CEMENTING

INTRODUCTION
 Oil well cementing is the process of mixing and displacing a slurry down the casing and up the
annulus, behind the casing, where is allowed to “set”, thus bonding the casing to the
formation.
 Some additional functions of cementing include:
 Providing support for the casing
 Protecting the casing from corrosion
 Sealing off troublesome zones
 Protecting producing formations
 Protecting the borehole in the event of problems
 The main ingredient in most cements is “Portland” cement, a mixture of limestone and clay.
 This name comes from the solid mixture resembling the rocks quarried on the Isle of Portland,
off the coast of England.
 It is produced according to API specifications by taking raw material like limestone, clay or
shale, and iron ore.
 After mixing and grinding, they are fed into a kiln where they are melt into a substance called
“cement clinker”.
 This clinker is then ground into a powdery mixture and combined with small amounts of
gypsum or other components
FUNCTIONS OF CEMENT
 The functions of the different cement jobs differ according to the various objectives.
1. Primary cementing
2. Liner cementing
3. Squeeze cementing
4. Plug back cementing
 Primary Cement
1. Isolate a hydrocarbon bearing formation from other formations
2. Protect and secure the casing in the well
3. Prevent caving of the hole
4. Provide a firm seal and anchor for the wellhead equipment
5. Protect casing from corrosion by sulfate rich formation waters
 Liner Cement
1. Case off open hole below a long intermediate casing
2. Case off open hole resulting from casing stuck at the bottom
3. Case off previous open-hole completion in order to control water, gas or sand
4. Case off zones of lost circulation or high pressure zones encountered during drilling
 Squeeze Cement
1. Reduce water-oil, water-gas, or gas-oil ratios
2. Shut off a zone that is been depleted, is not economical to produce
3. Isolate a zone before perforating for production or stimulation
4. Supplement a faulty primary cement job
5. Repair casing or joint leaks, spit or parted casing
 Plug Back Cement
1. Shut off bottom hole water production
2. Abandon permanently deeper zones
3. Place a cement bridge plug
4. Set plug to provide a seat for directional tools like whipstock
5. Set plug in unintentionally deviated well when vertical trajectory is intended. After setting the plug
the vertical hole is continued
6. Set plug through keyseat portion of the well and redrill it
PROPERTIES OF CEMENT
SLURRY
 API has defined standard classes (Class A to Class H) as well as standard types of cement used
within oil and gas wells.
 The standard types are:
1. Ordinary
2. Moderate sulfate-resistant
3. High sulfate-resistant
 The standard classes are defined as:

Class A:
 Intended depth range for usage: surface to 6,000 [ft]
 special properties are not required
 available in ordinary type only

Class B:
 Intended depth range for usage: surface to 6,000 [ft]
 conditions require moderate to high sulfate-resistance
 available as moderate and high sulfate-resistance types
Class C:
 Intended depth range for usage: surface to 6,000 [ft]
 condition require high early strength
 available in ordinary, moderate and high sulfate-resistance types

Class D:
 Intended depth range for usage: 6,000 to 10,000 [ft]
 at moderately high temperatures and pressures conditions
 available in moderate and high sulfate-resistance types.

Class E:
 Intended depth range for usage: 10,000 to 14,000 [ft]
 at high temperature and pressure conditions
 available in moderate and high sulfate-resistance types
Class F:
 Intended depth range for usage: 10,000 to 16,000 [ft]
 at extremely high temperature and pressure conditions
 available in moderate and high sulfate-resistance types

Class G:
 Intended as basic cement in the depth range: surface to 8,000 [ft]
 used with accelerators and retarders covers wide range of temperatures and pressures
 available in moderate and high sulfate-resistance types

Class H:
 Intended as basic cement in the depth range: surface to 8,000 [ft]
 used with accelerators and retarders covers wide range of temperatures and pressures
 available in moderate sulfate-resistance type only
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
 The physical properties of cement and cement slurries include:
1. Thickening time
2. Slurry density
3. Compressive strength
4. Yield
1. Thickening Time
 The length of time the cement slurry is pumpable is also called “thickening time”.
 Thickening time can be control by adding setting time retarders.
 To determine the mixing and displacement times, the below equations;
2. Slurry density
 To minimize the danger of fracturing the formations, lost circulation or kicks, the cement
slurry density should be the same as the drilling fluid density at cementing operations.
 The following equation gives the slurry density ρcs in [ppg]:
3. Compressive Strength
 To hold the casing in place and withstand the differential pressures across the cement-
formation interface, the compressive strength of the set and hardened cement has to be high
enough.
 As general practice, 500 [psi] of compressive strength has to be developed by the hardening
cement before any other downhole operation commences.
 The time it takes the cement to reach this minimum compressive strength is often referenced
as “wait on cement” (WOC).
 The support capability of the cement is given by:
4. Yield
 By definition, the yield is the volume of cement slurry obtained when mixing one sack of
cement with a specified amount of water as well as other additives.
 One sack cement (94 [lb] sack) contains 1 [ft3] bulk volume and 0.48 [ft3] absolute volume.
 To compute the yield in [ft3], below equation is applied:
CEMENT ADDITIVES
 To better fit the individual well requirements, the properties of the cement slurry and hardened
cement have to be adjusted.
 Therefore, certain cement additives are mixed into the slurry.
 The additives can be grouped according to their functionality into:
1. Extenders,
2. Accelerators,
3. Retarders,
4. Weighting material,
5. Fluid loss or filtration control material,
6. Dispersants or thinners.
1. Extenders
 Extenders are used to increase the volume of the cement slurry gained per sack cement (yield).
 This is done by allowing an adding of extra water to the slurry. In turn, this extra water reduces
the density of the cement slurry.
 Commonly used extenders that reduce the density of the slurry are low-specific gravity solids
like:
 Bentonite
 Diatomaceous earth,
 Solid hydrocarbons
 Expanded perlite
 Natural pozzolans
 Silica
2. Accelerators
 To reduce the thickening time as well as increase the rate of early strength and thus reduce the
WOC time, accelerators are added to the cement slurries.
 When cementing shallow, low temperature section of wells, accelerators are often essential.
 Commonly applied accelerators are:
 Sodium chloride
 Calcium chloride
 Hemihydrate form of gypsum
 Potassium chloride,
 Sodium silicate
 Sea water for mixing
3. Retarders
 In contrary to the accelerators, retarders are added to cement slurries to prolong the thickening
time and decrease the rate of early strength development.
 Deflocculants discussed as drilling fluids additives tend to delay the setting of cement, thus
they are applied as retarders.
 Other retarders are;
 Calcium lignosulfate at very low concentrations,
 Calcium-sodium lignosulfate used with high concentration of bentonite,
 Sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) used as a catalyst for the deflocculants,
 Carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose.
4. Weighting Material
 Weighting material are cement additives that are capable of increasing the density of the
cement slurry.
 Commonly used weighting materials are high-specific gravity solids like:
 Barite
 Ottawa sand
 Hematite
 Ilmenite
5. Fluid Loss Material
 Fluid loss material is added to the cement slurry to help minimize the loss of water from the
slurry into the formations.
 During displacement and cement setting, a differential pressure across permeable formations
and the cement does develop which causes a reduction of water in the slurry that is lost into the
formations.
 Commonly added fluid loss materials are:
 Latex
 Bentonite with a dispersant,
 Various organic polymers
 Attapulgite
 Carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose
6. Dispersants
 Dispersants are added to thin the cement slurry.
 This causes a reduction of slurry viscosity and is achieved without adding of extra water.
 Commonly applied thinners are:
 Calcium lignosulfate
 Sodium chloride
 Certain long chain polymers