Combat Unpredictable Losses during Casing Cementation in a Compartmentalized Structure, Nong Yao Field, Gulf of Thailand

Abstract

Lost circulation, while cementing, compromises the objectives of cementing an oil or gas well. Losses encountered during cementingcan cause a weak casing shoe, poor zonal isolation, early water breakthrough for an oil producer, as well as increasing the possibility of costly intervention work. Execution of primary cementing operations can be subject to unplanned circumstances; when a slurry is being pumped or displaced and losses are recorded, in most circumstances the operation switches to damage limitation by slowing down the pumping rate. The Nong Yao field (Figure 1)is characterized with an interbedded unconsolidated sand / clay lithology within a highly compartmentalized structure, and as such, well construction operations have encountered unpredictable lost circulation during 7-in. casing cementation (but rarely during the drilling phase). Over 60% of the wells recorded losses during 7-in. cementing; it became evident that a proper loss mitigation plan was necessary to combat lost circulation and improve the probability of successful cementation execution. Although the primary objective is to achieve zonal isolation, equally as important for Nong Yao drilling operations are provision of annulus barriers, slurry compressive strength development, "gas tight" qualities, optimum slurry Thickening Time (TT) to allow for safe batch drilling operations. Figure 1 Nong Yao field localization To overcome the challenges, an "out of the box" approach was essentialwhich yielded two innovative solutions: i) a combination of advanced lightweight cementwith engineered reticular fiber (ERF) systems, which allows safer placement of the cement in the annulus, while minimizing the potential losses; ii) a combination of several lost circulation materials (LCM) in an optimized ratio in an engineered fiber-basedlost circulation weighted spacer package, which has an additional function of preventing and mitigating risk of losses during cementing. This approach was intended to reinforce the loss zones by using the four-step methodology; disperse, bridge, plug and sustain. The severity of lost circulation while cementing was significantly reduced without compromising the abovementioned objectives. This paper will discuss the successful implementation of the new approach solution by integrating different technologies to overcome the challenges of unpredictable losses during cementation. Two case histories from numerous jobs will be discussed with cement post-job evaluation via playback simulations and standard cement bond logs, which validates that the new approach increases the chance of achieving well objectives. Consequently, the risk of unplanned (UNP) operations and costly remedial operations are substantially reduced.