1

Cement Evaluation Methods to Prove Isolation of Barriers

in Oil and Gas Wells:
Should a Cement Bond Log (CBL) Be Run or Required in
Every Well?

12 July 2012
George E. King, Apache Corporation
Objective
The purpose of this work is to establish whether a specific method or tool is
effective in proving cement isolation of a zone, and if the method or tool should be
required on the surface casing cement or other cement strings as a part of initial
well construction (or, if not required, when it may provide useful information).
This report also looks at the cement evaluation methods with intent to determine
the best investigation tools and their limitations.
Conclusions
1. The only cement test method that can confirm zone-to-zone isolation is a
pressure test.
2. To provide an effective seal and isolation of a zone, only part of the total
cement column must be channel free. Cement channels may be present in
parts of the cement, but as long as there are one or more significant,
continuous sections of channel-free cement, isolation of the zone along the
wellbore will be adequate.
3. Cement bond logs can give a reasonable estimate of bonding and a semiquantitative idea of presence or absence of larger cement channels, but will
not certify pressure or fluid isolation of a zone. Cement bond logs have been
proven to miss a percentage of smaller channels in cement, even under ideal
conditions and interpretation.
4. Bond logs have failed to show bond in many wells that proved to be well
isolated in a differential pressure test. Error within the application and
interpretation of cement bond logs has resulted in numerous workovers to
repair cement that was not faulty, resulting in high workover costs and a
decrease in the well integrity by unnecessary perforating and attempts to
block squeeze cement.

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5. Top of cement (TOC) can be established by several methods. Temperature
logs are functional within a time-window for determining top of cement. Lowstrength natural radioactive sources (e.g., raw uranium ore) mixed in the
cement are useful for non-time-dependent determination of cement tops
(although the process has not been used in decades). Density logs may show
cement tops, but will confuse formation fill with cement. Bond logs may
provide cement top information but can be fooled by highly compacted
cuttings, barite, formation collapse in the annulus and formations with fast
sonic travel times.
6. With the exception of a pressure test, requiring a specific tool on every
cement job appears to be a poor choice, with possible detrimental economic
and structural consequences for squeeze cementing attempts made on wells
with cement suspected by CBL investigation but proven effective by a
pressure test.
Discussion
Cementing is an integral part of well construction. Cement provides the seal,
protection and support for the casing to maintain the strong barriers that isolate the
well. The benefits of cement are well known and a compendium of knowledge on
cement design and durability has been building since the development of
engineered cement application beginning in the 1906 to 1922 time period.
To achieve effective isolation, cement needs to fill the area around the pipe and
produce a channel-free section of cement over a length of the cement column
suitable to isolate zones and prevent leakage into or out of a hydrocarbon
productive zone. In many published case histories of cement bond studies and
several multi-well studies, logs of cement quality show channels over short zones,
even where isolation has been proven by decades of production. Channels probably
exist for short intervals in many cemented intervals that are still effectively isolated.
Unless the channels extend through the entire length of the cemented column, the
isolation potential of a cement column is still acceptable. Even a few feet of high
quality cement where channels are absent is adequate to form a seal. Typical
cement column lengths of hundreds of feet sharply reduce the potential for an
isolation failure, even under adverse cementing conditions.
Most channels in the cement occur from inability to displace mud from around the
pipe and from gas migration into the annulus as the cement starts to gel. The
amount of channel free cement required for pressure and fluid isolation is small,
typically less than about 50 ft, while the amount of cement used in primary or
overlap cementing operations is 200 to 600 feet or more. These long cemented
intervals in primary or overlap cementing build in a significant safety factor that
takes potential for cement channeling into account.

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Additionally; centralizers, pipe movement (rotation and/or reciprocation),
preliminary mud displacement flushes, swelling cement, gas migration prevention
and other placement steps sharply lower potential for channels in the cement. In
vertical sections of well, casing centralization and gas migration actions are usually
sufficient to minimize channels. The highest incidence of channels within the
cement column occurs in the deviated section of wells (in the 30 o to 60o range) due
to the combination of Boycott Settling effect of circulating dispersions, the effects of
casing weight (flexing the casing to the low side of the drilled hole, and density
difference segregation of gas to the top of the hole.
Cementing: Forming an effective Barrier
Construction of the well is a step-by-step process and the well design is a function
of the geologic character of the area. A simplified schematic is shown in Figure 1,
where different casing strings and accompanying cement is used to form a section
of a well.
Figure 1
This is a section of the well
where casing had to be set to
control either formation fluid
pressures or formation
stability.
In a case, where isolation is
need to protect the casing
against an exterior corrosive
salt water, cement is placed
over the entire interval.
In other cases, cement may or
may not need to extend over
the entire casing string.

