Primary Cementing And

Secondary Cementing

Submitted by Htet Naing Htoo

Participated in The general overview of cementing

(Group Presentation) at Trust Training Center
 Primary Cementing
• Primary Cementing is the placement of cement into the
annulus.
Zonal The Goal of Primary Cementing Borehole Support
isolation Provide support to the
Seal off borehole for plastic,
certain water-sensitive, or
zones from unconsolidated
other zones formations.

Casing Support Casing protection

Provide axial support for the Provides support and protection
surface casing and other against plastic formations and
casings that may be run later corrosive formation fluids
 Basic cementing procedure
1. Running Casing
2. Circulating mud by rig pump
3. Pressure testing
4. Pumping wash and spacer
5. Dropping the bottom plug
6. Mixing slurry
7. Pumping lead slurry
8. Pumping tail slurry
9. Dropping the top plug
10. Displacing slurries and plugs with fluid
11. Checking returns
 Running casing
• The first joint of the casing run into the well has a
float or guide shoe attached to the end.

• After the first or second joint, a float collar is

installed. The space between the float collar and
the shoe is called a shoe track.

• When the casing string is run to the desired

depth, special connections may need to be made
just at the wellhead; this process is called
nippling up.
 Circulating mud by rig pump
Mud conditioning is achieved by
circulating mud down the casing
and taking returns at the annulus Mud

Mud conditioning

Condition the mud &

clean the well

Caution:
The mud conditioning must be
designed with the same attention: Float Collar
poor design can result
in channeling Guide Shoe
 Pressure testing
• The high-pressure treating lines running from the cement unit
to the well connection must be pressure tested before the
cementing process begins

1. Prime the cement unit and lines with water to fill all the lines
2. Close the valve at the wellhead, and make sure no one is
near the lines
3. Increase the pressure to a predetermined level by having the
unit pump water.
4. Hold the pressure for about 5 minutes, and monitor for leaks.
 Pumping wash and spacer
• A chemical wash or a weighted
Spacer
spacer or both are typically
pumped ahead of the cement
slurry to act as a buffer between Chemical
Wash
the cement and drilling fluid.

The chemical wash

Helps thin and disperse the drilling mud in the wellbore and
annulus

A spacer
Keep the drilling mud and slurry separated during the
displacement process.
 Dropping the bottom plug
Wiper plugs are pumped ahead and Bottom Plug
behind the cement slurry on primary
cement jobs

•Separate slurry from drilling fluids

•Wipe the inside walls of the casing
•Help provide a positive indication
(pressure) that the cement is in place
outside the casing
 Mixing slurry
Mixer

Dry cement
Water The cement slurry
Any required additives

 This process can be done continuously or in a batch procedure

 The mix fluid (water plus cement additives) can be prepared ahead
of time or mixed on-the-fly using a liquid additive system.
 Pumping lead slurry
• Lead slurry - a low-density,
high-yield slurry;
designed to fill and cover
the upper section of the annulus

• It is pumped from the cementing

unit through the cement head and
into the casing

• When the bottom plug reaches the

float collar,
the plug’s diaphragm ruptures and
the wash, spacer, and slurry proceed
to the casing shoe. Cement Head
 Pumping the tail slurry
Tail slurry – Tail Slurry

 A higher-density slurry
 Used to cover the lower section of the
annulus up from the bottom of the hole.

Tail Slurry Lead Slurry

Lead Slurry

Spacer
Wash
 Dropping the top plug
Top plug Top Plug
• Solid wiper plug
• Separate and protect the slurry from
contamination by the displacement
fluid that will be pumped in the next step.

 After the slurry has been pumped into the casing,

the top plug is released from the cement head.

 Pumping is stopped when the tail slurry has been pumped

 The valves on the cement head are set to allow fluid—usually water
or spacer—to be pumped to push the top plug out of the cement
head.
 Displacing slurries and plugs with
fluids
• The cement slurries and wiper
plugs are pumped down the
well using either drilling fluid
or another fluid.

