SPE 162460

An Integrated Approach to Cement Evaluation

Andrew Enwemadu, Francois Bontems, Benedict Akinyamoju, Sam Epete, and Marco Ciaroni, TOTAL; and Rita
Esuru Okoroafor, Kamaljeet Singh, and Ezinne Nnebocha, Schlumberger

Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 1114 November 2012.
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 of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
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Abstract
Drilling in progressively deeper water environments requires that even more attention be given to well integrity because of
the serious implications to health, safety and environment. Conventional cement evaluation tools have been available for
many years and have been useful in most scenarios, but in more complex and challenging deepwater operations, the need
exists for advanced cement evaluation techniques to increase confidence in ascertaining wellbore integrity. There are
limitations on cement evaluation for light cements and thick casings. Furthermore, there is usually limited information about
the Third Interface (i.e. between the cement/formation or cement/next casing), which can provide valuable information
about wellbore integrity.
An integrated approach to cement evaluation has been adopted. This approach is based on a cement evaluation service
that incorporates 360 circumferential information about cement placement, annulus imaging, and petrophysical evaluation of
the formation to ascertain zonal isolation and cement quality behind casing. The azimuthal information is used to understand
whether the cement placement was affected by the well deviation and if there are changes in cement quality from one part of
the borehole to another. Annulus imaging is used to evaluate the annulus material. Petrophysical data is used to determine if
the formation rock and fluid properties contributed to the quality of the cement behind casing. The principles of ultrasonic
measurements and unique flexural measurements, and how they aid in cement evaluation, are also considered.
Introduction
The openhole was drilled on the deepwater development well using 13.5-in. bit to a deviation of 80.8. Petrophysical data
was recorded on LWD. The openhole was cased with 10-in. liner with an overlap in the 14-in. casing. Squeeze cementing
was performed due to operational challenges during primary cementing. It was important to understand the quality of the
cement behind the 10-in. liner. A total of 50m of good cement placement across the liner-casing overlap and below the 14in. shoe was critical in order to continue drilling further to the reservoir of interest. If the cement placement was not good
then the well was to be side-tracked through the 14-in. casing (above the 10-in. liner top).
Some of the challenges for adequate cement evaluation in the well were the following:
The wellbore deviation was 80.8. Cementing highly deviated wells has uncertainties associated with cement
placement due to the likelihood of poor mud removal which is generally caused by pipe eccentering thereby
potentially compromising zonal isolation.
The 10-in. 65.7-lb/ft liner had a thickness of 0.595-in. which is at the limit of conventional ultrasonic
measurement.
Multiple squeezes were performed across the liner-casing overlap section and hence it was important to determine
its success and to confirm good isolation.
To address these challenges, an integrated approach to cement evaluation was adopted. This involved the use of
information from the Cement Bond log, Variable Density log, Ultrasonic measurement, Flexural wave data, and
Petrophysical data. The combination of these measurements was used to provide quantitative information about cement
quality.

