THE DEFINING SERIES

Well Cementing Fundamentals

Erik B. Nelson
Contributing Editor

Circulating Drilling Fluid

Well cementing consists of two principal operations—primary cementing
and remedial cementing. Primary cementing is the process of placing a
cement sheath in the annulus between the casing and the formation.
Remedial cementing occurs after primary cementing, when engineers inject
cements into strategic well locations for various purposes, including well
Drilling fluid
repair and well abandonment.
Primary cementing is a critical procedure in the well construction pro-
cess. The cement sheath provides a hydraulic seal that establishes zonal iso- Casing string

lation, preventing fluid communication between producing zones in the

borehole and blocking the escape of fluids to the surface. The cement sheath Centralizers
Annulus
also anchors and supports the casing string and protects the steel casing
against corrosion by formation fluids. Failure to achieve these objectives may
severely limit the well’s ability to reach its full producing potential. Shoe
Most primary cementing operations employ a two-plug cement placement
method (right). After drilling through an interval to a desired depth, a drilling Pumping Wash, Spacer and Cement Slurry Displacement
crew removes the drillpipe, leaving the borehole filled with drilling fluid. The Displacement
fluid
crew then lowers a casing string to the bottom of the borehole. The bottom Cement slurry Top plug
end of the casing string is protected by a guide shoe or float shoe. Both shoes Bottom plug
Spacer fluid
are tapered, commonly bullet-nosed devices that guide the casing toward the Chemical wash
center of the hole to minimize contact with rough edges or washouts during
installation. The guide shoe differs from the float shoe in that the former lacks
a check valve. The check valve can prevent reverse flow, or U-tubing, of fluids
from the annulus into the casing. Centralizers are placed along critical casing
sections to help prevent the casing from sticking while it is lowered into the Displacement Completed Job
well. In addition, centralizers keep the casing in the center of the borehole to
help ensure placement of a uniform cement sheath in the annulus between
the casing and the borehole wall.
As the casing is lowered into the well, the casing interior may fill with
drilling fluid. The objectives of the primary cementing operation are to remove
drilling fluid from the casing interior and borehole, place a cement slurry in
the annulus and fill the casing interior with a displacement fluid such as drill-
ing fluid, brine or water.
Cement slurries and drilling fluids are usually chemically incompatible. > Basic two-plug primary cementing operation. After a well interval has
Commingling them may result in a thickened or gelled mass at the interface been drilled to the desired depth, the drillpipe is removed and a casing
string is lowered to the bottom of the borehole (top). The bottom of the
that would be difficult to remove from the wellbore, possibly preventing place-
casing string is usually fitted with a protective shoe, and centralizers keep
ment of a uniform cement sheath throughout the annulus. Therefore, engi- the casing centered in the wellbore. Engineers pump chemical washes and
neers employ chemical and physical means to maintain fluid separation. spacer fluids down the casing interior, thereby displacing drilling fluid
Chemical washes and spacer fluids may be pumped after the drilling fluid and (middle left). They next insert a bottom plug, followed by a volume of
cement slurry that is sufficient to fill the annulus (middle right). Continued
before the cement slurry. These fluids have the added benefit of cleaning the
pumping of cement slurry forces drilling fluid out of the casing interior, up
casing and formation surfaces, which helps achieve good cement bonding. the annulus and out of the wellbore. When the bottom plug lands at the
Wiper plugs are elastomeric devices that provide a physical barrier bottom of the casing string, a membrane in the plug ruptures, opening a
between fluids pumped inside the casing. A bottom plug separates the pathway for the cement slurry to enter the annulus. Engineers insert a top
plug after the cement slurry, and the top plug is then followed by a
cement slurry from the drilling fluid, and a top plug separates the cement displacement fluid (bottom left). Pumping the displacement fluid forces the
slurry from the displacement fluid. The bottom plug has a membrane that top plug downward until it lands on the bottom plug, thereby isolating the
ruptures when it lands at the bottom of the casing string, creating a pathway casing interior and annulus and filling the annulus with cement slurry
through which the cement slurry may flow into the annulus. The top plug (bottom right).
does not have a membrane; therefore, when it lands on top of the bottom
plug, hydraulic communication is severed between the casing interior and the annulus. After the cementing operation, engineers wait for the cement
to cure, set and develop strength—known as waiting on cement (WOC).
Oilfield Review Summer 2012: 24, no. 2. After the WOC period, usually less than 24 hours, additional drilling, perfo-
Copyright © 2012 Schlumberger. rating or other operations may commence.
www.slb.com/defining

