SPE-171282-MS

Optimization of Cement Spacer System for Zonal Isolation in

High-Pressure High-Temperature Wells
Seyyed Shahab Tabatabaee Moradi, and Nikolay Ivanovich Nikolaev, National University of Mineral Resources
(Mining)

Copyright 2014, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Russian Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Moscow, Russia,
14 –16 October 2014.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Cementing a wellbore is a major stage in well completion and an initiation for production operations. One
of the primary objectives of the cementing operations is zonal isolation. For effective zonal isolation and
optimum hydrocarbon production during the life of the well, the entire drilling fluid, which presents in the
annulus between the hole and the casing, should be removed. Over the years, several practices have been
employed to help achieve mud removal and successful zonal isolation. From industry practices, efficient
mud removal can be achieved with the use of spacers and flushes before cement is placed. The spacer
system is designed according to different conditions including geological condition of the well. With the
increasing tendency to drill high-pressure high-temperature wells, the design of robust and stable spacers
is becoming more critical. Various spacer systems are available, but they may not be suitable for these
conditions. The efficiency of spacer system is largely dependent on the rheological properties of the spacer
at elevated temperatures. In this paper based on the laboratory investigations, the performance of specially
designed spacer systems, their compatibility with mud systems and mud removal efficiency are compared
in various temperatures. The spacers are weighted spacers, which are specially designed to meet the
existed geological conditions of the well. The spacers contain a suitable surfactant package to increase its
surface cleaning ability, a weighting agent (e.g. hematite) to adjust the spacer’s density and a rheological
modification agent. The proportions of these components in a spacer system will control the rheological
properties of the final mixture, and thus, performance of the spacer. The spacers systems show a reliable
performance in a wide temperature range.

Introduction
Increasing number of projects in High-Pressure, High-Temperature (HPHT) environments leads the
drilling service companies to adjust operations of the well construction process to the available hostile
conditions. One of the major operations during the well construction is cementing job. Although the
principles of cementing in HPHT environments and environments with less demanding conditions are the
same, there are fewer materials which can be applied to the conditions of the environment. Effectiveness
of the cementing operation and zonal isolation, which is one of the objectives of the primary cementing
2 SPE-171282-MS

job, depends on the removing the entire drilling

fluid, which presents in the annulus between the
hole and the casing. Over the years, several prac-
tices have been employed to help achieve mud
removal and successful zonal isolation (Crook et al.
2001):
● Conditioning the drilling fluid, chemically
and physically.
● Mud removal before cementing using spac-
ers and flushers.
● Optimizing viscosity of cement-slurry to
maximize displacement.
● Centralization of the pipe.
● Pipe movement: reciprocation or/and rota-
tion. Figure 1—OFITE Model 1100 Pressurized Viscometer
● Adjust displacement rates to provide opti-
mum displacement efficiency.
● Use the proper cementing systems.
From industry practices, efficient mud removal can be achieved with the use of spacers and flushes
before cement is placed. Spacer fluids have been primarily developed to avoid mixing between the drilling
fluid and cement, which are normally not compatible. Incompatible fluids can cause a significant increase
in viscosity, and thus hydraulic resistance inside the wellbore. Beside this main function, cement spacers
serve various other functions too, including removal of drilling fluids from the annulus between the hole
and the casing before cementing the well. Cements are sensitive to drilling fluid contaminations, and even
a thin layer of drilling fluid could prevent the cement from bonding to the formation and the casing. Spacer
systems play a crucial role in proper cementing job by complete displacement of the drilling mud and
removal of filter cake developed along the formation. In addition, the spacer should be compatible with
the drilling fluid (Sarap et al. 2009).
In this paper the performance of specially designed spacer systems, their compatibility with mud
systems and mud removal efficiency are compared.