SPE 162460

Limitations of Using Conventional Tool Measurements for Cement Evaluation

Cement evaluation based on sonic measurements from the CBL has been done since the 1960s. The CBL measurement is
omnidirectional, representing an average from around the circumference of the casing, and it is made at a relatively low
frequency of ~ 20kHz at a transmitter-to-receiver spacing of 3ft. The measurement is normally accompanied by VDL that is
made at a longer transmitter-to-receiver spacing of 5ft. The VDL may yield an indication on the cement to formation bond.
The CBL/VDL measurement has some strength that has allowed it to stand the test of time. The measurement responds to
solidity, works well in most fluids, is unaffected by internal casing condition, and provides a qualitative indication of the
cement to formation bond.
The omnidirectional nature of the CBL/VDL measurement and its low frequency makes the data ineffective in downhole
conditions. The measurement is highly sensitive to tool eccentering which may cause destructive interference to the received
signal and overestimate the cement quality. Liquid micro-annulus increases the amplitude such that the response is close to
free-pipe signal thereby unable to evaluate the cement quality. Since the measurement is omnidirectional, the presence of
continuous liquid channel and/or patchy cement and its direction (e.g. low-side, high-side) cannot be determined. The
situation is further complicated if the pipe is not well centered, a condition observed in deviated wells. In addition, the
measurement is affected in dual pipes, mainly due to debonding or outer casing interference. The data becomes uninterpretable in sections where the two pipes are in contact with each other, a condition which cannot be identified using
CBL/VDL measurement. Therefore CBL/VDL measurement alone is insufficient for cement evaluation.
To address the CBL/VDL weakness in evaluating cement quality azimuthally, pulse-echo ultrasonic measurements have
been introduced. The details of the physics and measurement principles are well described by Hayman et al. The ultrasonic
measurement tool can aid in providing cement evaluation around the entire circumference of the casing, and it provides the
added benefit of pipe corrosion and wear information simultaneously. Cement evaluation is based on the tools ability to
determine the acoustic impedance of the material immediately behind the casing, thus improving the evaluation process.
Although the pulse-echo ultrasonic measurement addresses the problem of azimuthal coverage, it is susceptible to certain
wellbore conditions. The casing internal surface needs to be free of severe corrosion/wear/solids to be able to obtain good
quality data. The pulse-echo ultrasonic measurement for cement evaluation depends on the casing thickness, the upper limit
of which is 0.59-in. Borehole fluid acoustic impedance is required as an input in the processing of cement quality.
The acoustic impedance of lightweight and contaminated cement is often not much higher than that of the acoustic
impedance of drilling mud. Contaminated cement is likely to be present in the annulus in case of improper mud removal
during cementing. The threshold based system (one-dimensional) interpretation of acoustic impedance is often challenged in
such situations to differentiate the cement from liquid/mud. An additional independent measurement was therefore necessary
to identify the state of the material behind the casing with greater confidence.
Flexural Attenuation Aids Evaluation of Contaminated or Lightweight Cements
The addition of flexural wave imager (Fig. 1) measurement was considered. The flexural data is the latest addition to the
cement evaluation process. The measurement is based on the excitation of flexural mode (Ref Froelich, B. et al) of the casing.
The flexural wave propagates a shear type of waveform. The measurement is made in the same way as pulse-echo
measurement, while rotating. The measurement uses a pitch-catch configuration (one Tx, two Rx). In addition to improved
cement evaluation, the leakage of flexural waveform gives information about the Third Interface that would come from
inner wall reflection of the outer casing or from the formation/borehole wall. The flexural waveforms are measured at Near
and Far receiver, the ratio of amplitudes is used to derive the flexural attenuation. The Third Interface Echos are shown in
Fig. 1.
If the annulus is liquid filled, only compressional leakage occurs (no shear is developed in liquid). If the annulus is solid
filled (light cement), the leakage starts in both compressional and shear modes and thereby causing increasing attenuation. If
the annulus is solid filled (class G cement), there is no compressional leakage, thereby decreasing the attenuation. The drop in
compressional leakage is very sharp, after the acoustic impedance of the material exceeds certain value known as
evanescence or critical Z value. The three scenarios and the drop in flexural attenuation are depicted in Fig. 2.
The combination of flexural attenuation with acoustic impedance improves lightweight and contaminated cement
evaluation as well as conventional heavyweight systems and extends the range of cement evaluation from a casing thickness
limitation of 0.59-in. to 0.79-in. (15mm to 20mm), thereby overcoming conventional ultrasonic limitations of thick casings.
The combination of all these measurements has provided greater confidence in answers about annular content and reduced
the uncertainties in cement evaluation.
The need for including petrophysical data in cement evaluation is important if it is anticipated that formation fluids or
formation properties may affect cementing process especially across high perm and gas zones.
Application of the Integrated Approach to Cement Evaluation
The CBL/VDL, ultrasonic measurement, flexural attenuation, and petrophysical data were used to evaluate cement
placement of the 10-in. liner. The discussion in this paper focuses on the cement placement across the 10-in. liner to 14in. casing overlap section, 14-in. casing shoe and isolation of the gas zones at deeper depth.
The following 360 circumferential measurements were acquired: pipe radii, pipe thickness, cement acoustic impedance,
flexural attenuation, and Third Interface Echo (TIE) reflections. For cement evaluation, the pipe radii and thickness