The cement used in well construction may vary slightly from high-quality
construction grade cement since it must be modified by additives to be placed

4
across hot or cold zones and must remain in a fluid state until it has been
completely placed behind the pipe.
Strength of the cement increases as it sets and will reach strengths of several
hundred psi in a few hours and several thousand psi after a few days. Even low
strength, partially cured cement is capable of supporting the casing and preventing
flow of fluids.
An effective cement job around steel casing placed in a drilled hole through rock is
provides many critical requirements for environmental and well protection.
1. Cement completes the isolation step by sealing the annulus (area between
the outside of the casing and the drilled hole wall), preventing unwanted fluid
movement out-of or into a well.
2. A cement sheath around the pipe has the hardness and durability of rock,
with much lower ability to pass fluid than even most seal rocks. The cement
from the primary cement job and the cement added during abandonment
becomes part of a permanent plug and abandonment design.
3. Cement is useful for preventing fluid movement behind the pipe (including
gas migration from gas charged but un-economic sand, shale or coal
stringers).
4. Cement reduces exposure of the pipe exterior to corrosive influences such as
salt water and acid gasses (CO2 and H2S). Exterior corrosion of the casing is
common in a few areas where naturally low pH (acidic) salt water inhabits
some formations. Cement forms a coating when in contact with many forms
of natural acids that prevents further reaction and insures stability of the
cement. These acid reactions are usually short term and generally pose no
risks that are not easily controllable with additives.
5. As the liquid cement sets, strength is developed that supports the casing,
preventing buckling and joint failure. A cement sheath also increases the
resistance of the pipe to burst and collapse forces.
Cement Monitoring Methods What They Do and Their Limitations
Pressure testing of the wellbore after a cement job provides a recorded record of
whether the wellbore between the top and bottom exposure points will hold a test
pressure equal or greater than the highest test pressure that the well will see in any
subsequent operation. This is the most reliable test, quickly separating adequately
isolated casing strings from those that need repair to pass isolation tests. Pressure
tests are a standard during well construction and, if the test pressures are more
than subsequent operational pressures, the test offers documentation of isolation.
The area that is tested in this manner is only the zone in contact with the pressuring
fluid, which is typically the bottom section or casing shoe.

5
Cement evaluation behind the pipe began with the calculation of cement tops.
Properly run temperature surveys can identify the TOC, but distribution of cemente.g., vertical isolation through zones of interest-is difficult to ascertain. The most
critical factor in the evaluation technique is the timing of the survey. Heat dissipates
rapidly from the exothermic reaction as cement sets, thus temperature
measurements must be taken within a few hours. Laboratory tests indicate a return
to near normal temperatures in 24 hours. Early surveys also showed the effects of
time, bottomhole temperature, circulating time, and thermal conductivity of the
surrounding formations on the temperature profile. The temperature log remains an
economical and effective way to determine the TOC and intervals of larger cement
accumulation. It is not a direct measure of vertical isolation across hydrocarbonbearing zones; however, if a four-arm caliper is available, it is possible to infer good
cement displacement if the TOC agrees closely with the calculated top (and full
returns were present during pumping and displacement of cement). Top of cement
investigation are usually run only in the first few wells in an area until cementing
operations are understood.
Radioactive tracer surveys were run in the late 1930's to determine cement tops,
but are not run today. Carnotite (a low grade uranium ore with a low radioactive
level) was mixed in the lead cement slurry and cement tops were determined with a
gamma ray log. Tracer surveys had the same limitations as temperature logs
(shallow investigation and limited to vertical wells) but were not time-sensitive.
Cement bond logs (CBL), which may be sonic or ultrasonic, range from simple
averaging instruments similar to those that came out in 1960 to the more
sophisticated models that investigate 60o segments of the cemented annulus
around the tool.1-6
A properly run and executed CBL or CET (Cement Evaluation Tool) can provide some
information on cement fill behind the pipe, going past area of the cemented shoe
and along the wellbore where a pressure test may not reach.

