Ad

w:

TERRY WALKER
MEMBEFrAIME

Abstract
The tcchtrnlogy of Ihr oil intiusiry IIufuy i.v .M4ch that
tnore rigid requirements are placed upon cement isolation in wellv. ltr uriditi(m, recent advancesin wcllevaltiaiiutr
ottd cotnple(ian technology pertnit compaction.r to he made
in zones tha[ wotdrf have been considered uneconomical
u jew years ago. Wilh longer payoals, it is even more inzpt)rt[int 10 inrure rhe hcsI possible completion.Many
cont.
pletimn are made in jorntatirmf tha[ depend upan natural
jractures, vugs, or indt~ccd jracrares jor co)ntnercial protfaclinn ro!cs. Muxinu{
tnproduction under these crmdi(itmv
rcqnircs cemeni iroiation hcfrrre complctirm uttempts It)
prevent damage rewlting jrom .sql{eezing cemcni, e.vpccial.
[y aj[er any wel! Irealment.
Acolt.r!ic ce)ttetlt hondloggingi.r[)nc
oj the !oolsin WCI1.
cwnpletion technology that can he u~ed to insure the besl
p(n.sil~le cwtlpleli~m hy imwring i.ro[uliun c)j ull ztmr.)
before a completion atteinpt is made. it ,shoW.rthe degree
t}j ivolutiun. i]nder tnany conditions rhe C(I.SI(IJ (he log i.~.AIIIUI1in ctunparisnn wilh .sqtteezing, repcrjf)raling, re]racluring, ticcreaieti procl14ctirm. or even Io.w of a well.
Field exatnple.s illi4s!rale u numbw oj case.v where clm.~idcrahle extra completion cxpett.w crt-me bccausc the in],)rma]itn~ jrwn the bond lag was nof uwd. Bmic h(md I(IR
intwprctrrtion isincludetlin the Appendix.

1
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I

Introduction
Many conditions have placed more rigid requirements
upon the effectiveness of cement isolation behind casing.
Deeper drilling, with the accompanying higher pressure and
temperature, has resulted in higher pressure differentials
on the cemented interval. This has required more bonded
interval for effective isolation. The increased application
of high-volume, high-rate well treatments requires Ihe cemented interval to withstand high pressure differentials.
Secondary recovery of all types also requires complete isolation behind easing, both from the standpoint of cost of
injected fluids and efficiency of operation,
Often, a production testis the most economical evaluation
of cement isolation. When there are no other permeable
-zones nca-r the completion interval; the odds ar&_that isola.
tion is sufficient. In formations of high permeability, when
. .
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--

(-klgirial manuscript rece!ved in SocleLy of Petrnleti

Enjrtgegm oflice
Feb. 29, 1967. Ravlsd manuscript
rm?ived July & 1968. Paper (SPE
1761 ) was presented at SPE fkIDOSkW
on Mecbanlcal
Endn-rJnu
.AiDects
of Skllllng and Production held in Fort ,Worth. Tex., March
6-7, 1907. @ fkwyrkht
1968, American lnatltut@ of Mining, Metrdlui-
?Jc.al and Petroleum En@=m
I ne.

WELEX, A DIV. OF f-lAILILWRTON SERVICES

a production test shows channeling from another zone,

cement squeezing and reperforating will not greatly reduce productivity. However, there are many other situa.
tions in which the economics are such that complete knowledge of the degree of cemefit isolation should be obtained
before perforating.
Acoustic