Well construction typically consists of installing several casing strings,

each requiring a primary cementing operation (right). As the well deepens, Conductor casing

the diameter of each casing string is usually smaller than the preceding one.
Nearly all well cementing operations use portland cement, which consists Cement Surface casing
mainly of anhydrous calcium silicate and calcium aluminate compounds that
hydrate when added to water. The hydration products, principally calcium sili- Intermediate
cate hydrates, provide the strength and low permeability required to achieve casing
zonal isolation.
The conditions to which portland cements are exposed in a well differ Production liner
significantly from those encountered at ambient surface conditions associ-
ated with buildings, roads and bridges. Well cements must perform over a
wide temperature range—from below freezing in permafrost zones to tem- > Typical casing program. The large-diameter conductor casing protects
peratures exceeding 400°C [752°F] in geothermal wells. Consequently, shallow formations from contamination by drilling fluid and helps prevent
washouts involving unconsolidated topsoils and sediments. Surface casing,
cement manufacturers produce special versions of portland cement for use in the second string, has a smaller diameter, maintains borehole integrity and
wells. In addition, more than 100 cement additives are available to adjust prevents contamination of shallow groundwater by hydrocarbons,
cement performance, allowing engineers to customize a cement formulation subterranean brines and drilling fluids. The intermediate casing isolates
hydrocarbon-bearing, abnormally pressured, fractured and lost circulation
for a particular well environment. The principal objective is to formulate a
zones, providing well control as drillers drill deeper. Multiple strings of
cement that is pumpable for a time sufficient for placement in the annulus, intermediate casing may be required to reach the target producing zone.
develops strength within a few hours after placement and remains durable The production casing, or liner, is the last and smallest tubular element in
throughout the well’s lifetime. the well. It isolates the zones above and within the production zone and
withstands all of the anticipated loads throughout the well’s life.
Additives may be classified according to the functions they perform.
Accelerators reduce the cement setting time and increase the rate of com-
pressive strength development. Retarders delay the setting time and extend The cement bond log presents the reflected amplitude of an acoustic
the time during which a cement slurry is pumpable. Extenders lower the signal transmitted by a logging tool inside the casing. The cement-casing
cement slurry density, reduce the amount of cement per unit volume of set bond integrity is directly proportional to the attenuation of the reflected
product, or both. Weighting agents increase the density of the cement. signal. Another acoustic log presents the waveforms of the reflected signals
Fluid loss control agents control leakage of water from the cement slurry detected by the logging tool receiver and provides qualitative insights con-
into porous formations, thereby preserving the designed cement slurry cerning the casing, the cement sheath and the formation. Ultrasonic logging
properties. Lost circulation control agents limit flow of the entire cement tools transmit a short ultrasonic pulse, causing the casing to resonate. The
slurry out of the wellbore into weak, cracked or vugular formations and help tool measures the resonant echoes; when solid cement is behind the casing,
ensure that the cement slurry is able to fill the entire annular space. the echo amplitudes are attenuated. When there is fluid behind the casing,
Dispersants reduce the viscosity of the cement slurry, which allows a lower the echoes have high amplitudes.
pumping pressure during placement. Specialty additives include antifoam When logging operations indicate that the cement job is defective, either in
agents, fibers and flexible particles. Cement additives are an active domain the form of poor cement bonding or communication between zones, a remedial
of research and development, and the industry regularly introduces new cementing technique known as squeeze cementing may be performed to estab-
and improved products. lish zonal isolation. A cementing crew perforates the casing at the defective
After a cementing operation has been performed and the cement has set, interval and forces, or squeezes, cement slurry through the perforations and into
engineers frequently perform tests to confirm that the cement sheath integ- the annulus to fill the voids. In addition, squeeze cementing may be an effective
rity and performance meet the intended design criteria. Cement evaluation technique for repairing casing leaks caused by a corroded or split casing.
techniques include hydraulic testing and various well logging methods. When a well has reached the end of its productive life, operators usually
Pressure testing is the most common hydraulic testing method. It is typi- abandon the well by performing plug cementing. Engineers fill the casing
cally conducted after every surface- or intermediate-casing cement job. The interior with cement at various depths, thereby preventing interzonal com-
driller first performs a casing pressure test to verify the mechanical integrity of munication and fluid migration into underground freshwater sources. The
the tubular string and then drill out the casing shoe. Next, the driller performs ultimate objective is to restore the natural integrity of the formations that
a pressure integrity test by increasing the internal casing pressure until it were disrupted by drilling.
exceeds the pressure that will be applied during the next drilling phase. If no Well cementing technology is more than 100 years old; however, chemists
leakage is detected, the cement seal is deemed successful. and engineers continue to introduce new formulations, materials and tech-
Engineers may choose from several well logging techniques to evaluate nology to meet the constantly changing needs of the energy industry. For
the quality of the cement behind casing. The logging crew lowers measuring example, the durability of zonal isolation, during and after a well’s productive
devices into the well and plots the acquired data versus depth. Temperature life, is a major research and development topic. Modern cement systems may
logs help locate the top of the cement column in the annulus. Cement hydra- contain flexible particles and fibers that allow set cement to withstand severe
tion is an exothermic process that raises the temperature of the surrounding mechanical stresses. Advanced self-healing cement systems contain “smart”
environment. Data from acoustic and ultrasonic logging tools help engineers materials that, upon cement-sheath failure, swell and reestablish zonal isola-
analyze the cement/casing and cement/formation interfaces. These tools pro- tion when contacted by either aqueous or hydrocarbon formation fluids. The
vide information about the quality of the cement sheath and how well the ultimate goals of these cementing technologies are to withstand the rigors of
cement adheres, or bonds, to the casing and to the formation. well operations and other disruptions that may occur over time and maintain
zonal isolation indefinitely.
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