Steiles,
2012, SPE,
The bonding investigation theory behind the CBL is basically good but application
and investigation problems along with the inability of any CBL to find all of the small
channels in cement are problems. CBL signal interpretation expertise is easily the
most important part in using a CBL.3
TRADITIONAL CEMENT BOND LOG (CBL) THEORY
In conventional CBL tools, a transmitter is pulsed to produce an omni-directional
acoustic signal that travels to a set of receivers along various paths through the
borehole fluid, pipe, cement and formation. The logging system records the receiver
waveforms and displays them on the log along with a pipe-amplitude curve.
Interpretation of the CBL signals uses these two measurements to indicate two
bonds; the pipe-to-cement bond and the cement-to formation bond. An additional
measurement is the sound travel time, which confirms cement presence, tool
centralization and is an indication of cement-to-pipe bond.
The pipe amplitude curve displays the amplitude of the acoustic signal that has
traveled through pipe, but not through cement and formation, to arrive at the
receivers. Conventional cements will have an amplitude measurement of less than
10 mV for good bond. Foamed, nitrified cements and cements containing light or
heavy weight components will affect the amplitude measurements of the CBL.
Ultrasonic tools provide the most beneficial data when evaluating cement
placement and bonding. Instead of a separate source and receiver, the ultrasonic
source and receiver are packaged together as a transducer.
When a signal emitted by a transducer encounters an acoustic interface (for
example, between casing and annular material outside casing), some of the signal
energy is reflected at the interface, and some is transmitted across the interface.
The fractional amounts of reflected and transmitted energy depend on the acoustic

7
impedances of the materials at the interface. The signal strength received at the
tool, the acoustic impedance, or Z, is a function of the bulk density of the material
through which the sonic waves travel.7

This CBL presentation3 shows the five logging tracks that make up a good CBL
report. The raw transit time data helps distinguish between cement measurements
and interruptions from fast formations (faster sound travel than steel pipe). The
gamma ray is a gamma emission measurement log that reports natural radioactivity
of a formation and is a good depth correlation. The CCL is a casing collar locator log
that correlates the thicker steel collar locations (affects sonic travel and cement
thickness). The amplitude is the strength of the signal after loss of signal due to
attenuation of the transmitted sonic or ultrasonic signal. The VDL or variable
density log is a recording of the bond log interpretation. Amplitude is the
magnitude or loudness of the signal when dealing with sound waves. Attenuation is
the loss of energy during transmission of the signal. Density of cement and
formation are two of the variables.
The difference in the speed of the sonic or ultrasonic signal in the specific media
(formation, cement, steel, mud, etc.) must be known to make the bonding
calculation accurate. Errors in the information from variances in the materials or
inaccurate measurements create significant error potential in the CBL
measurement.

Sonic wave signatures (against time)

in various materials).3

Newer tools such as the Segmented Bond Tool (SBT) and ultrasonic imager are
definite improvements, but the small channel detection problem remains. Other
developments may include more sophisticated tools, such as the cement volumetric
scan tool. Each logging technique currently in use has limitations and none will
measure isolation like a pressure test. 4,5,6
Frisch described the industry problem with cement investigation tool with this
statement: Previous conventional cement evaluation techniques that rely on
combined data from a traditional acoustic cement bond logging (CBL) tool and
modem ultrasonic tools can be problematic. It is important to accurately evaluate
the downhole placement and bonding characteristics of any type of cement to
ensure zonal isolation of economic fluids from undesirable fluids. Inaccurate
evaluation can lead to unnecessary and expensive remedial cementing operations.
It is estimated that the industry spends about $200 million per year on remedial
cementing. Of this amount, between $30 to $40 million per year is wasted because
of misinterpretation of cement evaluation logs.7
Limitations and Problems
Field performance for a properly run and calibrated CBL is about 90% in finding
channels of 10% or more of total annular space. 16 Smaller annular channels are not
easily identifiable to a bond log because of variations in cement composition that
create density differences in the cement. These channels may or may not
compromise cement seal (isolation) integrity depending on their extent and
connectivity along the annular cement sheath.
This major limitation of the CBL in identifying small channels practically eliminates it
as a reliable test for isolation. Many of the early and current problems with CBLs
came from poor running and interpreting techniques as well as mistakes in selecting
correct time and place to run the logs. Early work indicated several false signals,
particularly in thinner cement sheaths and hydrocarbon contaminated cement

