ALTERNATIVES TO

CEMENT
Mariam N. Tapsoba
Cement-related issues
■ Industrial reports have declared that 2–45% of both production and injection wells
suffer from well integrity issues (Davies et al., 2014; Vignes, 2011)
■ Most major catastrophes in oil and gas operations results from failure in cementing job
■ Half of the biggest sources of methane in the Permian Basin oilfield are likely to be
malfunctioning oilfield equipment (NASA)
■ Cement shrinkage, fatigue, fracture etc.
■ All result in leak in gas/oil  emits methane into atmosphere
■ We need a wellbore isolation material that is impermeable, flexible, and durable with
zero fluid loss and high tensile strength.
Alternative 1: Bingham-plastic– Well 25/8-17 Jetta
case study
■ Bingham plastic: viscoplastic material that behaves as a rigid body at low stresses but flows as a viscous fluid at high stress
■ Does not set up after placement and does not shrink
■ Cannot fracture even when shear forces exceed its strength. When this happens, the material floats and shear forces are reduced below yield
strength, causing the plug to reshape. 
■ Purely mechanical process  the transition between solid and fluid phase is repeatedly reversible (in principle, an infinite number of times)
■ Plug is thermodynamically stable because its sealing property is decided by the solids particle-size distribution (PSD) and bound water only.
■ Closely packed particles and absence of free water  entire column is kept homogeneous and no internal redistribution of particles may
occur  Permanent gas-tight barrier will prevent influx through the wellbore.
■ Sand slurry  impermeable. Made pumpable by carefully designing the PSD to make the smaller particles fit into the free space between the
larger particles
■ Case study of a North Sea Well for P&A - Well 25/8-17 Jetta  successful implementation of the technology was obtained. Case shows how
the fast and efficient placement of the plug contributes to overall cost and time reduction. Method used a Bingham-plastic unconsolidated
plugging material with high solids concentrations
■ Well was permanently abandoned using a non-consolidating concentrated sand plug in the reservoir interval as the primary well-barrier
element. The secondary well-barrier element and a surface plug were placed inside casing, using the traditional method of a mechanical plug
with cement above it. The plugging material does not undergo any chemical reactions, meaning it does not fracture, shrink, or degrade, and it
is intended to be effective permanently.
Alternative 2: Quartz based pastes
■ Whether forces increase or strength decreases, when shear stress becomes larger than shear strength, a solid material will fail
or fracture, and leakage may occur. Anything that turns solid can break up as downhole stress exceeds strength. If it bonds, it
can also de-bond.
■ Quartz-based “paste”  made of non-setting materials that will never turn solid and never degrades
■ Example: SandAband is a patented material, owned by SandAband Well Plugging (SWP)
■ Consisting of 70% to 80% quartz solids with a variable grain size diameter (1 μm -2 mm). The rest of the volume is
composed of water and chemicals  make the material easily pumpable.
■ All materials composing SandAband are chemically stable, with no degradation over time or reaction with other chemicals
■ Behaves like Bingham-plastic  needs a shear stress to start flowing and then has a linear dependence between shear stress
and strain, thus allowing that the materials quickly form a rigid body as the pumping is stopped
■ Benefits: Long term integrity, Bonds to steel, Removable, Ductile, Non shrinking, Cost effective, Chemically inert, Gas-tight,
Pumpable, Environmentally safe, No health hazards, Verifiable HPHT resistant, No reservoir damage, Non-erosional
■ The innovative materials has been tested on field for a Temporary P&A (BP Norway Ula Well 2007) and for a Permanent
P&A (Det Norske Oljeselskap). Both have been successful
Alternative 3: Thixotropic slurries
■ Cements with thixotropic properties are desirable because they provide rapid development of static gel strength after
placement. Designed so that slurry viscosities remain low while the slurry is moving, but when allowed to remain static will
rapidly gel.
■ The cement slurry quickly forms a high static gel strength and is thus useful for cementing under pressure. Also useful for
combatting lost circulation in a zone.
■ Thin under shear and become thick rapidly when it is still and become thin again after shear. Process is reversible
■ Sssist in controlling lost circulation problems, in certain squeeze cementing applications and in situations where maintaining
annular fill is a problem.
■ New type of thixotropic cement slurry system is formed by taking nanometer multifunctional thixotropic agent as main agent
and selecting relevant additives and admixtures.  able to rapidly respond to the external stimulus of shear force due to the
dynamic net structure between the nanometer material and the polymer
■ Tests results show that  system is strong and can prevent leakage and fluid channeling. The formed set cement is of high
compressive strength, good toughness and strong damage resistance which can ensure the long-term isolation of cement
sheath.
■ Compressive strength, tensile strength and impact energy increases with the increasing dosage of Thixotropic system, while
the Young modulus decreases
■ The intelligent thixotropic cement slurry have been used successfully in many oil fields, which prove its function on solving
the problems of fluid channeling and lost circulation
■ Bohai and Dagang Oilfields  process went well and there was no fluid channeling in the whole process. The logging results
showed that the bonding qualities were improved obviously comparing with the former cementing.
Alternative 4:Self healing cement
■ Principle: ability to swell upon contact with hydrocarbons to restore well integrity. Responsive material  repair is initiated when
hydrocarbon fluid originating from the producing formation comes in contact with the material.
■ Used as a secondary barrier in the case of cracks or deformation within the primary cement matrix. The combination serves as a more
robust solution to mitigate the impact of stresses generated during different well lifecycle phases. 
■ Flexible and expandable cement was selected for placement across the producing formation while the self-healing cement is placed
above the reservoir section to be activated in the case of hydrocarbon flow should a breach or crack develop within the matrix structure
of the cement.
■ The objective of SHC  provide isolation with a material that has self-repairing ability within the set cement. This material enables
automatic repair when an internal crack, micro annulus or other flow path is created within the cement  Thus prevent the flow of
fluids (leaks).
■ The self-healing action is repeatable. If system is not exposed to hydrocarbons, it remains in place and acts as conventional cement.
■ Results in a reduced risk of remediation costs and associated lost production. Also increases the well’s potential productive life
■ Globally, self-healing cements have been increasing used in the last decade. Used in Thailand
■ The technology was applied in several wells in an area of western Colorado known to have problems with gas leaking to surface after
the cement sheath had set.
■ Also applied in two wells in the Stolberg field in the central Alberta foothills region to address SCP and surface casing vent flows. More
than three years after implementation, the wells have shown no signs of pressure buildup in the annulus or at surface.
■ The technology was also used for well construction as part of a gas field development in Algeria, where wells had developed surface
casing leaks days or weeks following cementing operations. The application of the SHC system has reduced the occurrence of these
leaks.
List of sealing materials

