12.

Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 1 of 67

PETE 661

Drilling Engineering
Lesson 12

Plugback Cementing
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 2 of 67
Plugback Cementing
Case I: No Spacer
Case II: Equal Height Spacers
Case III: Spacer Ahead of Cmt. (only)
Case IV: Two Unequal Spacers
Mixtures and Solutions
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 3 of 67
Read:
Applied Drilling Engineering, Ch. 3
HW #7. Cementing
due October 21,2002
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 4 of 67
Balanced Cement Plug
Fig. 3.11- Placement technique used for setting cement plug.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 5 of 67
Cementing (Open-Hole Plugging)
1. Plug-back for abandonment
2. Plug-back for fishing or hole deviation

Open-hole plugging is usually performed
with slick drillpipe or tubing.
In some cases, reciprocating scratchers
may be run to enchance cement
bonding.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 6 of 67
Types of Balanced Plugs
Case I: No water or other fluid of different
density from that in hole is run ahead or
behind the cement slurry.

Case II: Water or other fluid of different
density from that hole is run ahead and
behind cement slurry. The volume of fluid
ahead and behind slurry is calculated so that
height in casing is same as height inside the
string.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 7 of 67
Displacement
Case III: Water or other fluid of different
density from that in hole is run ahead of
cement slurry and hole fluid only is used as
displacing fluid.

Case IV: Water or other fluid of different
density from that in hole is run ahead and
behind cement slurry. In this case, the
heights of fluid in annulus and drill string
are not equal.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 8 of 67
Case I
ft
ft
capacity, pipe drill T
ft
ft
capacity, annular C
3
3
=
=
C
Height of plug
after pulling pipe
Height of
plug with
pipe in place
T
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 9 of 67
Case I

+ =
+ =
=
=
=
=
T) H(C
T * H C * H V
place in pipe h wit
plug cement of height H
ft slurry, of volume V
ft
ft
capacity, pipe drill T
ft
ft
capacity, annular C
3
3
3
T C
V
H
+
=
C T
H Final
Height
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 10 of 67
Example Balanced Plug - Case I
Set a balanced cmt. plug from 8,500-9,000
ft, with no fluid spacers.

1. Open hole diameter = 10 3/4
2. Assume no washout
3. Use 5, 19.50 #/ft DP, open ended
4. Use class H cement, 15.6 #/gal
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 11 of 67
Example - Case I
(a) Calculate volume of cement slurry
required:
required slurry of ft 315.15
ft) 500 ( ft
12
75 . 10
4
L D
4
V
3
2
2
2
H
=
|
.
|

\
|
= =
t t
D
H

L
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 12 of 67
Example - Case I
(b) Calculate actual height of plug
when DP is in place at 9,000 ft.

If


then
H ) T C ( V
ft / ft in capacity drillpipe T
ft / ft in capacity annular C
3
3
+ =
=
=
T C
V
H
+
=
C T
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 13 of 67
Example - Case I
(b) contd

In this case,
ft / ft 0997 . 0 T
ft / ft 0.49394

ft/ft 1 * ft
144
5 75 . 10
4
C
3
3
2
2 2
=
=
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
t
( Halliburton Book )
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 14 of 67
Example - Case I
(b) contd
place in pipe with plug, of height
ft 530.9
/ ) 0997 . 0 49394 . 0 (
ft 15 . 315
3
3
=
=
+
=
+
=
ft ft T C
V
H
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 15 of 67
Example - Case I
(c) Determine the quantity of mud displacement
inside the DP that will ensure a balanced plug.