9
(pockets). In multiple well studies, the cement bond log often indicated poor
bonding when well performance and zone pressures were clearly isolated by
cement. This finding was proven by long-term production without problems, waterfree well performance (water isolation) and pressure measurements over time. 2
Data in these field tests showed many wells with effective isolation even though the
percentage of acceptable bond ranged from 31% to 75%. Even a few sections of
good bond established isolation are adequate seals between zones, as proved by
pressure readings and long term water avoidance that were only tens of feet away.
2, 17

Field examples of cementing practices showed a correlation between mud removal

operations and better bonding, to the point where a good cementing program was
more important, and more reliable, than running and trying to interpret a cement
bond log. The bond log was highly useful in measuring bonding trend
improvements in cementing application where there were demonstrated problems
with cement isolation and are used in some areas to measure improvements in
cementing operations. The information that is needed to assess isolation is whether
a significant portion of the wellbore is channel free and the cement fill, bond and
strength are sufficient to contain pressure. A CBL will not reliably answer those
questions as a stand-alone piece of data. In one of the best early field case histories
and assessments of CBL tools, Walter Fertl, a recognized bond log expert, described
CBL tools with the following language: The validity of Cement Bond Log (CBL)
interpretation has been a subject of controversy since its introduction; and the CBL,
despite its great potential, is probably one of the most abused, misused, and
misunderstood logs run in the oil field today. Miss-calibration, inadequate
information, and a severe lack of standardization are enough to push petroleum
engineers into a morass of bewilderment.4
Well cementing technology in both relatively straight and high-angle directional
holes has advanced dramatically since the first casing was cemented in 1903. 4
Besides the everyday cementing needs in "problem-free" boreholes, recent
engineered improvements successfully deal with cementing of arctic wells, ultradeep and hot holes, water-sensitive formations, and proper placement opposite
incompetent, fractured, or proper placement opposite incompetent, fractured, or
highly permeable formations. The basic requirements for obtaining a successful
primary cement job have been known for years. Good design characteristics are
based on a knowledge of formation, cement, and pipe properties, and controlled
placement techniques that consider fracture gradients. Also important is an
understanding of (1) minimum practical mud density and viscosity, (2) cement type,
(3) turbulent flow conditions, (4) the optimum size of preflushes, (5) centralizing of
casing, the use of scratchers, and the handling of pipe, and (6) the proper choice of
casing.

10
Basically, the utility of cement bond logs is in determining the presence of cement
and information on cement the bonding across the zone of investigation. It will not
predict or confirm pressure isolation.

Technical References
1. Grosmangin, M., Kokesh, P.P., Majani, P.: A Sonic Method for Analyzing the
Quality of Cementation of Borehole Casings, SPE Journal of Petroleum
Technology. Vol. 13, No. 2, pp 165-171. Feb, 1961.
2.

Flournoy, R.M., Feaster, J.H.: Field Observations on the Use of the Cement
Bond Log and Its Application to the Evaluation of Cementing Problems, SPE
632, Society of Petroleum Engineers, New Orleans, LA, October 3-6, 1963.

