Chapter 6: Postjob Procedures and Analysis

Procedures
After cementing a liner in a highly deviated or horizontal well, the cement should be left
undisturbed until the cement reaches 70% of its ultimate strength. This waiting-on-cement
time (WOC) may appear to be an unnecessary waste of time and money. However, the
benefits of not disturbing the cement sheath can far outweigh these costs. Determine
WOC time with an Ultrasonic Cement Analyzer (UCA) with a properly conditioned
cement slurry (See Appendix B - Cement Testing - Compressive Strength - UCA). The
UCA provides a nondestructive means to continuously monitor the compressive strength
of a given cement under downhole temperature and pressure. Typically, UCA
compressive strength tests should be conducted at both the bottomhole conditions and at
the top-of-liner temperature to determine the optimum time to resume operations in the
well.
If the liner will be pressure tested, the best time to do this is immediately after bumping
the top plug while the cement is still unset. Pressure testing the casing after the cement
sets can cause the development of a microannulas and debonding of the cement.

Sonic Logs and Bond Log Interpretation

While sonic logs are the primary evaluation tool available to evaluate the quality of a
cement job, it is necessary to properly interpret the data from a bond log. The limitations
of bond logs, what they can and cannot tell you, should also be understood. The factors
listed below can cause the bond log to indicate a problem when, in fact, the cement has
adequately displaced the drilling mud.
• microannulus
• formation effects
• low compressive strength cement
• thin cement sheath
• soft formation
• eccentered casing
• casing thickness

Recommended Procedures For Effective Cement Evaluation

Full-scale displacement tests have confirmed that properly displaced drilling mud will not
always result in a good (low impedance) bond log (Figures 6.1 through 6.4).
Inconsistencies exist between actual displacement efficiency and attenuation in many
cases. General guidelines to follow for proper bond log interpretation should include the
following:

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1. Provide the logging company with the transit time of cement slurries from actual UCA
testing. Providing this information eliminates assumptions of cement impedance
values input into logging software.
2. Request an eight-trace impedance chart and use mud impedance as the baseline. This
helps eliminate miscalculation and misinterpretation of the raw data from pulse-echo
tools.
3. Run a cement bond log in conjunction with a pulse-echo tool to provide additional
evaluation data.
4. To help avoid creating a microannulus, refrain from pressure testing the casing before
the cement evaluation work.
5. Ensure that the wait-on-cement (WOC) time is no less than the time required to reach
compressive strength of 2,000 psi or 90% of 72-hr strength, whichever is greater.
6. Run cement evaluation logs with and without pressure to investigate the existence of
microannuli.
7. Review cement evaluation data to help determine if squeeze work would provide
additional zonal isolation.

100
Displacement Efficiency (%)

90

80

70

60

50

40

30
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Attenuation (dB/ft)

Attenuation vs. Displacement Efficiency

Fig. 6.1

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 • 64% Displacement
Efficiency
• 5.1 dB/ft Attenuation

D.E. vs. Attenuation

Fig. 6.2

• 97% Displacement
Efficiency
• 5.1 dB/ft Attenuation

D.E. vs Attenuation
Fig. 6.3

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 • 63% Displacement
Efficiency
• 11 dB/ft Attenuation

D.E. vs Attenuation
Fig. 6.4

For more detailed information on bond log interpretation, the Cement Evaluation Manual
is a good source for understanding bond logs and proper interpretation.1

Squeeze Cementing
The purpose of squeeze cementing is to do remedial repair work to a cemented casing
string. This remedial work can include sealing a leaking liner top, shutting off water flow,
sealing perforations, and/or sealing a channel in the cemented annulus. Before attempting
a squeeze cement job, one should thoroughly review all the available information before
making a decision to perform a squeeze cement job. This information should include the
following:
1. sonic evaluation logs
2. job performance information
• returns during job (Did lost circulation occur?)
• high flow rates for optimum mud displacement
• other mud displacement practices, including proper centralization, pipe
movement, optimum spacer design, etc.
3. experience
Many squeeze jobs are performed in an attempt to accomplish something that may be
physically impossible to do, including the following:

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• filling a cement channel by pumping mud into a single entry point (without circulating
the mud out first)
• pumping cement into the permeability of the formation
• squeezing cement into a microannulus
• breaking down formation and pumping cement slurry into the fracture in an attempt to
provide a “pancake” barrier to water coning
The fallacy behind the above scenarios is explained in detail in Appendix D.