Balance requires that the pressures be equal
inside the DP and in the annulus, at 9,000.
MA MA MD MD
MA CA MD CD
A D
)h 0.052( )h 0.052(
P P P P
P P
=
A + A = A +
=
P
D
P
A

h
MD
= h
MA

12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 16 of 67
Example - Case I
ft 8,469.1

530.9 - 9,000

drillpipe inside mud of height
annulus in mud of height
drillpipe inside mud of height
=
=

12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 17 of 67

Example - Case I
3
3
ft 61 . 5
bbl
* ft 4 . 844 =
V
Displ
= 150.4 bbl (of mud)
Volume of mud displacement
(behing the cement slurry)

= 8,469 ft * 0.0997 ft
3
/ft

12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 18 of 67
Example - Case I
Also required:

Class H cement
reqd



Mix water reqd
sk / ft 18 . 1
ft 15 . 315
3
3
=
sks 1 . 267 =
gal/bbl 42
gal/sk 5.2 * sks 1 . 267
=
bbl 1 . 33 =
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 19 of 67
mud

water

cement

water

mud
Case II
h
W

Height of plug
after pulling pipe
h
WD
=

h
WA
C
V
T
V
WA WD
=
|
.
|

\
|
=
C
V V
WA WD
T
Height of
plug with
pipe in place
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 20 of 67
Example, Balanced Plug - Case II
Set a balanced plug, 500 ft high, with its
bottom at 9,000 ft. Use water spacers of
equal height inside DP and in annulus.

Volume of annular water spacer = 10 bbl
Open hole diameter = 10 3/4. No washouts
5 DP, 19.50 #/ft, open ended.
Use class H cement, 15.6 #/gal
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 21 of 67
Example - Case II
(a) & (b) From previous example:

place in drillpipe with
plug of height ft, 9 . 530
T C
V
H
capacity drillpipe , ft / ft 0.0997 T
capacity annular , ft / ft 0.49394 C
slurry cement of vol. , ft 15 . 315 V
3
3
3
= =
+
=
=
=
=
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 22 of 67
Example - Case II
(c) Calculate height (length) of water spacer
in DP:

In annulus,
ft 6 . 113 h
ft 113.6
ft / ft 49394 . 0
bbl
ft
5.61 * bbl 10
C
V
h
WD
3
3
WA
WA
=
=
= =
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 23 of 67
Example - Case II
(d) Volume of water spacer inside DP
bbls 02 . 2
ft / ft 49394 . 0
ft / ft 0.0997
* bbls 10
C
T
* annulus in spacer of . Vol
3
3
=
=
|
.
|

\
|
=
V
W,DP

12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 24 of 67
Example - Case II
(e) A balanced plug requires
that
surface. the to extend must drillpipe in mud

A + A + A = A + A + A
=
MA WA CA MD WD CD
A D
P P P P P P
P P
P
D
P
A

12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 25 of 67
Example - Case II
(e) contd
ft 5 . 355 , 8
6 . 113 9 . 530 000 , 9
h - 9,000
drillpipe in mud of Height
CD
=
=
=

WD
h
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 26 of 67
Example - Case II
ft
ft
0.0997 * ft 8,355.5
3
=
Volume of mud required to displace
cement and spacers


= 833.0 ft
3


V
Displ
= 148.5 bbls
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 27 of 67
Check
OK.
I Case - problem previous answer to
bbls 150.5
bbls 2.02 bbls 5 . 148

~
~
+
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 28 of 67
Pumping Sequence:
1. Water spacer for annulus:
10 bbls
2. Cement Slurry for Plug:

3. Water spacer behind cement:
2.0 bbls
bbls 2 . 56 ft 15 . 315
3
~
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 29 of 67
Pumping Sequence
4. Mud displacement behind second
water spacer:
148.5 bbls

Total fluid pumped = 10 + 56.2 + 2 + 148.5
= 216.7 bbls

(at 10 bbl/min this would require ~22 min)
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 30 of 67
Case III
Hole fluid density
> density of water
Hydrostatic heads in DS
and annulus must balance
at top of cement slurry
with DS in hole.
h
W

Height of plug
after pulling pipe
Height of
plug with
pipe in place
MD WD CD MA WA CA
D A
P P P P P P
P P
A + A + A = A + A + A
=
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 31 of 67
Case IV - General Case
MD WD CD MA WA CA
D A
P P P P P P
P P
A + A + A = A + A + A
=
Hole fluid density is greater
than water density.
Hydrostatic heads in DS
and annulus must balance
at top of cement slurry with
DS in hole.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 32 of 67
Procedure in setting balanced plug
1. Run drillpipe in to depth where plug is to
be set; in this case 9,000 ft. (open ended).