Spacer design
Various designs of the spacer systems are available in the oil and gas industry, but they may not be
suitable for all conditions. The spacer design can be changed according to different conditions including
geological condition of the well; however it should be designed for a specific density, mud system, cement
system and rheology (Olowolagba et al. 2011). In this work the following general composition of the
weighted spacer system has been proposed, which meets the neccassary requirments of cementing job in
HPHT condition:
1. Water as the base of the system.
2. Weighting materials to increase the density of the spacer system.
3. Rheological modification agent or polymers.
4. A proper surfactant package.
These components will provide the following criteria for the spacer fluid:
SPE-171282-MS 3

Density
Weighting materials are used to adjust the density of the spacer system. Density of the spacer should be
between the drilling fluid density, which is being displaced by spacer and cement slurry density, which
displaces the spacer. The density of the spacer should be approximately 60 kg/m3 (0.5 lbm/gal) greater
than the density of the drilling fluid. Generaaly in HPHT wells high amounts of formation fluid pressure
(greater than 69 mPa) are observed. In these conditions density of the spacer system plays an important
role to control the fluid flow inside the wellbore. If density is not high enough, the hydrostatic pressure
of the spacer column is unable to prevent formation fluids from entering the wellbore. This can result in
poor zonal isolation, migration of fluids to surface and loss of well control. The density of the spacer
system is adjusted by using the weighting agents. In industry practices different kinds of weighting agents
are used including hematite (Fe2O3), ilmenite (FeO TiO2), hausmannite (Mn3O4) and barite (BaSO4)
(Stark et al. 2014). Weighting agents are selected according to the required density of the spacer system,
their density and stability in the final spacer system. In this paper to adjust density of the spacer, hematite
has been added to the system.

Rheological properties
To adjust rheological properties of the system, rheological modifiers like polymers are used. Without the
rheological modifiers, which provide the stability of the system, the weighting agents will settle. Beside
the stability of the system the modifiers contribute to the final yield stress of the system (Gordon et al.
2000). The rheological properties of the spacer are designed close to the rheological properties of the
drilling fluid, which can result in enhanced mud displacement by spacer. In this work 2 types of polymers
are used as rheological modifiers. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile
(HPAN) are added to the system in different mass concentrations to adjust the rheological properties of
the spacer. CMC is an effective additive which has a wide range of applications in different fields. In this
work a high viscosity CMC is used to provide the stability of the system. HPAN is considered as a
thermostable polymer which is added to system in liquid form. Firstly the dry polyacrylonitrile is solved
in the water and then added to the system. In the spacers consisting HPAN, the stability of the system can
be provided by adjusting the mass ratio of HPAN to the water.

Drilling fluid removal

One of the main functions of the spacer systems is to remove the present drilling fluid in the wellbore
before the cementing job. Usually surfactants are used in spacer system to enhance the cleaning ability and
mud removal efficiency. Surfactants may also be used to obtain compatible system with oil-based or
synthetic drilling fluids. The surfactants, which are used in this work, are benzalkonium chloride
(cationic), sodium dodecyl sulfate (anionic) and OP-10 (non-ionic).
It should be noted that for weighted spacer systems as in our work, there are some troubles in removal
of drilling fluid from the annulus. With the high amount of density and viscosity, it is impossible to apply
turbulent flow regime, which is the most effective flow regime in mud removal process (Theron et al.
2002). To solve this problem small concentration of abrasive material (quartz sand) has been added to the
spacer system. The abrasive cement spacer may show more effective mud removal ability.

Temperature stability
One of the most challenging situations in wellbore operations is the varying temperature as the depth
increases. Temperature often plays an important role in the rheology. Usually the rheological properties
of the fluids reduce intensively as the temperature increases. The proper choice of components within the
cement spacer helps to achieve a system with minor variations in rheological properties as a function of
temperature.
4 SPE-171282-MS

