CBL-VDL and USIT

Cement Interpretation
Guidelines
 Contents

-Cementing problems
- Sonic principles
- Ultrasonic principles
- Sonic/Ultrasonic comparison
- Cement Evaluation Examples
- Conclusion

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 Cementing Problems

• Placement (mud removal)

– Poor centralization -> channel
– Incorrect flow regime -> channel, mud
film, fluid contamination
• After placement before setting
– Slurry segregation: free water and/or
settling
– Formation fluid invasion: gas or water
– Debonding (microannulus)
– Water loss
– Permeable formation interactions
• After placement once set
– Debonding
– Mechanical failure (Pressure,
temperature, drilling, tectonics,..)
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 Sonic (CBL/VDL) principle
Casing
Cement
Formation
Mud

20 kHz
Transmitter
Bonded cement

CBL amplitude
3 ft
Receiver
t
5 ft
Receiver

VDL
0 100
CBL amp

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 Sonic (CBL/VDL)
measurements
• Two different measurements come from
sonic tools:
- CBL (Cement Bond Log): CBL is a
signal given by a sonic tool that gives an
estimation of the quality of the bond
between the casing and the cement.
- VDL (Variable Density Log): VDL is a
signal given by a sonic tool that gives an
estimation of the quality of the bond
between the cement and the formation
• The sonic tools used for CBL/VDL are:
DSLT, SSLT, SCMT, QSLT, HSLT, Sonic
Scanner

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 UltraS
Sonic Imager
Principle
The USI evaluates cement with
• An ultrasonic transducer
(0.2-0.7 MHz)
• The resonance
technique

Free pipe
(High signal
amplitude)

Good cement
(Low signal
amplitude)

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 The USI view
Gas
Casing weld microannulus

Mud
channel

Perfs

Well
centered
casing

Eccentered
Washout casing

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 USI Measurements

Echo Transit Thickness Cement

amplitude time Impedance

(Internal Internal
casing radius
condition)

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 USI and CBL/VDL guide
USI CBL/VDL
Well bonded Cement Cement
cement
Very light Low contrast Low contrast from
cement [special processing mud
if debonded]
Dry microann. Dry microann. /gas Good/fair bond
Debonded (special
cement processing)
Wet microann. Slightly affected Ambiguous
Mud layer Channel Ambiguous
Contaminated Image of Ambiguous
cement contamination
Mixed lead/tail Mixed lead/tail Ambiguous
cement
Mud channel Channel Ambiguous
Gas channel Gas channel Cement/ambiguou
s
Formation bond Not seen VDL qualitative
Outer casing/ Slightly affected Strongly affected
hard formation
Casing Very sensitive Slightly sensitive
condition

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 Acoustic evaluation at a
glance
Cement USI CBL
Heavy to medium cement,
cement,
good bond
Very light cement,
cement , good
bond
Debonded, dry
microannulus

Liquid microannulus

Mud layer

Mud channel

Contaminated cement

Gas channel

Good interpretation
Ambiguous
Very ambiguous or not detectable

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 USI + CBL/VDL
cement presentation
QC CBL USI VDL

CBL

VDL
Bond index
(percentage of cement
contamination)
Acoustic impedance
Cement image interpreted
CBL, gamma
Process flags, eccentering

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 USI + CBL/VDL Cement
presentation (2)

CBL response in free pipe depending on casing size.

The CBL amplitude will vary from 0 to the free-pipe CBL
value (=maximum value)

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 Example #1:
Good cement
Good Strong formation
CBL flat,
cement map Weak casing arrival
low arrival

QC CBL USI VDL

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 Example #2: Mud channel
and contaminated cement
CBL
variable,
high Strong casing
arrival

channel

QC CBL USI VDL

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 Example #3: Cement top
(free pipe)
Weak formation
arrival
CBL flat,
high Strong casing
“chevron” arrival
patterns

Bad cement
map

QC CBL USI VDL

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 Example #4: Channel and
Squeeze
Channel After squeeze

Perfs

USI

CBL

USI CBL VDL USI CBL VDL

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 Microannulus/ debond

• A small gap (< 0.2 mm) between

casing and cement formed by
pressure and temperature changes, or
a mud or oil film left on the casing
• USI and CBL respond in different ways

Microannulus USI CBL

Wet Weakly Strongly
affected for affected
gaps <0.1 to
0.2 mm
Dry Reads gas. Weakly
Special affected for
micro- very small gaps
debonding (microns)
processing VDL "bitty"

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 Example #5: Wet micro
annulus
• USI is weakly affected
• CBL reads near free pipe

Strong, regular
casing arrival
High CBL

Good
cement
map

USI CBL VDL

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 Dry microannulus/ debond
Dry microannulus
Gas microannulus
Dry debond
Micro debond
• Mean the same thing
• Indicate solid cement
• Often occur without gas entry even in
double casing strings due to pressure
or temperature changes
• Act as a barrier to ultrasound
• Gas entry should only be suspected if
in known gas zone, gas injector well
near, or gas at surface

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 Micro-debonding: USI and
CBL are complementary
• CBL less affected than USI without
pressure
• USI and CBL improve with pressure
With pressure Without pressure

CBL

USI

USI CBL VDL USI CBL VDL

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 CBL/VDL example #1: good
cement or bad cement?

Good cement bond!

-The CBL amplitude is very low
-The cement-formation arrival pattern designs on the
VDL are very faint and grey.

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 CBL/VDL example #2: good
cement or bad cement?

Good cement bond!

-The CBL amplitude is very low
-There are some strong formation arrivals (meaning
that the bond between the cement and the formation is
so good that signal coming from the formation itself
can be transmitted through the cement), note that this
formation signal can be compared with the GR curve,
which proves that they are not random signals

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CBL/VDL example #3: where is
the good cement-to-formation
bond?

-Zone A presents a good cement-to-formation bond

(faint and grey VDL signal with clear formation arrivals)
-Zone B presents a bad cement-to-formation bond
(black and white straight lines showing casing signal)

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 CBL/VDL example #4: good
cement or bad cement?

-CBL amplitude is high (bad bond indication)

-Strong casing arrivals on the VDL (bad bond
indication)
-But, strong formation arrivals as well on VDL (good
bond indication)

2 possible scenarios: micro annulus or channeling!

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 Conclusion

• The USI provides the most detailed

view of the distribution of cement in
the annulus available today.
• The combination with the CBL/VDL is
recommended for added confidence,
especially when microannulus is
present.
• Acoustic logs have limitations.
• Cement evaluation must combine
cement job analysis and acoustic logs

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