2. Circulate and condition mud one complete
circulation to make sure system is balanced.

3. Pump spacers and cement per calculations
and displace w/proper amount of fluid
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 33 of 67
Procedure in setting balanced plug
4. Stop pumps; break connection at surface.

A. If standing full, plug is balanced.

B. If flowing back, a mistake in calculations
has been made. Stab inside BOP,
or have a heavy slug (small volume slug)
ready to pump.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 34 of 67
Procedure in setting balanced plug
5. Once the end of the drillpipe clears the
plug, there is a good chance the pipe
will pull wet. This is because pressures
have gone back into a completely
balanced mud system.

6. If pulling wet, slug pipe and pull out of
hole.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 35 of 67
Procedure in setting balanced plug
7. Even if plug is severely out-of-balance,
never try to reverse cement out of hole.

8. Tag plug with DP at end of 8 hours. If too
high, plug may have to be drilled out
and another plug spotted. If too low,
spot another plug to required height
with DP just above top of first plug.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 36 of 67
Calculations to Design a Balanced
Open Hole Cement Plug
1. Calculate cu. ft. of slurry required for
plug in open hole.


2. Multiply this volume by excess factor
(50% excess factor = 1.50)
( ) n tables. Halliburto use or, ft L d
4

V
3 2
1
=
3
1 2
ft , * factor V V =
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 37 of 67
When dealing with a washed-out hole, where
an excess factor is required, it is usually easier
to calculate a new, effective hole size, and use
that instead of the excess factor.
Calculations for balanced plug - HINT
5 1
1 2
. * V V =
If 50% excess is required
5 1. * d
4

d
4

2
1
2
2
=
1 1 2
225 . 1 5 . 1 d d d = =
Use d
2
for calculations
This is the effective dia.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 38 of 67
Calculations for balanced plug
3. Find height (h, ft) cement will occupy when
drillpipe is at bottom of plug during pumping:
ft
ft

ft
ft

) ( Vol Vol
ft , V
h
3 3
2 annulus DP inside
3
2
d on based +
=
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 39 of 67
Calculations for balanced plug - contd
4. Find height (ft) water spacer ahead of
cement will occupy in annulus. Use
d
2
to calculate this (to account for the
excess factor).

5. Find height (ft) water spacer behind
cement will occupy in DP. Do not use
excess factor.

6. Pressures must balance at bottom of plug
ann DP
P P =
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 40 of 67
7.





8. Convert this to feet inside DP.
P for Solve
P P P P
P P P P
mud DP
mud DP spacer cmt DP
mud annulus spacer cmt ann
+ + =
+ + =
mud DP
P
Calculations for balanced plug - contd
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 41 of 67
9. Convert this footage to bbls inside DP for
proper displacement.

10. To find sx cmt required, divide volume,
V
2
, by yield/sk. This yield, Y
sk
, may be
in the Halliburton tables.

Number of sx reqd,
sk
2
Y
V
N =
Calculations for balanced plug - contd
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 42 of 67
11. If yield not shown, calculate from
formula for mixtures. Solve for
in this formula. Add the Vs for yield.

12. Total mix water will be times
number of sacks.

V
W total
= (V
W
/ sk) * N
1 1
v
W
V
sk / V
W
Calculations for balanced plug - contd
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 43 of 67
Cementing - Salt Solutions
Use of salt in Cement Slurries
Unsaturated Salt Solutions
Saturated Salt Solutions
Types Cements
Cement Additives
Examples
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 44 of 67
Salt in Cement Slurries
Salt Zones
Salt-saturated cements were originally used for
cementing casing strings through salt zones.
Fresh or unsaturated salt cement slurries will
not bond satisfactorily to salt formations
because the slurry tends to dissolve or leach
away the salt at the wall of the hole.
Salt-saturated cements will not dissolve any
more salt so a good bond can be achieved
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 45 of 67
Salt in Cement Slurries
Shale Zones

Many shales are sensitive to fresh
water.
Salt helps to protect these shales in
that they tend to prevent
excessive sloughing or heaving
of the shales.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 46 of 67
Salt in Cement Slurries
Accelerator
In low concentrations salt tends to
accelerate the setting of cement.

