Beirute Consulting, L . L . C .

Working with Energy

Phone: (918) 299-4259, FAX/Phone: (918) 298-5100,
Cell Phone: (918) 760-5757
Email: rmbconsul@aol.com

Cement Job Evaluation

The BIG Picture
A Realistic Look

The decision as to squeeze or not to squeeze after a primary cement job is normally
made after the quality of the set cement sheath is evaluated using sonic and/or
ultrasonic technology known as bond logs. This technology is used to distinguish
“bad” cement from “good” cement. The real problem is that there is no agreement
among experts in the industry as to what constitutes “good” and/or “bad” cement. If
there is cement behind the pipe, “good” or “bad”, it cannot be replaced with “good”
cement. Actually, solids of any kind (“bad” cement, barite, sand, cuttings) cannot
be displaced from the cemented annulus. Only liquids or gases can be replaced
with “good” cement, if the specific spaces where they are located can be
contacted/reached during the squeeze operation. This fact makes it imperative
that everything possible be done during the primary cementing operation to
get the best achievable cement job!!.

Accepting the fact that only liquids or gases can be removed/replaced from the
cemented annulus, turns the evaluation of the quality of the cement sheath into the
need to identify the presence of liquid or gases behind the pipe. This complicates
the interpretation of the logs even more. The following solid materials normally
look “bad” in the bond logs (but cannot be removed from the cemented annulus!!):

contaminated cement
low strength, filler type cement
foam cement or gas cut cement
damaged/cracked cement
settle cuttings or formation particles
settled barite from the mud

Cement Job Evaluation

As previously indicated, the correct evaluation of the cementing job after placement
and set of the cement is one of the most difficult operations on the well. A good
portion of the problem is due to the amount of misconceptions and misuses of the
tools available for the analysis. Many in the industry use only the sonic or the
ultrasonic logs to evaluate the cement quality. Others do not believe in any of these
tools and if they run them they do not use them in their analysis of the job. Both
extremes of the analysis miss much of the data that can provide a good analysis.
 Job Evaluation – The correct Approach

NOTE: VERY IMPORTANT! The cement job performance evaluation must be

based on all available data including:

 Daily drilling reports starting from several days before reaching TD, during the
cement job, drilling of cement and operations before and after running the
cement evaluation log.
 Reports available from the service company on the cementing job including the
cementing plan (recommendation), data from the actual job (how did it go?) and
their post job analysis including recorded data: pressures, rates, fluids density,
spacers used, type of centralization, hole conditioning, etc.
 Conversations with the drilling and service company personal present during the
cement job and the logging operation
 All the laboratory data pertinent to the job: cement TT, strength, density, etc.
Spacer compatibility data, wetability, etc.
 Other logs: caliper, temperature, etc., and finally,
 The cement evaluation logs.

It is highly recommended to look at and evaluate all the data mentioned above,
BEFORE looking at the cement evaluation logs in detail. NEVER conduct a
cement job evaluation based ONLY on the cement evaluation logs!!

Sonic and Ultrasonic Logs

The cement evaluation log has the potential of being the way to determine the
quality of the cement job at a specific location downhole. All of the other
techniques (job performance, etc.) can only access the general quality of the
cementing operation. However, many times the log information is not of high
enough quality or not sufficient quantity to do an accurate evaluation.

Types of Sonic Bond Logs

Amplitude tools
Attenuation tools
Segmenting Bond Tools

The amplitude and the attenuation tools are similar and essentially provide similar
kind of data. The amplitude tools provide energy transmission data while the
attenuation tools provide data on the amount of dampening of the sonic signal. The
segmented tools provide amplitude or attenuation at specific locations around the
casing.

These tools have the capability of measuring the bond of the cement to the casing
and to detect the bond of the cement to the annulus. The bond however is greatly
affected by the well conditions and other factors. The bond to the casing is
quantified by the measurement of the sonic energy transmitted down the casing.
The bond to the formation is only qualitative and is determined by the
characteristics of the formation variable density log.

All of thee tools except the segmented tools provide data that is omni-
directional. This means that the data is averaged data from around the entire
circumference of the pipe. The segmented tools however, provide segmented
data on the casing bond only.

Types of Ultrasonic Logs

Segmented Ultrasonic Tools

Scanning Ultrasonic Tools

These tools measure the reflection of the ultrasonic signal as it passes through the
casing and is reflected by the casing cement interface. Because this tools only
measures the cement pipe interface, only the measure of the cement bonding to
the casing can be determined. The tool however is segmented and provides the
quality of the cement bond at several locations around the casing. These tools are
less sensitive to microannulus than the sonic tools but are still affected.

Limitations of Sonic Logs

Form the Worldwide Cementing Practices, API 1991:

NOTE, VERY IMPORTANT: None of the current devices or techniques possess

the capability to determine the existence of a channel in the annulus between the
cement sheath and the formation. If the channel is not in contact with the casing,
no channeling in the annulus will be evident.

Ultrasonic tools investigate only the materials in intimate contact with the exterior
surface of the inner casing.