3. Steiles, D.: Challenges with Cement Evaluation: What We Know and What We
Dont, SPE Webinar, July 11, 2012.
4. Fertl, W. H., Pilkington, P. E., Scott, J.B.:A Look at Cement Bond Logs, Journal
of Petroleum Technology, Vol. 26, No. 6, June, 1974, pp 607-617.
5. Pilkington, P.E., Fertl, W.H.: Field Tests of Cement Bond Logging Tools, The
Log Analyst, Vol. XVI, No. 4. July-Aug, 1975.
6. Pilkington, P.E.Cement Evaluation Past, Present and Future, Journal of
Petroleum Technology, Vol 44, No. 2, Feb 1992. Pp 132-140.
7. Frisch, G., Graham, Griffith, J.: A Novel and Economic Processing Technique
Using Conventional Bond Logs and Ultrasonic Tools for Enhanced Cement
Evaluation, SPWLA 41th, Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2000.
8. Bigelow, E.L.: A Practical Approach to the Interpretation of Cement Bond
Logs, SPE 13342, JPT, 1985
9. Smith, R.C.: Successful Primary Cementing Can Be a Reality, Distinguished
Author Series, SPE JPT, Nov 1984, pp 1851-1858.
10.Beirute, R.M., Wilson, M.A., Sabins, F.L.: Attenuation of Casing Cemented with
Conventional and Expanding Cements Across Heavy-Oil and Sandstone
Formations, SPE Drilling Engineering, Sept 1992, 2000.
11.Goodwin, K.J., Crook, R.J.: Cement Sheath Stress Failures, SPE Drilling
Engineering, December 1992, pp 291-296.
12.Jutten, J., Toma, I., Morel, Y., Ferreol, B.: Integration of Cement Job Data for
Better Bond Index Interpretation, SPE 21690, OKC, April 7-9, 1991.
13.Gui, H., Summers, T. D., Cocking, D.A., Greaves, C.: Zonal Isolation and
Evaluation for Cemented Horizontal Liners, SPE Drilling and Completion,
December, 1996.

11
14.Frisch, G. OMahoney, L., Mandal, B.: Examination of Cement and Casing
Evaluation Logs, IADC/SPE 77212, Jakarta, Indonesia, 9-11 Sept, 2002.
15.Thornhill, J.T., Benefield, B.G.: Injection Well Mechanical, Report 625/987/007, USEPA, Washington DC, 1987.
16.Albert, L.E., et.al.: A Comparison of CBL, RBT and PET Logs in a Test Well
With Induced Channels, JPT (Sept, 1988) 1211-16.
17.Authors personal experience on isolation of three to five thousand psi
between zones separated by 50 ft of high quality cement. Tests on
Tuscaloosa wells in Louisiana run by Amoco Production Company in 1990s.
Examples of Papers and Presentations on Cement Evaluations.

Ultrasonic tools normally require

an impedance contrast in the
materials behind pipe to
differentiate between cement and
fluids. The impedance of foam or
complex cements can be lower
than that of water, drilling mud,
or spacer fluid, and can even
approach the impedance of free
gas. Because of low acoustic
impedance, the data and images
may indicate fluid behind casing
rather than cement even when
zonal isolation is achieved.
Unfortunately, the standard
approach of cement evaluation
does not provide the most
accurate method for
determination of zonal isolation.
New cement additives, fluids, and
nitrogen - all change the acoustic
properties of the cement, which
affect the zonal isolation
assessment. Incorrect
interpretation often leads to an
unnecessary remedial cement
treatment.7

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13

The cement bond log has been controversial since its inception. 8 Despite its
potential, it is possibly the most maligned logging service available to the industry.
Effective zone isolation between permeable intervals in a well requires a cement
sheath over an appreciable vertical interval. It is necessary for the annular cement
sheath to provide an effective hydraulic seal to withstand subsequent completion
and production operations. The oil industry has used wireline well logs to detect the
presence or absence of cement behind pipe for more than 20 years. Users have
attempted, not always successfully, to evaluate the effectiveness of cement bond to
both pipe and formation with cement bond logs. Cement bond logs do not misIead.
Poor interpretation habits mislead. Knowledge of the well completion and tie

14
inherent physical restraints placed on the log measurements is needed to evaluate
the log properly.8
The interpretation of cement bond logs is controversial for three primary reasons:
(1) dependence on and oversimplified use of the pipe amplitude curve, (2) lack of
an understanding of the full acoustic waveform, and (3) failure to compare tie
physical restraints of the well completion to the log measurements. Most
misinterpretations are caused by, any or all of these reasons.

Note this bond log shows channels in some

areas, but a section of effectively cemented pipe
in others. This may still be an effectively isolated
area, but only a pressure test can confirm the
isolation.

