Liner cementing

Client Cementing Seminar

An asterisk is used throughout this presentation to denote a mark of

Schlumberger. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks,
registered trademarks, or service marks of others.

Schlumberger Private

Schlumberger 2011

Revision History
Description

Prepared by

Reviewed by

1.0

Revise content and slide master

Tanvi Chikara

Shailesh Dighe

Sep 27, 2011

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Rev Date
.

Agenda
Reasons for liners

Types of liners

Challenges

Cementing Techniques

Slurry Design

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Liner
Any string of casing whose top is
located below the surface, hung
inside the previous casing and is
run to its setting depth by drill pipe.

Previous Casing

Liner-Casing
Overlap 50-500 ft

Liner Hanger
Open Hole

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Liner Top

Reasons for Liners

Mud weight change:

Lost circulation
Over-pressured formation

Cost:
Save money (Cost of 1 Joint of casing can be around $3,000)

Cover:
Shales or Plastic Formations
Salt Zones
Corroded/damaged casing

Deep Wells:
Rig Unable to Lift Long String of Casing.

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Types of liners

Production liner
Critical
Serves as completion string

Drilling liner
Isolates over-pressured or weak formation
Protects sensitive formation

Tieback
Protects previous casing
Extends into intermediate or back to surface

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Liner Components

Surface component :
Cement head (including drill pipe Dart)

Sub-surface components :

Running string (DP / HWDP / running tool)

Liner hanger
Liner tubular
Floating accessories

Liner Cement head

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Dart

Liner Sub-Surface Component

Wiper plug
Float collar

Float shoe

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Dart

Dart + wiper plug

assembly

Liner hanger
Running tool

Cementing Techniques

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Circulate
short

Circulate above:
Reverse or
Drill out

Liner top
packer

Tack &
Squeeze

Challenges
Small annular clearance especially around liner hanger

Close pressure tolerances (pore/frac)

Mud/spacer/cement compatibility

Mud removal technique

Flow regime
Pipe movement
Centralization

Friction pressure

Isolation and compressive strength at top of cement in critical

Single wiper plug in most cases

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Mud Removal Issues

Physics is the same, however:
Narrow annulus

Difficulty centralizing

Difficulty moving pipe

High densities

Special spacers at high temperature

Oil-based mud make mud removal difficult

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Test Temperature

Tailor schedules to conditions of well and operations

BHCT
Pressure
Time to bottom
Include shutdown to simulate pulling running tool

Use best possible temperature source (BHST)

API BHCT correlation / CemCADE simulation

Include all pumping and well parameters

Temperature at the top of liner is very important to know the compressive

strength of cement in the liner lap.

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Liner Overlap
Sufficient cement excess must be
calculated carefully. Too much cement
above the liner hanger is not
recommended

Make sure that uncontaminated cement

is present at the liner lap - washes and
spacers / WELLCLEAN II*

If not, there will be communication from

the annulus to the formation

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14

Liner-top Packer

Provides seal in previous casing

Isolates open hole below

Prevents hydrostatic pressure transmission

Does not provide isolation across gas zones

May aggravate gas flow

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Reduces pressure on formation

Slurry Design
Volume

Density

Viscosity (friction pressure)

Thickening time

WOC - top of liner

Stability

Fluid loss control

Strength retrogression

Special
Gas migration
Flexibility

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Keys to Liner Cementing (1)

Good casing point

Transitions
Productive intervals

Cement volume based on caliper

Accurate temperature BHT and TOL

Appropriate spacer ahead and as part of displacing fluid to prevent

compatibility issues with cement when drill pipe is released

Good cementing practices

Centralization
Conditioning
Pipe movement

Correct slurry design

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Keys to Liner Cementing (2)

Adequate mud conditioning prior to cementing

Control fluid loss in slurry (< 50 ml/30 min recommended)

Rotation of liner during cementing (special swivel in tool)

Batch-mix or process controlled mixing

Pump according to mud-removal design

Calculate and measure displacement carefully

HW DP, different grades DP, internal upsets)
Fill tanks properly
Reset displacement volume when dart latches

Pull drill pipe carefully and keep hole full while pulling pipe

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Conclusion
Liner cementing, although a challenge, can be done with appropriate
attention to details that make cementing successful.
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19 WCS
Nov 09