• When the bottom wiper plug

lands on the float collar, the
membrane on top ofthe plug
ruptures and the slurry is pumped out of the bottom of the casing
and up into the annulus.

• When the top plug reaches the bottom plug, it is sealed against the
bottom plug by a pressure increase
 Checking returns

• The float collar contains a check valve

• At the end of a cementing job, check to ensure that the

float collar or float shoe is not leaking

• This check is done by allowing fluid to flow back to the

cement unit displacement tanks

• If the float collar or shoe is working correctly, 2 to 5 bbl

will flow back and then stop
 Remedial Cementing
• When a primary cement job objectives have not been
achieved, or when the cement or casing has failed over time,
it may be necessary to repair the problem.

Remedial Cementing

Squeeze cementing Plug cementing

 Squeeze cementing

Cement slurry is forced through holes or splits in

the casing to repair a primary cement job or a
well problem.

Purposes of squeeze cementing

• Repair improper zonal isolation

• Eliminate water intrusion
• Repair casing leaks
 Repair improper zonal isolation
• The top of the cement may be lower
than designed because of losses
during the primary job, inaccurate
hole volume calculations, or
incomplete displacement.

• The solution is to squeeze cement

Perforation
slurry through perforations just
above the cement top to extend
the cement column length in the annulus.
 Eliminate water intrusion
• Unwanted water or gas from above or below the producing
zone is plugged off by perforating these zones and squeezing
cement slurry through the perforations.

Squeeze Cement
 Repair casing leaks
• A packer is run and set
above the damaged casing.
• Cement slurry is circulated
down to the damaged area
• The packer is set
• The cement slurry squeezed
at low pressure in and around
the holes in the casing
Remedial squeeze techniques
 Placement
Low-pressure squeeze High-pressure placement

The injection of cement slurry into
zones at pressures below the fracture
pressure of the formation.
To fill perforation cavities or
interconnected channels.
Is used when it is not possible to inject slurry at
pressures below the fracture pressure.
Cement is placed by breaking down the
formation and injecting cement slurry into the
zone.

Slurry volumes are usually small since Slurry volumes are usually relatively high since
slurry is not injected into the the created fractures and the perforations, have
formation. to be filled with cement slurry.

Special precautions must be taken to As a special precaution a wash or weak acid
ensure that the formation is not should be pumped ahead of the slurry to
fractured. minimize the pump rates required to initiate the
fractures.
 Pumping
Running squeeze
• The continuous pumping of a calculated volume of
slurry until the final squeeze pressure is attained.
• This technique could be used during low-pressure or
high-pressure squeeze jobs but usually results in the
pumping of large slurry volumes in such cases.

Pressure

Time
 Hesitation squeeze
• The intermittent application of pressure at a rate of 0.25
bbl/min to 0.50 bbl/min at 10- to 20-min intervals until the
final squeeze pressure is reached.
• Relatively small slurry volumes
Pressure
are used in hesitation jobs
compared with those used in
running squeeze jobs.
• Hesitation time depends on the
type of formation, ranging from
5 min in tight formations to 30 min in loose formations.
 Application BOP

Bradenhead squeeze

Sometimes referred to as the poor boy

squeeze, does not use a downhole isolation
tool.

The entire casing and wellhead is exposed to

the final squeeze pressure.
Cement
When open perforations exist below the
zone, it may be necessary to run a bridge plug
to isolate it from the treated zone.
Bridge plug
Applicable for shallow depths and long splits
in casing
 Application
• Squeeze tools
Uses either retrievable or drillable downhole tools.

Isolate the upper portion of the casing and

wellhead from the cement and squeeze pressures
and to improve the control and placement of
fluids during squeeze cementing jobs.

 Useful in multiple setting operations,

such as selective testing and cementing
of multiple zones.

Examples of the retrievable tools

•DLT packer
• PosiTrieve packer
•Hurricane packer
•Shorty squeeze tool
•Retrievable bridge plug.