Cement displacement is generally good but

sometimes not perfectly uniform due to hole
washouts, caving formation and anomalies in the
transition between formation layers.
Examples of well isolated cement are known
when the bond log interpretation reported no
Amplitude is the magnitude or loudness of the signal when dealing with sound
waves. Attenuation is the loss of energy during transmission of the signal.
The amplitude measurement is representative of the first detected arrival at tie
receiver. It is the measurement from which quantitative numbers of cement

15
compressive strength and the bond index are derived. The generality accepted
qualitative interpretation of the amplitude curve is illustrated in Fig. 2, and is as
follows.
1. High amplitude indicates that the pipe is relatively free to vibrate; hence, it is
poorly bonded or unsupported.
2. Lower amplitude indicates that tie casing is more confined or bonded. The
confinement causes adsorption of the wave energy, and hence, lower amplitude.
3. Amplitude readings between maximum and minimum values are logarithmic
functions of the percent of bond. This single measurement, and the oversimplified
interpretation of it, is the source of most of the tales created about cement bond
logs.
Amplitude can be measured with electrical accuracy, but the physical restraints of
the logging instrument and its relationship to casing, borehole, cement, and
formation, and their physical relationship to one another, complicates the
measurement. In cement bond logging, mechanical energy (transmitter) is
transformed into acoustical energy during transmission to the receiver.
A number of physical conditions can lead to erroneous amplitude interpretations.
Some of these, along with reference sources relating to them, are as follows.
1. Amplitude detection method-fixed gate or floating gate. Erroneously high
amplitudes can occur with floating gates.
2. Fast formation. This condition occurs earlier than, or at the same lime as,
pipe arrival. Amplitude reading is questionable at best.
3. Tool eccentering (tool out of center of the wellbore). This condition reduces
amplitude.
4. Insufficient curing time for cement. This condition increases amplitude.
5. Cement sheath < in. [<2 cm]. With either well centered or poorly centered
casing, this will increase amplitude.
6. Micro-annulus. This condition increases amplitude.
7. Gas bubbles. Gas bubbles in the borehole fluid will decrease the acoustic
signal.
8. Void spaces in the cement sheath. These will increase amplitude.
9. Pipe thickness. Changes in pipe thickness from one joint to another will cause
different minimum and or maximum amplitude values.
10. Cement may be bonded to the pipe, but not to the formation. This results in
low pipe amplitude but poor cement integrity.
In addition to these factors, comparison to cement bond logs on adjacent wells can
be misleading because (1) the equipment-transducer type, transmitter-receiver
spacing, transmitter frequencies, etc., varies, and (2) the operational techniques
tool centering, logging speed, calibrations, etc. vary.
Good Bond to Pipe; No Bond to Formation. Casing periphery can be totally
surrounded by a reasonably thick ~> [>2 ml) hardened sheath of cement, which

16
is not in contact with the formation. The condition is not uncommon, but often goes
unrecognized. It can be expected to occur across the face of permeable zones, since
mudcake is a natural enemy of cement. Cement does not bond to mudcake. As
mudcake dries, it shrinks away from the cement, creating a void between cement
and formation.
The resultant void space presents unfavorable conditions for acoustic coupling
because very little acoustic energy will remain in the casing. The cement will
attenuate the transmitted energy. Because of the poor acoustic coupling to the
formation, any energy transmitted into and received from the formation will be very
weak.

The most important operation performed on a well is the primary cementing job at
the time of completion. It must achieve complete zonal isolation in the wellbore;
that is, obtain a hydraulic seal of cement to casing and cement to formation while at
the same time eliminating mud or gas channels within the cement sheath. 9

To monitor a cementing operation

properly, many data must be collected
and analyzed during the actual
cementing operation. These data
include pump rate, annulus mud return
rate, wellhead
pressure, density of fluids pumped
(radioactivity devices or equivalent),
cumulative displacement volume, and
hookload during casing reciprocation.
Some high-pump-rate jobs will require
two pump rate meters, two return rate
meters, two radioactivity densometers,
and two totalizers. To facilitate the data
collection process, recorder vans and
treatment monitoring vans (TMV) are
being used more widely. Recorder vans
plot data on various real-time devices as
the job progresses. The computerized
TMV's record data on magnetic tape,
disks, and paper, plot selected data on
an X-Y plotter, and display selected data
on a CRT. This enables the job
supervisor to observe the entire

