Drilling Problems

&

Oil Well Cementing Techniques

2009-Min-31
2009-MIN-36
2009-MIN-21
2009-MIN-37

Sohail Manzoor
Shafiq Asif
Mirza Muhammad Zaid
Nasrullah Qaisrani

Drilling Problems
What is Risk or Success rate?
Normal Subsurface Conditions!
Problems encountered!
Fishing!
Stuck Pipe!
Lost Circulation!
Sloughing Shale!
Formation Damage!
Corrosive Gasses!
Abnormal High Subsurface Pressure!

What is Risk or Success rate?

The two possible outcomes after drilling.
Dry Hole.
Producer.
Definition of Risk or Success Rate.
Expressed in Percentage or Decimal.
Success rate for new field wildcats in US during 2000
was 33 %, only

Normal Subsurface Conditions!

Critical subsurface conditions.
Effect of depth on temperature & pressure.
Geothermal Gradient.
Subsurface pressures.
Earth or Lithostatic pressure.
Formation or Fluid pressure.

Fishing!
Fish or Junk
Fishing process
Fishing tools
Spear
Overshoot
Washover pipe
Tapered Mill Reamer
Junk Mill
Boot Basket
Wireline Spear
Fishing Magnet
Impression Block

Stuck Pipe!
Differential wall Pipe sticking
Mechanical problems
Jarring
Spotting fluid
Lighter drilling mud
Dogleg
Keyseating
Stuck-point indicator tool or Stuck-pipe log
Back off operation
String Shot
Chemical cutter
Spiral-grooved drill collars

Shafiq Asif
2009-MIN-36

Sloughing Shale

soft shale along the wellbore, that adsorbs

water from the drilling mud

expands and falls to the bottom of the well

in large balls

Chemicals such as potassium salts added to

the drilling mud or oil-base drilling muds are
used to inhibit sloughing shale

Lost Circulation

the partial or complete loss of drilling fluid and/or

cement slurry to the formation during drilling or
cementing operations
Natural causes include situations such as naturally
fractured formations or unconsolidated zones
Induced losses occur when the hydrostatic fluid
column pressure exceeds the fracture gradient of
the formation and the formation pores break down
enough to receive rather than resist the fluid
new requirements of time and mud and add
substantially to the overall cost of a well

Lost Circulation
Lost

circulation additives are fibers,

flakes, granular masses, or mixtures.
They include redwood and cedar
shavings, hay, pig hairs, shredded
leather, mica flakes, laminated
plastic, cellophane, sugar cane hulls,
ground pecan nut hulls, ground coal,
and asbestos.

Lost Circulation

If a very porous or highly fractured zone is

encountered while drilling; an excessive
amount of drilling mud is lost to that zone
during lost circulation. The zone is called a
thief or lost circulation zone

A pill of lost circulation additive or control

agent can be mixed with the drilling mud
and pumped down the well to clog up the
lost circulation zone

Formation Damage
When drilling a well, part of the drilling mud
liquid with some fines called mud filtrate is
forced into any permeable rock adjacent to the
wellbore. The mud filtrate can decrease or
destroy the permeability of a reservoir rock near
the wellbore that is called the formation damage
Damage to a formation results in two changes
within the formation
1) reduction of pore size (volume reduction)
2) reduction
in relative permeability (flow
reduction)

Formation Damage Mechanisms

Fluid-fluid
incompatibility
(emulsion
generation, etc.)
Rock-fluid
incompatibility (clay swelling,
etc.)
Fines invasion and migration (particles, etc.)
Phase
trapping and blocking (water
entrapment in gas reservoirs)
Adsorption and wettability alteration
Biological
activity
(bacteria,
slime
production).