Table 1—Properties of spacer systems

No. Composition of the spacer system (mass fraction %) Density (g/cm3) Note

1 HPAN (48), Hematite (36), Water(16) 1.6-1.8 Ratio of HPAN to water ⫽ 3/1
2 HPAN (54), Hematite (33), Water(14) 1.6-1.8 Ratio of HPAN to water ⫽ 4/1
3 CMC (0.5), Hematite (40), Water(59.5) 1.6-1.8 -
4 CMC (0.75), Hematite (30), HPAN(24), Water(45) 1.7-2 -

Figure 2—Spacer fluids behavior at 24 °C

Figure 3—Spacer fluids behavior at 60 °C

Laboratory test methods and results

To see if the designed spacer system meets the requirements, the spacer fluids undergo different
measurements in laboratory condition before cementing the well. The laboratory investigations of this
work consist of three parts. In Part I of the study the developed spacer systems are compared based on
their individual rheological performance at elevated temperatures. In part II tests were conducted to
determine spacer’s effectiveness in displacing drilling fluid and finally in part III spacer systems undergo
compatibility tests with a specific formulated drilling fluid.
SPE-171282-MS 5

Figure 4 —Spacer fluids behavior at 85 °C

Figure 5—Spacer fluids behavior at 120 °C

Figure 6 —Spacer fluids behavior at 160 °C

6 SPE-171282-MS

Figure 7—Yield point variations with respect to the temperature

Part I. Rheological comparison of spacers

In this part rheological measurments have been car-
ried out on designed spacer systems. The detailed
properties of the tested spacer fluids are presented in
table 1. Rheological measurements normally consist
of imposing a strain and measuring a stress, or
imposing a stress and measuring strain. Viscometers
and rheometers are used to measure the rheological
properties. In this work rheological measurements
were carried out using OFITE Model 1100 Pressur-
ized Viscometer (figure 1). Figures 2 to 6 show the
shear stress versus shear rate for spacer fluids in
different temperatures.
As it is evident in the figures, the spacer system
in which the mass ratio of HPAN to water is 4 to 1
shows higher amounts of shear stress in different
temperatures. In spacer system consisting CMC, at
the temperatures above 100 °C the system losses its
Figure 8 —Rotor after 10 minutes being in mud container
stability and hematite begins to settle. Also the
variations of the spacer systems yield point with
respect to the temperature are plotted in figure 7.
Part II. Drilling fluid removal efficiency
In this part first of all different surfactant package are added to the system in a concentration of 0.5% to
select the most effective surfactant package. Viscometer test, which is one of the most common test
methods, has been carried out to evaluate the mud removal efficiency of the spacer systems. The
experiments are conducted on a Chan 35 viscometer, to estimate the mud removal efficiency from a metal
surface (rotor of the viscometer) with a 300 rpm shear rate and three minutes contact time. The test has
been conducted as follows (Berry, 2005):
1. Weight and record Chan 35 sleeve and ring. This is the weight of clean sleeve (W1)
2. Prepare a uniform mud sample in a sample container.
3. Place the rotor of viscometer in the container for 10 minutes under static condition (figure 8).
SPE-171282-MS 7

Table 2—Composition of spacer systems and their mud removal efficiencies with different surfactants
MRE at surfactant concentration of 0.5 %, (%)
Composition of the spacer system
No. (mass fraction, %) Density (g/cm3) benzalkonium chloride Sodiumdodecyl sulfate OP-10

1 Water(14), Hematite (33), HPAN (54) 1.5-1.8 61.5 65.24 69.21

2 Water(59.5), Hematite (40), CMC (0.5) 1.6-1.8 58.1 59.11 61.13
3 Water(45), Hematite (30), CMC (0.75), HPAN(24) 1.7-2 59.3 61.2 65

Table 3—Effect of abrasive material on mud removal efficiency of spacer systems

MRE at quartz sand concentration (%)

No. Composition of the spacer system (mass fraction, %) 0% 5%

1 Water(14), Hematite (33), HPAN (54), OP-10(0.5) 69.21 75.23

2 Water(59.5), Hematite (40), CMC (0.5), OP-10(0.5) 61.13 66.21
3 Water(45), Hematite (30), CMC (0.75), HPAN(24), OP-10(0.5) 65 70.25

4. Take off the rotor from the container and let Table 4 —Composition of the mud system used in compatibility test-
it to be drained for 2 minutes. ing

5. Wipe the bottom surface of the rotor and Material Mass fraction (%)
weight it (W2). Water 64.9
6. Replace the rotor on viscometer and turn on Barite 30
the viscometer, so it rotates in a test cup, Clay 5
containing the spacer fluid for 2 minutes on Viscosifier 0.1

the 300 rpm setting.