17

Filter cake and formation differences may confuse attenuation measurements

leading to poor judgment of the cement quality when a good cement sheath had
been placed. 10

Casing expansions created by excessive internal casing pressures can create radial
stress cracks in the set cement in the annulus. These cracks, which cause loss of
annular zonal isolation, generally are created in the lower one-quarter to one third
of the well.11
Typical causes of such cracks include pressure testing the casing after the cement
has attained high compressive strength. The same type of failure has been
observed on wells that used expendable perforating guns to shoot high-density
patterns with large holes.
Generally, low compressive strength cement is more ductile.
Cement sheath cracking as the result of excessive temperature are in the upper
1/3rd to upper of the well.
Cement job evaluation has always been a major problem. Acoustic and ultrasonic
logs are widely used to assess the quality of the cement job but even experts
experience difficulties in locating cement on a bond log. 12
The 30 years of field practice which have followed demonstrate that the CBL
interpretation has many limitations. The CBL interpretation method described has

18
inherent limitations, either related to the physical nature of the CBL measurement,
or due to the lack of integration of the cement job information and well data in the
log interpretation process
.
Several parameters are known to influence the CBL amplitude to some variable and
often unpredictable extent12:
1. Measurement set-up, such as the position and the width of the amplitude
measurement window which must be fine-tuned to specific well conditions, is
extremely important.
2. Downhole conditions are known to have an effect on the CBL signal. In 1981,
Nayfeh et al. presented charts showing the influence of temperature,
wellbore fluid density and wellbore fluid type on the CBL amplitude in free
pipe. One of the most striking results presented was that CBL amplitude in a
7" casing increases by 70% if the casing is filled-up with a 11.5 lb/gal CaCl2
brine instead of water.
3. Microannulus is when a small gap exists between the casing and the cement;
the casing vibrates freely and the CBL signal gives a wrong indication of a
poor cement job. Microannuli generally appear after the cement job due to
pressure or temperature changes. One of the most common source of
microannulus is the replacement of the wellbore fluid by a lighter one.
4. Fast formations cause sound to propagate faster in the formation than along
the casing resulting in the early part of the sonic waveform to be affected by
direct energy path through the formation leading to high CBL amplitude in
well bonded casing. On~. of the most common open hole logs is the sonic
log, which clearly identifies fast formations: the transit time is below 57 us/ft.
Having a sonic log before the CBL is run permits one to anticipate
discrepancies.
5. Cement thickness influence14 is when the cemented annulus is too thin, and
reflection of sound energy at the formation interface may interfere with the
first peak E1 (Jutten et al.) .which often leads to higher CBL amplitude
especially in well cemented concentric casings. This can be anticipated when
annular thickness and sound velocity through the cement are known.
Accurate hole size is generally known from a caliper log and an annular
thickness can be calculated. Therefore, when the sound velocity through the
cement is known, one can expect problems and recommend the use of a
shorter amplitude measuring window for running the CBL. Generally, cement
impedance variations are due to poor control of slurry density while mixing,
or short elapsed time after the cement job in the case of extended slurries.
Jordan et al. , proposed a method to determine the waiting on cement time
prior to running a CBL. Such a method would sometimes lead to excessive
waiting-on cement times, especially in the case of extended cements.
6. The main cement parameter which influences directly the CBL signal is the
acoustic impedance of the cement (the product of density times sound

19
velocity). Knowing this parameter at the time of logging eliminates the need
for excessive waiting on cement times.

Horizontal sections13 may be cemented to improve pipe support or as an initial

isolation in the zone to be fractured so that adjacent fracturing jobs. These sections
of wellbore do not need to be pressure tested since the entire section is within the
hydrocarbon producing formation. In multi-frac completions in naturally fractured
formations, for example, the natural fractures within a pay-zone formation, like
some shales, will communicate fluids and pressure along the commonly shared
formation and below an effective common fluid migration barrier. Cement,
therefore, will be an isolation mechanism only between the casing and the wellbore;
cement cannot affect fluid migration or travel through natural pathways in the
formation.

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For accurate cement evaluation, it is necessary to have at least of cement
sheath around the casing. A cement sheath of less than will affect the log
response.14