Formation Damage
Prevention

by drilling the formation using brine or an

oil-base, emulsion or synthetic-base drilling
mud

by drilling with a light-weight drilling mud

that exerts less pressure than formation
pressure

well
can
be
drilled
underbalanced drilling

faster

using

Corrosive Gasses

corrosive gasses such as carbon dioxide

(CO2) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) can flow
out of the rocks and into the well as it is
being drilled

weaken the steel drill string and cause

hydrogen sulfide embrittlement

To prevent corrosion, a drill string made of

more resistant and expensive steel can be
used, and chemicals can be added to the
drilling mud

Abnormal High Pressure

Abnormal high pressure is fluid pressure that is

higher than expected hydrostatic pressure for
that depth
Unexpected abnormal high pressure in the
subsurface
can
cause
a
blowout,
an
uncontrolled flow of fluids up the well
Fluids flow out of the subsurface rocks into the
well in that is called a kick
As subsurface fluids flow into the well during a
kick, more fluids will be flowing out of the top
of the well than are being pumped into the well

Detection of Mud Level

The sudden increase of fluid flow out of the

well and the rise of fluid level in the mud pit
are detected by an instrument called a pitvolume totalizer. The pit-volume totalizer
uses floats in the mud tanks to continuously
monitor and record drilling mud volume. It
sounds an alarm if the mud volume
decreases due to lost circulation or
increases due to a kick.

Detection of Mud Level

Another detection method is based on the

principle that shale should become denser
and less porous with depth as it is
compacted

If the shale density increase and porosity

decrease are less than predicted from
computations based on normal conditions,
abnormally high pressures can be expected

Control of Abnormal High

Pressure

In the wait-and-weigh method, the well is shut in as

the kill mud is being prepared. The mud pumps are
started, and using a slower pumping speed, the
original mud and kick fluids are replaced with the
heavier kill mud during one circulation
In the driller's method, the first circulation by the mud
pumps is used to replace the original drilling mud
under high pressure that was cut by kick fluids with
original drilling mud without the kick fluids. The second
circulation replaces the undiluted, original mud with
kill mud. The abnormal high-pressure zone is then
drilled, and protection casing is run and cemented into
the well to isolate the zone

Oil Well Cementing

Techniques
Mirza Muhammad Zaid
2009-MIN-21
Shafiq Asif
2009-MIN-36

Contents
Functions

of Oil well cementing

techniques
Single stage primary cement job
Density Difference Problems
Factors affecting the selection of
cement
Cement types, specifications and
additives
Auxiliary cement Equipment's

Functions of oil well cementing

technique

To allow the segregation of the formation

behind the pipe.

To afford additional support for the casing or

either by physical bracing or prevention of
formation pressure being imposed on the
pipe.

To retard corrosion by minimizing contact.

Single stage primary cement job

Single stage primary

cement job

Density Difference
problems
Excessive

pump pressure required

If

the cement density is higher than

the density of mud.

If

the cement density is less than the

density of mud.

Factors affecting the selection

of cement
Slurry

density
Thickening time
Strength-time requirements
Filtration properties
Permeability of the set cement
Perorating qualities
Corrosion resistance

Slurry density
Normally,

slurry density should be the as

that of mud in the hole at the time of
cementing.
A special diatomaceous earth of lower
density than bentonite is used.
Expended perlite is often used for the same
purpose , this is a volcanic ore material
which has been expanded by heating to its
fusion point and subsequent cooling.
2-6 % bentonite is used with perlite slurries.

Thickening time
Thickening

time is the amount of time that

cement remains pump able with reasonable
pressures. This is the perhaps the most
critical property in the displacement
process.

Factors

affecting the thickening time include

1. composition of cement
2. Temperature

Strength-time requirement

There is no universal agreement on strength

requirements for oil well cements; however, figures
200 to 500 psi compressive strength after 24-hr
periods are often quoted.

The value of 500 psi is more widely accepted.

Portland cements have more strengths than its

generally needed, so many additives reduce to its
normal level.

Density reduction

Perforating Qualities
Completely

hardened cement is appropriate

to shatter and fracture excessively when
gun perforated.

Low

strength cements are desirable.

cement shattering is not necessarily

injurious in sections where nearby gas or
water strata are absent and may actually be
beneficial.

Corrosion resistance

Set cement could be penetrated by corrosive

liquids especially those containing CO3 or SO4
irons.

Cement corrosion decreases the final

compressive strength render the cement more
permeable.

Reduction of the hardening time improves the

cement resistance to corrosion by corrosive
fluids

Shafiq Asif
2009-MIN-36

Classification of cements
The six API cement classifications are as
follows
Class A: intended for use to 6000-ft depth,
when special properties are not required.

Class

B: intended for use to 6000-ft depth,

when sulphate resistance is required.