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measurements were not used. The combination of acoustic impedance and flexural attenuation was used to generate SolidLiquid-Gas (SLG) map (Fig. 2) to determine the state of material behind the liner. The hydraulic communication map, a
newly introduced deliverable, was used to draw attention to the intervals where isolation could be compromised locally due
to the presence of liquid-filled channels. The user provided depth cutoff of 2m was used to establish the minimum interval for
connected or continuous liquid channels.
Results and Observations
The following characteristics were observed while evaluating the cement using a cement evaluation approach that
integrated many measurements. The header for the data used in this integrated approach is presented in Fig. 3
Across the liner-casing overlap section, the cement bond quality appeared to be poor. The CBL (as seen in track 3,
Fig. 4) gave an indication of about 40% bond index. The acoustic impedance map (track 5, Fig. 4) showed the
presence of galaxy patterns, giving the first indication that the liner was in contact with the casing at some
depths. This was corroborated by the Third Interface Echo (TIE) data (tracks 8 and 9, Fig. 4). Track-8 shows
the TIE data across 0-180deg plane and Track-9 shows the TIE data across 90-270deg plane, where 0deg
represents the high-side of the borehole and 180deg represents the low-side of the borehole. The acoustic
impedance and flexural attenuation data was used together to derive the SLG map (track 7, Fig. 4) which
indicated the presence of a channel on the low-side, caused mainly due to pipe eccentering. The CBL-VDL data
is quite likely affected by the interference from outer casing and therefore insufficient in ascertaining the quality
of the cement behind the liner. The tools relative bearing was used as an input to orient the cement data. The
centralizer depths were visible on the acoustic image and SLG map, and it was observed that some of the
centralizers had been displaced from their original position on the liner. This may have contributed to the pipe
eccentricity and hence uneven distribution of cement in the liner-casing overlap section. Though the cement
appeared to be patchy and uneven, the hydraulic communication map (Fig. 5) based on 2m cutoff suggested
37m of cumulative hydraulic isolation from 2681.5m to 2824m (14-in. casing shoe). The cement quality
towards the 14-in. shoe (2824m) is seen to improve. This cumulative length of hydraulic isolation was
considered to be sufficient for cement integrity in the overlap section. The Polar Plot at 2756.0m (Fig. 9)
confirmed that the liner is slightly eccentered but not in contact with the 14-in. casing. The Polar Plot at
2768.19m (Fig. 10) indicates a contact between the 10-in. liner and 14-in. casing on the low-side (180deg).
Across the 14-in. casing shoe, the cement bond quality was ascertained to be good. This is from 2818m and below
(Fig. 7). Low CBL value suggested the presence of annular solid content with an estimate of 70% bond index.
The SLG map also showed the presence of annular solid content. The TIE (track 8 and 9, Fig. 7) shows the
position of the 10-in. liner within the 14-in. casing.
Below the 14-in. casing shoe, the cement bond quality was determined to be very good. For the purpose of this
paper, the section from 3545m to 3675m has been used for the illustration (Fig. 8). The CBL amplitude is
consistently low and the VDL indicated strong formation arrivals. Across the depth at 3651m, where the
petrophysical logs indicate the presence of gas, the SLG map indicates that the cement quality is good. The
flexural attenuation is consistently low (blue color) throughout the interval due to very low compressional wave
leakage in the annulus and indicates (when integrated with acoustic impedance) the presence of solid material
(SLG map Fig. 2). The TIE data across 10-in. liner was able to pick the borehole wall (Third Interface) at
some depths suggesting highly eccentered liner on the low-side of the hole (180deg). The Polar Plot at
3639.92m illustrates this (Fig. 11).
Based on the findings from the measurements, the cement integrity behind the 10-in. liner was determined to be
sufficient, and hence the decision to drill further was taken. As the data was analyzed and interpreted in real time, the
decision was made in less than 24hours thereby saving considerable rig time. The cement bond across the complete liner
section is summarized in (Fig. 12) last column and graphically shown in Brown color.
Conclusions
The application of an integrated approach to cement evaluation has helped to reduce uncertainties on the quality and
azimuthal distribution of cement around the liner. The limitations of individual cement evaluation tools have been
counterbalanced by integrating all the measurements.
Cement integrity across the 10-in. liner and 14-in. overlap section was critical for the go-nogo decision to drill ahead.
The integrated cement evaluation measurements, made in liner of 0.595-in thickness, indicated 37m of cumulative hydraulic
isolation across the liner-casing overlap section and good cement below the 14-in. casing shoe. This was considered to be
good enough for the purpose of hydraulic isolation. The measurements also confirmed the presence of patchy cement at some
places and liquid channel on the low-side across the overlap section.

SPE 162460

TIE data proved crucial in the annulus imaging. It indicated the positioning of the liner with respect to the casing and
borehole wall. The liner was found to be in contact with the casing at few places and further it was also observed that the
liner was touching the borehole wall at few places on the low-side. The pipe positioning information identified the need for
improved pipe centralization and casing placement practices in highly deviated wells.
The overall cement quality behind the liner (especially below the 14-in. casing shoe) was good and hydraulic isolation of
the reservoirs may have been achieved. These data were very valuable in making an informed decision to drill further,
thereby saving the operator the costs and risks involved in a side-track.
This approach was effective in reducing uncertainties in cement evaluation, quantifying zonal isolation, and providing a
basis for understanding why cement quality may appear poor or moderate in some sections with the added information from
TIE (Third Interface Echo) measurements.
References
1.
2.
3.

4.

5.