Retarder
In high concentrations ( >5% by wt. of
water) the salt will tend to retard the
setting of the cement.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 47 of 67
Salt in Cement Slurries
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 48 of 67
Salt in Cement Slurries
Expansion
Salt results in a more expansive
cement.

Freezing
Salt reduces the freezing
temperature of cement slurries.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 49 of 67
of solution
EXAMPLE:
200,000 mg of NaCl
800,000 mg of H
2
O
1,000,000 mg of solution
< 1 litre of solution
mg/L
ppm
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 50 of 67
Volume of Sodium Chloride Solution
EXAMPLE:
Adding 30 lbs of NaCl
to 100 lbs of H
2
O
increases the volume of
solution by ~10.7%
30% by weight =
13.8% by volume
(SG = 2.17)
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 51 of 67
Density of Sodium Chloride Solution
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 52 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 53 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 54 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 55 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 56 of 67
Example: Salt Solutions
30% NaCl (by weight of water) is added to
one gallon of fresh water.

Calculate the density of the mixture:

(i) Before the salt goes into solution
(ii) Using the solubility charts shown above.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 57 of 67
Problem : Salt Solutions
(i) Assuming that
lb/gal 9.51
8.33) * (2.17 / 8.33) * (0.30 1
1 x 8.33 * 0.30 1 * 8.33

V
V V

V V V : V ... V V
mix
S S w w
mix
mix mix S S W W mix mix 2 2 1 1
=
+
+
=
+
=
= + = + +
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 58 of 67
Problem : Salt Solutions
(ii) From the chart,

{ 9.51 lb/gal vs. 9.8 lb/gal !! }


{ what if we had 60% salt? }
lb/gal 8 . 9
mix
=
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 59 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 60 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 61 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 62 of 67
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 63 of 67
Problem
Calculate the density and yield of a
cement slurry consisting of:
65% Class A cement
35% Pozmix cement,
6% bentonite BWOC and
10.9 gal/sk of water.
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 64 of 67
Problem
(i) Initial tabulations and calculations:

Weight Specific Density
Component lbs/sk Gravity lbs/gal
Class A 94 3.14 8.33*3.14 = 26.16
Pozmix 74 2.46 8.33*2.46 = 20.49
Bentonite 2.65 8.33*2.65 = 22.07
Water 1.00 8.33*1.00 = 8.33
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 65 of 67
Problem
(ii) Determine the properties of one sack of dry
cement mixture; 65% Class A and 35% Pozmix:


3.600 87.0
264 . 1
20.49
25.9
25.9 74 * 0.35 sk 0.35 ,
336 . 2
26.16
61.1
61.1 94 * 0.65 sk 0.65 A, Class
(gal) Vol. (lbs) ht Weig
= =
= =
Pozmix
Cement
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 66 of 67
Problem
(iii) Determine density and yield of final slurry:
14.7365 183.02
10.9 90.80 8.33 * 10.9 gal 10.9 Water,
2365 . 0
22.07
5.22
5.22 87 * 0.06 6% Bentonite,
3.600 87.0 sk 1 mix, Cmt.
(gal) Vol. (lbs) Weight Component
=
= =
12. Plugback Cementing PETE 661 Drilling Engineering Slide 67 of 67
Problem
= =
= =
sk / ft 97 . 1
gal/ft 48 . 7
gal/sk 14.7365
Yield
lb/gal 42 . 12
7365 . 14
02 . 183
3
3
mix