Class

C: intended for use to 6000-ft depth,

when high early strength is required.

Classification of cements

Class D: intended for use to 12,000-ft depth,

when moderately high temperatures and high
pressures are required.

Class E: intended for use to 14000-ft depth,

when high temperature and pressures are
encountered.

Class F: intended for use to 16000-ft depth,

when extremely high temperature and
pressures are encountered.

Cement types, additives and

specifications
Some of the most important types of
cements are as follows:
1) Pozzolan Cements
2) Diacel cement system
3) Latex-cement
4) Diesel-oil-cement (DOC)
5) Oil-in-water emulsion cements
6) Resin cements
7) Gypsum cements

Pozzolan cements
Pozzolan are siliceous materials which will
react with lime to form a cementitious
material.
They may be used as an additive to
ordinary cements or prepared as limepozzolan blend without Portland type
cement.
lime-pozzolan cement has proved to be a
satisfactory deep well cement. Different
variations in properties of pozzolans has
been observed, and individual testing is
required.

Diacel cement system

This designation refers to cement systems

modified by one or more of additives listed as
diacel D, LWL, and A by standards.

Such cements have a large range of densities

and thickening times, which give them a wide
scope of applicability.

For sand (95% through 200 mesh) is sometimes

added to increase early strength of the mixture.

Latex-cement
This

is a special cement composed of latex,

cement, a surface active agent, and water.

It

has proved useful in such special

applications as plug-back jobs for water
exclusion.

It

is especially resistant to contamination

with oil or mud and exhibit a high strength
bond with other materials such as casing ,
rocks and etc.

Diesel-oil-cements (DOC)

Mixtures of Portland cements, diesel oil (or

kerosene), and a chemical dispersant have
been found useful in well repair work to seal off
water bearing strata.

This material does not set until brought into

contact with water, and has therefore, an
unlimited pumping time.

It has also been used to prevent lost circulation

problems.

Oil-in-water emulsion
cement
Low

water loss, low density cements of

adequate strength and thickening time have
been prepared from kerosene, water,
cement, and 2 to 4% bentonite.

Calcium

lignosulfonate
is
emulsifying agent and retarder.

Such

used

as

cements have applicability in both

primary and remedial cementing.

Resin cements and Gypsum

cements

Resin cements: Proper combination of

synthetic resin, water, and Portland cement

are often used to provide an improved
formation cement bond in certain remedial
operations. These are costly than others.
Gypsum cements: These are special
mixtures which have high early strength
and easily controlled setting times. Gypsum
is basic ingredient. They provide temporary
plugs during testing and remedial work.

Auxiliary cement
equipment's

Following are the auxiliary equipment used

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Casing shoe
Collars
Centilizers
Scratchers
Cement baskets
plugs

Continues.

Casing Shoe: A casing shoe is a short, heavy

walled pipe run on the bottom of the casing
string. It has a rounded nose to guide the
casing into the hole. The shoe is screwed on the
casing and generally is glued with a threadlocking compound. Casing shoes are generally
available in three types.

guide shoe
float shoe
differential fill shoe.

Continues..

Collars: A cementing collar is typically run as an

integral part of the string and is placed at the top

of the first or second casing joint. The collar serves
as a stop for the cement wiper plug so that all the
cement is not inadvertently pumped completely
out of the casing and into the annulus.
Centralizers: Centralizers are placed on the
exterior of the casing string to provide stand-off
distance between the well bore and the pipe in an
effort to assist in attaining cement encirclement of
the pipe. Numerous types of centralizers are
available. The bow spring type is most common.

Continues..

Scratchers: To achieve an effective cement

job, the slurry must bond to the formation.
Scratchers assist by scraping and scratching the
mud cake on the formation to promote bonding to
the virgin formation.

Cement Baskets: Cement baskets provide

support for the column of cement while it cures,
or hardens. The baskets are often placed above
lost circulation zones that cannot support a full
column of cement.

Continues.
Plugs:

The cement slurry is normally

separated from the mud column by plugs
that minimize interface contamination. The
bottom plug has a diaphragm that is
ruptured with pump pressure after it seats
on the collar or shoe. The top plug has a
solid aluminum insert. The plugs are
mounted in a cementing head at the top of
the casing.