Cement

Bond

Log Application

~here are many variables that control the effectiveness of

the cement in a well depth, temperature, hole size, additives, contamination. type of cement, type of cement flow,
etc. Even with the best available cementing program, channels or some other type of unbondcd section cun exist in
critical intervals. Because of these uncertainties, the usage
of the acoustic cement bond log has increased greatly in
the past few years. J-he acoustic vmve in a cased borehole
consists of all arrivals along any coupled path between
transmitter and receiver. A recording of this entire ricoustic wave, propcrl y ,interprctetf and used (see Appendix),
can supply the information needed to design the most
economic completion procedure. one possible presentation
is the intensity-time recording where dark and light streaks
repr~ent
the positive
and negative half cycles of the acoustic wave. Amplitude is shown by the darkness or lighusess
of the streaks. The position of the streaks from .Ieft to right
denotes increasing arrival time.
Fig. 1 is an intensity-time recording presentation on a
bond log rm in 4-in. liner. Only 5 ft of good acoustic bond
is indicated above the interval to be perforated, The reservoir pressure at the time of completion had decreased to
approximately 5,500 from 9,000 psi originally. Because of
high pressure differentials. it was recommended that the
liner be squeezed above. However, this was not done, and
the well came in producing gas at the rate of 4 to 5
M Mcf/ D. After several months of production, the well sud denly died. During cleanout operations, sand, shale and
cement were recovered from the well. Before the work over was completed, the liner collapsed, and the .vell had
to be plugged. Above the main pay sand there were thin
sand stringers at original reservoir pressure that were the
probable cause of the liner collapse. In this case, a squeeze
-- before @erforating-for production and ev&-another -bond
log run would have be&t economical.
Figs. 2 and 3 show this same acoustic intensity-time pre.
.sents-tion on a bond log run k a well..that was intended
as a tripk
cornplqtion. The log-shows pipe arrivals ;over
--the-~
entire wition with some forrnat~on arrivals; all- of
.
whibh indicatechanneling of the cement-acoustic bond on

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one side and none on the other. There is no complete isolation indicated anywhere on the log. In spite of this, the
well was perforated, each zone was individually acidized,
and the well was completed. Each zone produced oil as
expected, but it was soon found that the oil gravity, GOR
and pressures were all the same-all the oil was coming
from one zone. In addition to th~ cost of the workover,
the cement squeeze of the completion zones would affect
the existing natural fractures to the extent of decreased
productivity after reperforation and retreatment.

For comparison purposes, a well-bonded interva! in

this same section in another well in the field is sf?own
in Fig, 4, Over this section there are no pipe arrivals, but
strong formation arrivals throughout are evidence of the
complete acoustic coupling of the cement to the pipe and
formation,
The possibility that treating fluid (acid, fracturing, etc)
might channel behind the pipe makes it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of various well treatments. In addition
to yielding a smaller effective fracturing treatment, squeez-. ...-, -,..,..
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ing can &mage already critical permeability. Any cementfilled vug, natural fracture or induced fracture can only
reduce productivity. Fig. 5 illustrates the effect of pressure
cycling to 3,000 psi on the acoustic cement bond. The log
run before pressuring indicates onfy very small amplitude
pipe arrivals in some of the shale, with excellent acoustic
bond in the lime streaks at 6,400 and 6,520 ft, and the
zone of interest at 6,430 to 6,470 ft. A pressure of 3,000
psi in this size and weight pipe is sufficient to expand unsupported pipe by 0.009 in. The log run after the 3,000 psi
was released indicates that where the pipe was bonded to
competent. fo.rma!ion (the !he str~ks .aq~. the zpne Of
interest ) no changes occurred, However, m. the r shales
where the caliper indicated hole washout, some expansion
occurred. This reduced the acoustic coupling of cement to
pipe and formation. Thus. strong pipe signals are now
present in the shales. The zone of interest was perforated
and fractured with 2,500 psi and the production was normal there were no extraneous ffuids, Although it might
be. possible to circulate fluid between two perforations
within the shale, the zone of interest is effectively isolated
from any other permeable zone above or below the section of the well shown.
The exact path of the cement cannot be predicted in
squeeze cementing. The formation must break down somewhere
to permit the cement to be put away. If the breakdown is in the right place, the squeeze is effective. However,
many wells are squeezed and reperforated repeatedly
before isolation is accomplished. The practice of block
squeezing is evidence that cement must be put in the right
spoIs. It is not going to flow long distances through a
small channel unless the breakdown is at the end of the
channel. In some cases of oil-water contacts within the
sand, repeated squeezes and reperforations have failed to
eliminate water production when the oil column is such
that the well should produce water free for a considerable
period. This, again. is a problem of the path of the cement.