7. Let the rotor dry for 2 minutes.
8. Wipe the bottom surface of the rotor and weight it (W3).
The mud removal efficiency has been calculated from the following formula:

Using the above method water has a mud removal efficiency of 58%. The results of the calculated mud
removal efficiencies for designed spacer systems are presented in table 2. From the presented results in
table 2 it’s evident, that the highest mud removal efficiency is shown by the spacer systems, consisting
of OP-10 as a non-ionic surfactant in the composition of the spacer.
From industry practices, it known that abrasive cement spacer may show more effective mud removal
ability. To study the effect of abrasive materials, quartz sand has been added to the system and the mud
removal efficiencies are calculated using the same laboratory procedure. The test results are presented in
table 3. From the presented results in table 3 it’s evident, that adding quartz sands to the spacer up to 5%
has been increased the mud removal efficiency up to 6%. It should be noted that the higher concentration
of the quartz sand may cause erosion in the casing and other instruments of the drilling rig components.
Part III. Compatibility tsting of spacer systems with drilling fluid
The compatibility testing has been performed by mixing mud and spacer in various proportions: 5:95,
25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 95:5 and is tested for rheolohy in difeerent rotational speeds, i.e. 100, 200, 300, 400,
600 and 800 rev/min. The composition of the mud system is presented in table 4. Result of the rheological
measurments on the mixture of the drilling fluid and spacer are presented in table 5 and figure 9. From
the presented data it can be conclouded that the spacer system has a good compatibility with the mud
system.
8 SPE-171282-MS

Table 5—Rheological measurement on the mixture of dilling fluid and spacer

Shear stress (Pa)

Mixture 100 rev/min 200 rev/min 300 rev/min 400 rev/min 600 rev/min 800 rev/min

100 % drilling fluid 6.13 11.7 13.3 20.3 31.5 43.4

75% drilling fluid 6.76 15.2 21.4 30 44.5 59.3
25% spacer fluid
50 % drilling fluid 12.8 26.7 43.8 62.9 87.5 102
50 % spacer fluid
25 % drilling fluid 21.3 44.1 67.9 84.9 120 148
75% spacer fluid
100 % spacer fluid 27.4 54.6 79.9 106 147 186

Figure 9 —Rheological measurement on the mixture of dilling fluid and spacer

Conclusions
From the experimental study of the designed spacer systems the following conclusions can be drawn:
i. The spacer system which consist CMC doesn’t stand the temperature above 100 °C. The best
performance is shown by the spacer, in which the mass ratio of HPAN to the water is 4 to 1. The
spacer has a good stability at high temperatures. Although the yield point of the spacer reduces but
this decrease is not significant and the stability of the system doesn’t change.
ii. Adding surfactants to the spacers, help to achieve more effective cleaning abilities of the systems.
They can also create water-wet surfaces along the casings and formation. In this work the most
effective removal efficiency is shown by the spacer system, containing OP-10 as surfactant.
iii. Mud removal efficiency of the weighted spacers has been improved by adding quartz sands into
the system. Higher concentration of quartz sands may increase the cleaning ability of the spacer,
but they may cause erodsion of the metal surfaces inside the wellbore.
iv. Developed spacer system show a good compatibility with the specified drilling mud at room
temperature.
SPE-171282-MS 9

Acknowledgments
This research is supported by the National University of Mineral Resources (Mining) of Saint-Petersburg.

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