Evaluation of the logs for cement quality and bonding characteristics is still an art.

The analyst has to have the good sense to recognize that after all the “good
guesses” have been proposed, he may still be wrong.

Other Characteristics of Sonic Logs

The strength (amplitude), or attenuation rate of the received signal is proportional to

the % of the casing circumference in contact with the cement, the wall thickness of
the casing, and the density, thickness ands shear strength of the set cement. If the
casing is not acoustically coupled to a high shear strength material in the annulus,
the only signal detected by the receiver will be the casing signal (casing “ringing”).
This is not necessarily an indication of the non existence of cement in the annulus.
It only indicates lack of acoustic coupling. This effect can be observed under
several scenarios: unset cement, very weak cement with thin casing wall, a
microannulus (casing-cement), gas-cut or foam cement with thick casing, mud,
water, gas or sloughed formation solids in the annulus.

With good casing and formation coupling provided by a high shear strength cement,
the waveform should reflect formation bed changes corresponding to, and depth
with, the gamma ray curve.

There are cases (logs) that show good cement to pipe bonding (little to no casing
signal), but no or very weak formation response (VDL). This may or may not be a
cementing problem. Conditions that may cause this situation are: thick, un-
removed partially dehydrated-gelled mud films between the cement and the
formation face, washouts not filled with cement, gas-cut or foam cement,
unconsolidated, soft, or low shear strength formations. Mud properties, caliper log
and lithology logs should help with the diagnose of the situation.

A channel between the cement sheath and the formation cannot be identified by
any of the currently available types of cement evaluation tools. One of the main
reasons is that the response from the tools is omni-directional (average from around
the entire casing). If significant flow of gas or water is taking place through the
channel, a noise or temperature log may be used to detect the channel.

Microannuli at the casing cement interface are generally created by pressure and/or
temperature changes after the cement has set. For example by displacing the top
plug with mud and then logging it with a lower density fluid or water in the hole.
Microannuli can also be created by holding pressure in the casing while the cement
is setting up, and then releasing the pressure. Sooner or later, in the life of the well,
microannuli will form due to pressure and temperature changes during drilling and
production operations. They are normally very narrow (a few thousands of an inch
thick), and normally not even gas will flow though them. Often a detected
microannulus simply consists of the casing not being in intimate contact with the
cement (acoustic coupling), and for all practical purposes, there may not be an
“empty” space between the casing and the cement. If there is a small space, it will
likely be filled with water from the cement. Since microannuli are so small, they
cannot be filled (repaired) with cement, and trying to squeeze to repair a
microannulus should not be done. More damage will be done to the well and
the pay zones that any minor potential inconvenience cause by the
microannulus. Let’s remember that sooner or later in the life of the well, it will
develop microannuli.

The best way to detect the existence of a microannulus is to make a pressurized pass
and an un-pressurized pass while running a CBL. The amount of pressure to use
should be the necessary to have the same pressure in the casing while the cement
 was curing, plus about 500 psi to compensate for the expansion of the casing due to
the cement heat of hydration. If a microannulus exists, the casing signal will
greatly decrease or disappear during the pressure run. If the casing signal remains
the same, other causes are accounting for the lack of casing attenuation. Some in
the industry believe that logs should not be run with pressure because this “hides a
possible bad cement job.” This belief is incorrect. We need to detect a
microannulus to first, help us interpret the logs. Secondly, if the “bad” log is cause
by a microannulus, to avoid to unnecessarily squeezing the well,

Since a CBL log yields a 360 degree average of the received signal (omni-
directional), it is not possible to tell weather a channel, a microannulus or a weak
cement is responsible for the low casing attenuation (casing “ringing”). Thus, one
more time, as mentioned during the Worldwide Cementing Practices, API 1991, the
analyst has to have the good sense to recognize that :

“Evaluation of the logs for cement quality and bonding characteristics

is still an art”. And that

“after all the “good guesses” have been proposed, he may still be
wrong”.

Application of Sonic Logs

Condition Sonic Sonic Ultrasonic Ultrasonic

(omni-directional) (segmented) (segmented) (scanning)
Casing Bond Yes Yes Yes Yes
Formation Yes Yes No No
Bond
Gas No No Yes Yes
Microannulus Very Sensitive Very Sensitive Sensitive Sensitive
Low side Not specific Large at the casing Large at the casing Small at the casing
Channel
Deviated High Not specific Large at the casing Large at the casing Small at the casing
side Channel
Deviated Not specific Only Large Only Large Small Channels
Channel at the Channels Channels
casing
Channel at the Not Specific Not Specific No No
formation
Interpretation is Not an Easy Problem. Data From Large Scale
experiments:

• 97%Displacement
Efficiency
• 5.1 dB/ft
Attenuation
• 63%Displacement
Efficiency
• 11 dB/ft
Attenuation
• 64%Displacement
Efficiency
• 5.1 dB/ft
Attenuation
Displacement Efficiency
100
90
80
70
(%) 60
50
40
30
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Attenuation (dB/ft)