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TEcUIYOLOCY

lntensily.time bond logs run before and after two cement

squeezes are shown in Fig. 6. The intended zone of completion was the lower sand that contains oil. The first bond
log showed insufficient isolation from the water sand above.
The well was then squeezed at the points indicated
just above the oil sand and in the middle of the water sand,
The bond log run after the squeezes showed that the lower
squeeze went down and the upper one went up, However, ,
the oil sand after perforation produced oil and water.
The-upper: cement squeeze did not go in the right place . .....
The oil sand was not isolated from the water. The pro-

ducing perforations then were squeezed and reperforated,

and the water was shut off.
In one area of multi. pay wells a major oil producer,
using bond logs, saved $5,000 per recompletion. The usual
practice had been to block before perforating for production on recompletion because of the large percentage of
incomplete isolations on primary cementing. Use of the
bond log reduced the number of squeezes to one for every
10 recompletion. During this work, cementing techniques
,, were improv~ because, each well,could !e.,evalu?t~d corn-. . .
pletcly, as cementing programs weri changeJ, to find the

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beat technique. Additionally, fracturing treatments were

optimized since each treatment could be evah.mted more
thoroughly by eliminating the uncertainty of the path of
the fracturing fluid,

because mud in between results in poor coupling of the

cement and formation (Fig. 7c).
Fig. 7d shows a channel (caused by the casing resting
against the side of the hole) that did not permit the cement
to completely surround the pipe. As shown, both pipe
signal and formation signal are present the pipe is
free on one side and the formation is partially coupled
on the other side.
In further testing, it was found that the thickness and
compressive strength of the cement sheath had an effect
on the amplitude of the pipe vibration. The sheath. thick-

Corldutiions

Whether to run bond logs is an economic question that

can be answered by considering a number of other ques.
tions:
1, What are the chances of a completely effective pri mary cement job? Are the zones in most of the wells in
the area effectively isolated ,withth~ cementing
technique
+ -* ... - W<...!.-.,.
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Twenty Four Hours After Cementing
.
used?
2. How critical is zone isolation? How far is it to other
permeable zones? Is there a fluid contact in the section?
Amplitude - Time
3. What happens to productivity if you have to squeeze?
.- -Uvvvv-v
Is permeability in the critical range? Are there vugs and
v-v,
fractures that could be filled by cement when squeezing
to shut off extmneous fluids? Is a fracturing treatment
necessary for commercial production, and if so, what hap.
pens if a squeeze is necessary?
4. What are the costs of squeezing, reperforating, and
another well treatment?
5. Are cementing and other completion procedures be.
ing evaluated to optimize techniques?
4150
The answers to these questions should determine whe.
ther one or even two bond logs should be run before perforating for production.

.~~,.

References
1. Blcakley. W. B.: What It Takes to Make A Good WC]]
Completion, Oil md Gas J, (June 11, 1962).
2. Pickett, G. R.: Acoustic Character Logs and Their Application in Formation Evaluation,
./. pet. Tech. (June, 1$63)
659-667.
3. Carter, L. G. and Evans, G. W.: A Study of Cement.Pipe
Bonding, 1, Pet, Tech, (Feb., 1964) 157-160.
4. Flournoy, R. M. and Feaster, J. H,: ~ield Observations on
the Use of the Cement Bond Log and Its Application to the
Evaluation: ofCementin~ Problems, pa&r SPE 632 presented at SPE 38th Annual Fall Meeting, New Orleans, Oct.
6-9, 1963.
5. Walker, Terry: Case Histories of Bond Logging, Oil and
Gas J. (May 7, 1962).
6. Walker, Te~ry: Progress Report on Acoustic Amplitude
Logging for Formation Evaluation, paper SPE 45 I pre.
.wnted at SPE 37th Annual Falf Mec[ing, Los Angeles, Oct.
7-10, 1962.
7. Harcourt, Geor$e, Walker, Terry and Anderson, Terry:
Use of the Mlcro&ismogram
and the Acoustic Cement
Bond Log to Evaluate Cementing Techniques, paper SPE
798 presented at SPE Symposium on Mechanical Engineering
Aspects of Drilling and Production, Fort Worth, Tex., March
23-24, 1964.