Hayman, A. J.,Hutin, R and Wright, P. V. 1991.High-Resolution Cementation And Corrosion Imaging by Ultrasound, Paper
presented at SPWLA 32nd Annual Logging Symposium, Dallas, US, 16-19 June.
Van Kuijk, R. Zeroug, S., Froelich, B., et al. 2005. A Novel Ultrasonic Cased-Hole Imager for Enhanced Cement Evaluation.
Paper IPTC 10546 presented at the International Petroleum Technology Conference, Doha, Qatar, 2123 November.
Morris, C., Sabbagh, L., Wydrinski, R., Hupp, J., van Kuijk, R. and Froelich, B., 2007. Application of Enhanced Ultrasonic
Measurements for Cement and Casing Evaluation. Paper SPE/IADC 105648 presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2022 February.
Babaniyazov, A. Clayton, R., Skyes-Bookhammer, D. Walker, R. and Amezcua, J. 2012. A Unified Approach to Well Integrity
Evaluation Led to Better Decision Making for Workovers in Mature Wells in the Waddell Ranch, West Texas. Paper SPE
157236 presented at the SPE International Production and Operations Conference and Exhibition, Doha, Qatar, 1416 May.
Al-Suwaidi, A.S., Al-Marri, F., Sultan, E., Ibrahim, M., Jammeli, K., Al-Kindi, Z. and Elkadi, A. 2009. Increased Certainty in the
Determination of Zonal Isolation Through the Integration of Annulus Geometry Imaging and Improved Solid-Fluid
Discrimination. Paper SPE 120061 presented at the 16th SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference, Bahrain, 1518
March.

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Fig. 1 - The flexural waveform leaks in the borehole and in the annulus and detected on the near and far receivers. The first peak on
each Rx is the casing arrival from which the flexural attenuation is computed to determine the material behind casing. The later
nd
reflections are from inner surface of the outer casing (shown as 2 casing) or from the formation. The later reflections are
called Third Interface Echo (TIE).

SLG (Solid-Liquid-Gas) Map

Fig. 2 - From left to right, three situations, from an annulus filled with liquid to light or contaminated cement to neat cement.
Compressional wave is shown in Blue and Flexural wave is shown in Green. The X-plot in the middle shows the linear
relationship between the flexural attenuation and acoustic impedance upto a critical Z value after which flexural attenuation
drops suddenly due to negligible compressional leakage. The SLG (Solid-Liquid-Gas) model shows the relationship of material
behind pipe verses its flexural attenuation and acoustic impedance.

Fig. 3 - Header of data used in the integrated approach to cement evaluation.

Fig. 4 - Cement evaluation across the liner-casing overlap section.

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Track-1: GR, CCL

Track-2: SLG (Solid-Liquid-Gas) 360deg image
(Legend: Brown=Solid, Blue=Liquid, Red=Gas)
Track-3: Hydraulic communication map. Blue
implies communication. White implies
hydraulic isolation
Track-4: Hydraulic communication width (0
100%)
Track-5: Blue implies continuous liquid
channel. White implies hydraulic isolation

Fig. 5 Hydraulic communication map across the 10-in. liner and 14-in. casing overlap section based on user defined
cutoff of 2m. The intervals of hydraulic isolation are numbered 1 to 13.

S/No

Top

Bottom

Thickness

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

m
2681.5
2686.8
2690.4
2694.0
2697.8
2703.2
2719.8
2747.1
2760.0
2802.0
2805.8
2814.9
2818.5

m
2683.0
2688.5
2692.1
2695.8
2701.1
2706.7
2724.8
2750.3
2763.4
2803.8
2809.1
2816.6
2824.0

m
1.5
1.7
1.7
1.8
3.3
3.5
5.0
3.2
3.4
1.8
3.3
1.7
5.1

Cumulative
Thickness
m
1.5
3.2
4.9
6.7
10.0
13.5
18.5
21.7
25.1
26.9
30.2
31.9
37.0

Fig. 6 Calculation showing cumulative hydraulic isolation of 37m was achieved across the liner-casing overlap section based user
defined cutoff of 2m.

Fig. 7 - Cement evaluation at the 14-in. shoe.

Fig. 8 - Cement evaluation across the 10-in. liner and openhole (below the 14-in. casing shoe).

Fig. 9 Polar Plot at 2756.0m (within the liner-casing overlap section) showing slight eccentricity of the liner.

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Fig. 10 Polar Plot at 2768.19m (within the liner-casing overlap section) showing line and casing in contact on the low-side.

Fig. 11 Polar Plot at 3639.92m showing liner highly eccentered towards the low-side of the borehole.

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Fig. 12 - Well Schematic indicating areas (in Brown color) with hydraulic isolation behind the 10-in. liner across the complete
interval.