Well Cementing

Operations

2
 Cementing
• Cement must be placed in wells ranging from shallow to
very deep

3
 Cementing
• Additives are used to adjust
cement properties and tailor
the cement to specific
needs

4
 Cement Job
Cement Head

• Common cementing equipment:

• Float shoe Rig Floor

Ground Level

• Float collar
• Centralizers
Drilling Fluid

• Cementing head Cement

Centralizer
Casing

Float Collar
Float Shoe

Typical cementing
equipment
5
 Cement Job
Top
Plug

Top Plug
Released
Cement

Bottom Displacement
Plug Fluid
Spacer
Fluid

Drilling
Fluid Plug
Bottom Bumped
Float Plug
Collar Ruptured
Shoe
Joint
Float
Shoe
A B C

6
 Cement Job

• Cement must support the pipe and isolate zones

• Most cement mixtures will accomplish that objective
• The difficulty is in getting the cement all the way
around the pipe

7
 Cement Job

• Farris related the tensile

strength of the casing to
how well it supported
the pipe 5 1/2” Csg

9 5/8” Casing

1 Foot Cement

8
 Cement Job
• Unset cement will support the pipe
• One psi tensile = 8 to 10 psi compressive
Length of
Cement Force to Tensile Pipe 1’ Will
Age Break 1’ Cmt Strength Support Remarks
1.83 100 0 5.8 Soft Cmt
2.33 137 0 8.0 Soft Cmt
3.08 325 0 19.1 Initial Set
3.66 1,000 4 58.8 Cement
Stiffening
4.42 4,550 8 267.7 Final Set
5.50 5,000 12 ---- Could Not
Break Bond

9
 Cement Job

• The industry assumes that if the cement

has a compressive strength of 500 psi it
will support the pipe
• The 500 psi includes a safety factor from
two to five

10
 Cement Job

• Cement must also isolate the zone

• Hydraulic bond strengths were tested in the
laboratory and the hydraulic bond varied with
the roughness of the pipe
• Sandblasting the casing was popular for a
while along with Ruff Coat (resin and sand
coated pipe)

11
 Cement Job

• There was no correlation between hydraulic

bonding and compressive strength
• The trick is to get the cement all the way
around the pipe

12
 Cement Job
• There are a number of things we can do increase
the odds of getting a good cement job
• Centralization of the casing
• Pipe movement - rotation and/or reciprocation
• Drilling fluid condition
• Hole conditions
• Displacement velocity
• Spacer fluids
• Mud - cement density differences
• Contact time

13
 Cement Job

• Directional wells
• More difficult to get adequate centralization
• Will need to run more centralizers than a vertical
well

14
 Cement Job

• There may be a cuttings

bed on the bottom of the
hole
• Try to remove the cuttings
bed before cementing

Cuttings Bed

15
 Cement Job
Free Water Channel
• Free water content should
be zero to minimize the
possibility of a free water
channel on the high side of
the hole

16
 Stage Cementing

Reasons:
• The hydrostatic pressure of a full column of fluid may be too great
for the formation

• In long intermediate strings where several thousand sacks are being

placed, you would have difficulty in the slurry design to have
enough pumping time before the slurry sets.

17
 Stage Cementing

• Stage cementing is employed when only a small amount of cement

is to be used across a certain section of the casing.
• When it is necessary to reduce the pumping pressure at the surface,
especially in cementing deep wells.
• There may not be enough pumping time for all of the cement to go
around the shoe.

18
 Stage Cementing

• Multi-stage - cementing devices are used for stage cementing

operations, which when properly placed in the casing string will
allow cement to be placed at the desired locations.
• Cementing of the lower section of casing is done first in the
usual manner, using plugs that will pass through the multi-stage
collar. Without opening the ports of the collar.

19
 Stage Cementing

• The multi-stage collar can be opened hydraulically by special

plugs and slurry is then circulated through the tool to the annular
space.
• A special cementing basket attached to the outside of the casing
prevents the slurry from flowing down by gravity and directs it
towards the surface

20
21