source, Oil & Gas UK

 Bonus: Ferrock
■ Very new material invented by David Stone. (It has never been tested in the oil industry, I just found it
interesting and think it might have a good future)
■ Ferrock is created from waste steel dust and silica from ground up glass. Upon reaction with carbon
dioxide, creates iron carbonate which binds carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the Ferrock.
■ Roughly 95% of the Ferrock is made from recycled materials
■ Ferrock is both stronger and more flexible than normal Portland cement, allowing it to be used in
highly active environments where there is a consideration for seismic activity.
■ Much cheaper as it is sourced from waste materials, it is carbon negative as it absorbs more carbon
dioxide than it creates when it is hardening and is also relatively chemically inactive allowing it to be
used in places like salt water without deterioration with the salt making it stronger.
■ Ferrock is five times stronger than cement
■ Becomes even stronger in saltwater environments, making it ideal for marine-based construction
projects.
■ But there’s skepticism from the cement industry that while Ferrock could be great for niche projects, it
isn’t practical for large-scale industrial use. Also, if steel dust suddenly goes from being a “waste”
material to a highly-prized building resource, it’s price will increase exponentially and the costs of
producing Ferrock may limit its application.
Geopolymers
■ high flexural tensile strength, low shrinkage and workability characteristics. World's largest geopolymer concrete project: Australia’s
first greenfield public airport. made from slag/fly ash-based geopolymer concrete coined Earth Friendly Concrete (EFC), a Wagners
brand name for their commercial form of geopolymer concrete
■ formed by activating an alumino-silicate material such as fly ash (a waste material that is often discarded) with an alkali.
■ these geopolymer materials offer more ductile strength and failure behavior, considerable resistance to contamination, higher tensile
strength and bond strength, and an ability to re-heal when damaged. The results obtained for geopolymers formed by activating flyash
with potassium and sodium silicates indicate that these may be well-suited for achieving long-term thermal well integrity.
■ OPC slurries are sensitive to contamination by muds and spacers whereas geopolymer material is much more resistive and forgiving
when contaminated by SBM, with notable strength development at contamination levels as high as 40% v/v. This tolerance to
contamination can, in fact, be actively exploited to consolidate SBM waste and cuttings in a durable material that can be repurposed
■  progressive contamination of geopolymer slurries will lower their viscosity, making displacement easier.
■ geopolymers are less stiff and can more easily accommodate larger strain deformations.
■ Crack re-healing has been observed and reported for geopolymer materials :  cylindrical samples in triaxial equipment were damaged
beyond yielding after 7 days, were subsequently left to cure for another 21 days, and were then retested for yielding behavior on the
28th (= 7 + 21) day. While the OPC sample did not recover of its 7-day strength and showed a significantly lower peak stress, the
geopolymer sample showed a recovery in strength that went beyond its 7-day strength, indicating re-healing
■ The cement-to-pipe shear bond strength, determined by the peak vertical load at which the steel cylinder was pushed out of the
equipment was found to be a factor 2.5 – 3.0 higher for geopolymers than for OPC.
■ silicate-activated geopolymers have extra-ordinary temperature stability up to temperatures of 800°C, higher than any known oil &
gas industry or (geo-) thermal application.
Conclusion

■ In conclusion, in my opinion, the industry focused too much on trying to make cement
works for decades. The energy should be redirected to finding more efficient
alternatives
■ The perfect zonal isolation job would have an inert/latent fluid that is liquid when
pumped but can turn solid fast
■ A good solution is to use setting materials where strength is needed and non-setting
materials where zonal isolation is needed
■ Plastics / sand based non setting pastes are a good alternative
References

■ http://www.oil-gasportal.com/sealing-materials-for-well-integrity/?print=pdf
■ https://onepetro.org/DC/article/26/03/371/198104/Permanent-Abandonment-of-a-North-
Sea-Well-Using
■ https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/49/2e/5d/970b7d5b36327e/EP0145151A1.
pdf
■ Haichuan Lu, Huikai Zheng, Zongyao Li, Wangsheng Feng, and Shaobing Tang, CNPC
Offshore Engineering Company Limited; Jianlong Zou, Lirong Li, and Wenli Tan,
CNPC Offshore Engineering Company Limited, Key Laboratory of Drilling
Engineering of CNPC