Slurry Design for Squeeze Cementing

Test the cement slurry for a squeeze job according to procedures outlined in API SPEC
10, “Specification for Materials and Testing for Well Cement.” In particular, obtain the
BHCT and heating schedule from the special correlations for squeeze cementing. The
BHCT is higher for squeeze jobs at a given depth than for casing and liner cement jobs.
The heat-up rate is faster because, in squeeze jobs, cement is typically pumped through
drillpipe.
The cement slurry should contain fluid-loss control when attempting to squeeze a series of
perforations. Fluid-loss control should also be used when trying to seal off channels using
the low-pressure squeeze technique where the formation breakdown pressure is not
exceeded. The fluid-loss control is needed to help prevent premature bridging off of the
cement slurry before the cement has penetrated all the perforations and/or the entire
channel that is being sealed.
The use of expansive additives in squeeze cement slurries has proven to be beneficial.
After the cement is placed and sets up, post-set expansive additives cause the set cement
to expand, improving the bond of the cement to pipe and formation. The expansion can
help improve the sealing ability of the squeeze cement.
When doing high-pressure squeeze jobs where the formation breakdown pressure is
exceeded and cement slurry is pumped out into the formation, some fluid-loss control
may be used in the first 20 bbl of the cement pumped. The last portion should not have
fluid-loss control in it. By removing fluid-loss control, the cement will be more likely to
bridge and give surface pressure indication that the squeeze has been obtained. If fluid-
loss control is included in all the cement slurry for a high-pressure squeeze job, the
cement can act as a fracturing fluid and continue to extend the fracture without ever
bridging and providing a squeeze.

Summary and Conclusions

The primary steps in planning and executing a preferred liner cement job for a highly
deviated or horizontal well are listed below:
1. prejob planning
2. cement slurry design

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3. job simulation
4. hole conditioning and proper mud displacement
5. mixing and pumping
6. postjob procedures and job evaluation
In the prejob planning stage, the mud system should be designed to properly suspend
cuttings and help prevent the formation of a solids bed on the low side of the annulus. It is
during the prejob planning phase that multiple stage jobs, expandable casing packers, etc.
should be considered.
When designing the cement slurry, the standard thickening-time tests, compressive-
strength tests, rheology, etc. should be conducted. It is important that a correct BHCT is
obtained, because horizontal and highly deviated wells will usually have a BHCT much
higher than a vertical well set at the same total depth. The cement slurry should be
designed and tested to provide minimum rheological properties while having 0% free
water and settling under downhole, deviated conditions. Finally, the cement slurry should
be tested for strength development at the top of the liner with an Ultrasonic Cement
Analyzer (UCA) to determine when operations can be resumed. This test should be
conducted by first conditioning the cement slurry at the BHCT before pouring it into the
UCA cell.
The job should be simulated with a computer model to optimize flow rates without
exceeding the fracture gradient in the open hole. Maximum flow rate is needed to ensure
optimum mud displacement.
Proper hole conditioning is one of the more important aspects of a successful cement job.
The drilling mud should be properly conditioned to help ensure good displacement
efficiency is achieved. Good displacement practices, such as 70% standoff, moving the
liner before and/or during the job, pumping as fast as safely possible, and using effective
spacers, are important in obtaining maximum displacement efficiency.
The cement should be mixed with high shear stress to help ensure that the physical
performance of the slurry will match that of laboratory testing. A recirculating mixing
system or some other high shear stress system should be used when mixing the cement
slurry. Either batch mixing or continuous mixing and pumping with accurate density
control mixing equipment can be used. The fluids in the well should not stop moving from
the time the drilling mud is pre-conditioned until the time the top plug is seated in the
float shoe at the bottom of the liner.
After the job, the cement should be allowed to set and develop at least 70% of its ultimate
strength before resuming operations. Pressure testing of the casing should either be done
right after bumping the top plug of the cement job or after conducting sonic log evaluation
of the cement job. If sonic logs are used in evaluating the well, all the variables that could
affect the bond log should be considered. Before doing a remedial squeeze cement job,
the limitations of the sonic log tools and all the job data should be considered.

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Many successful, highly deviated and horizontal liner cement jobs have been conducted.
These successes have included horizontal wells with openhole sections more than a mile
long. Proper attention to best practices will help ensure the success of a primary cement
job of a highly deviated or horizontal liner.