (people errors)

Solution

Hire good people.

Presentation Title