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APPENDIX
In bond logging, a crystal transmitter puts out a vibration
pulse that is picked up by the receiver. If the pipe is free
and not held firmly by cement, it will vibrate and carry a
large signal to the receiver (Fig. 7), The series of pictures
in Fig. 7a through d are the actual photographed signals
at the receiver in a series of shallow, cased test wells with
variouri deliberately L@t-ig sgrnenting conditions.. ,When
the - tirnent is f@ly - bonded to th; pipe. and to the
fofiatiort; the signal is as-shown in Fig, 7b with no pipe
vibration, but the- received signal is characteristic-of the
~ formation be@nd the pipe,. .
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j--,
Wenthk
cement is- bonded to thepipe.but not ~to the
formation, very little.%ignrd is rc+ceived.from the. forniation..
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ness data are shown in Fig, 8 and were obtained with water
surrounding the cement. These data, howswer, cannot be
used directly because a thin sheath bonded to both pipe
and formation would produce a vibrational amplitude that
appears to reflect an irdlnhely thick sheath.

Presentation of Acoustic Signal

In the early days of bond logging, the log comist~ of
one or more amplitude curves that were the amplitudes of
a portion of the acoustic arrivals, either of the first arrival
or of those during a fixed time interval, &cause of the
. wide variation in formation. velocities, ,thes6 amplitudes
led to some degree of ambiguity in the interpretation of
the log. Tbett methods were developed to record the full
information from the acoustic wave train, rather thatt
only a small portion of it.

The Acoustic Ma-My-lirne Recmlhg

Au acoustic wave train in a borehole is complex, and it
exhibits amplitudes and arrival times of wide variation. A
continuous record of these variations will allow identification of the travel path of all portions of the signal. To
make these data practical and usable, a suitable system of

BEFORE

SQUEEZE

AFTER

routine recordiitg is necessary. The intensity -tjme presentation is such a record. Fig. 9 illustrates the conversion
of the acoustic signal. The lower picture of Fig. 9 is a
scope picture of a 4-ft single receiver signal with time increasing to the right (200 to 1,200 microsec) and amplitude increasing positively above and negatively below
zero amplitude. The next picture above is the prepara.
tion of the acoustic signal for the intensity-tjme record.
ing. All positive half cycles appear and will be recorded
as dark streaks, and all negative half cycles that have
been cut off wifl be recorded as light streaks. Zero ampli.
tude will appear gray. T4ext above is the intenskytime
recording. The top picture is the same, but ,with the film.
and tool movement coordhsated on a 5 in. equals 100 ft
depth scale. The full wave train of the acoustic signal+ with
ail changes of time and amplitude, is recorded. The position of the bars from left to right displays the time of arrival. The variations in darknem and lightness of the bars
display the relative amplitude of the half cycles.
Fig. 10 is a comparison of logs run before and after
setting and cementing the production casing. This well
was drilled with salt mud; and 4M-in., 9Yz-lb casing was
set to 3,248 ft in a 7%-in. hole. The pipe was cemented
with 185 sacks of special oilwell cement, containing 42

PIPE

SQUEEZE

AM?%lWNE

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AUGUST,

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1960

in cement bond by squeezing,.:

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sacks of salt with M lb. of cellophane flakes per sack of

cement. The eased hole run was made 48 hours after the
pipe was cemented. In the open and cased hole the formation arrival times correlate qtiite well, and no pipe signal
is seen in Run 2. Where there is no pipe signal, but there
is a strong formation arrival (Fig, 7b), it can be said that
the pipe is transparent to the acoustic signal as it is se.
curely held by the cement. A firmly coupled path for
signal to and from the formation is present. Therefore.
there must be a good cement bond to both the pipe and
the formation in all of the section shown in Fig, 10.
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Acoustic

Amplitude-Time -Reeo;d;;g

Another method of presenting the acoustic information

is the amplitude-time form. Since each of the 20 pulses

MKRO,BEFCX3E

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SQUEEZE

per second from the transmitter gives one wave train at

the receiver, provision is made to select the number to be
recorded. This usually is two to four per 10 ft of hole, in
the depth scale in which 5 in. equals 100 ft. In the illustration of this type of presentation in Fig, 11, some of the
recorded wave trains have been left out for clarity, Once
the selection has been made, the pictures are recorded
automatically on 70 mm film at the desired interval.
In this example the high amplitude pipe signal in the
upper s~tion clearly shows on the recorded signal and
on the pipe amplitude curve. This curve is a fixed gate
amplitude sample. The formation amplitude curve is also
a fixed gate curve, but is open longer to sample the for.
mation arrivals that generally arrive later than the pipe
signal. In the lower section of the log the formation signal
is reflected by the later low amplitude arrivals. This later

LO(3S

AFTER

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SQUEEZE

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low amplitude is characteristic

formation.
interpretation

of the Gulf Coast softer

of the I-mgs

sure of 5.300 psi was measured, and 75 sacks of retarded

cement was pumped in at 5,o00 psi. Subsequent to the second squeeze, another log was run 46 hours later. The log
shows good pipe and formation bond from 8,950 to 9,075
ft indicated by strong formation signal and no pipe
signal. Therefore, the squeeze cement must have traveled
through a previously existing channel, since the entire section now shows good acoustic bond to pipe and formation.
This verifies the interpretation that a channel existed before
squeeze.
The. acoustic tool must be centralized while recording
a bond log, Fig. 14 is a log run with a 21/s-in. OD tool
(deliberately without centralizers) in 5%-in. casing. The
wavy.%ppearanie is very: evident in the early portion of
the signal because of apparent arrival time changes. The
amplitude changes considerably as the tool moves from
one side to the other. Maximum amplitude occurs when
the tool is in the center of the hole. At this point all
360 of acoustic arrivals are in phase, but when the tool
is off center, some arrivals are out of phase and create
the wavy appearance.
Another problcm in bond logging is how long to wait
after cementing before running the log. Most cements build
up sufficient strength to dampen completely the pipe signal
in 8 to 18 hours, depending upon the exact composition
and additives. However, these strength measurements in
the laboratory are not always applicable to downhole conditions. Many of the mud-treating chemicals act as retarders, and the gel reduces the strength. Therefore, it is gen.
erally recommended to wait 24 hours after cementing.
For modified or highly retarded cements, the time is hrcreased to 36 hours.
Fig. 15 shows a comparison of amplitude-time bond logs
run 11 and 24 hours after cementing. Laboratory tests on
samples of the cement gave the following data:

The interpretation of the logs can be ilhsstrated best by

examples showing changes between log runs. Since all of
the arrivals of the acoustic signal are presented, the continuity is such that the path of the arrival can be identi.
tied whether it is signal from casing, formation, or a
combination of both. The pipe signkd resirlta in straight
vertical lines because of the fsxed velocity of the acoustic
travel through pipe, with onfy the W pattern distortions
at collars. The.formation signal, in addition to having ,a
different charagter, is usually variable in arrival time.
The well in Fig. 12 was drilled with an 8V4 in bit, and
7:in., 23-lb. casing was set. After the primary cement job
the ftrst log (not illustrated) was run and indicated the
top of the cement to be 5,390 ft. Six days prior to logging, the well was cement squeezed at 5,161 ft with 500
sacks of regular cement. The top of the cement moved to
5,060 ft as shown on Run 2, which was indicated in Fig.
12 as the log before squeeze. From 5,060 to 5,056 ft a
typical collar distortion can be observed on both the intensity.time recording and on the pipe amplitude curve.
This distortion is attributed to the discontinuity of metal at
the collars. The distortion will appear for a vertical distance equal to the spacing between the transmitter and receiver (4 ft in this case). The interval 5,060 to 5,100 ft
shows good pipe bond but no formation bond since only
very low amplitude formation arrivals are present. The
second cement squeeze then was initiated at a depth of
5,054 ft. just above the top of the cement, and was per.
formed using 140 sacks of special oilwell cement ard 215
sacks of regular cement containing 0.75 percent of cement f#fction-reducing agent. The log run 9 hours after
squeeze shows the extent of cement travel behind the pipe.
In the zone 5,060 to 5,090 ft particularly, where the pipe
2CX7
was bonded and the formation was not, a strong forma.
tion signal is now being received, indicating that the acous$& -see
tic coupling has greatly increased and is now firm, Cement
- from the squeeze at 5,054. ft had to..tsavel down betweqr
-the qernent ,and thg. for,rnatiori, produ-cing a good bond to
..
both the pipe and formation, which verifies the interriretation that no formation bond existed before squeeze. Above
the point of squeeze there is some occasional pipe signal
with fairly strong formation signals, which would indicate
a minor amount of channeling above 5,054 ft.
13g. 13 is another example of before and after cement
squeeze of a well in Colorado County, Tex. Seveninch, 23.lb. casing in a 9%-in. hole was set to 9,215 ft.
The production string was cemented with 580 sacks of
special oilwell cement containing 0.75 percent friction-reducing agent. The actual top of cement travel on Run 1
(made 52 hours after cementing) is 7,520 ft, and areas of
good bond are shown from that point to total depth. It
could be concluded from Run 1 that the bonding is incomplete over the interval shown in Fig. 13 because of
strong pipe signal with tyf-:cal collar distortions as shown
at 9,018 ft. However, formation signal is also present.
Whenever both pipe and formation signal are present, it
is high]y probable that the pipe and formation are partially
bonded, but that a channel down one side of the hole also
..exists .(Fig..7d)..Thg. pDssjbility .of ..a. shan_ngl is _fur~er
substantiated by the fact that the top of the cement travel
,. is at .7,520 ft, well above. the section shown. The well. was
...
first tiement squtized in the-interval-9,067 to 9,068 ft with
...78 sacks. of. retarded, cement_ at a~maximu.rn<pr.essur~ of
- 5,200 psi, A. second squeeze was. mitiaterf m th6 interval
.- ?,015 ;to 9,016.ft,. Durjng.this ~ue?ze . .a. breakdowt.
Pres: - . . .--. . . .:
~ F;% 14-lrtconsistent
.. .

. ..

..

,T-

cemafizaliors.

simal in 11 hours. According to lab tests, the reverse

should have been true less-indication of early bonding on the lead cement. Some unknown variable downhole
delayed the strength buildup from that indicated in lab
tests. Since all these factors cannot be completely controlled, a safety factor24
to 36 hours--must be used.
***

Compressive Strength (psi)

12 hours
24 hours
1,500
1,380
5,100
1,65Ll

Lead cement
Tail cement

The top of the tail cement is at 6,675 ft and no changes

occurred above this depth on the logs run after 11 and 24
hours. However, below 6,675 ft there was considerable
change, indicating that the tail cement did not have sufilcient compressive strength to completely dampen the pipe
.

Pipe

Eleven ll~urs

After Cern&nting

Amplitude

- Time

A m~l.&dc-

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Twenti

of

sketch

I~our- Hours AfteiCern~ntirig-

A mplitdc

_F=rma!.bn
-.

Editors Note: A picture and biographical

Terry Wulker uppear on Page 861.

Formation

Amplitude
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South TexrIs. .Well

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of amplitude-time

bond logs run 11 and 24 hours after cementing.

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