Studies of Cement Wiper Plugs Suggest New Deepwater Standards

Trogus, M.; Farley, Douglas; Gaspard, G.

doi:10.2118/173066-ms

Day 3 Thu, March 19, 2015 2015

DOI: 10.2118/173066-ms

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Studies of Cement Wiper Plugs Suggest New Deepwater Standards

M. Trogus

Douglas Farley

G. Gaspard

Abstract: Well cementing is a crucial component of deepwater well construction, and a key to cementing success is the performance of the cementing plug. Plug performance is primarily based on the mechanical wiping efficiency and wear resistance of the plug. However, limited understanding of the performance has hindered the establishment of standards. While API RP10F provides recommended testing practices to evaluate the performance of cementing float equipment, it does not include cementing plugs. This pa… Show more

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Going the Distance Cement Wiper Plug Technology

LeBlanc

2017

Day 2 Wed, March 15, 2017

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The 13 3/8 to 14-in. cement wiper plug system is a critical component for successfully separating fluids during displacement of cement for long strings of casing in deepwater applications. With casing strings becoming longer, there was a need to validate the endurance capabilities of these plugs. This paper will discuss the methods used to test the endurance of a cement wiper plug system. The test consisted of pumping the same plugs through 130 ft of casing repeatedly, until a maximum length of 40,000 ft was achieved. These plugs were displaced horizontally through the casing using water. This created the worst case scenario because no fluid would be in front of the plug: The elastomer is more susceptible to abrasion in dry pipe than in lubricated pipe. Each plug was dimensionally analyzed every 5,000 ft and then was validated by measuring the bypass pressure from the downhole side. The bypass pressure is directly related to the amount of surface contact between the plug fins and the casing wall and can be used to validate wiping efficiency. Theoretically, the farther the plug travels, the more likely the surface contact is reduced between the plug fins and the casing wall, and that is validated by measuring the bypass pressure. The results of the endurance test are based on the relative wiping-efficiency test in the same inside diameter as the casing through which the plug is pumped. These results are compared to minimum allowable bypass pressure determined from a test using the largest published inside diameter. Results show that the bypass pressure decreases until a certain length and that at this length, contact force becomes significantly less, inadvertently causing the plug to wear at a slower rate. This relates to the reduction of the bypass pressure until a point where the pressure equalizes at approximately 20 percent less than the control. Plug bypass can result in displacement errors, which further result in either underdisplacement leaving excess cement in the casing or over displacement, potentially contaminating the shoe tracks. Testing the ability of the plug to mechanically separate fluids and wipe the pipe eliminates the potential for bypass around the plug fins in the forward or reverse direction in long strings of casing.

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Going the Distance Cement Wiper Plug Technology

LeBlanc

2017

Day 2 Wed, March 15, 2017

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High Frequency Pressure Based Downhole Monitoring System Implemented in Mexico Land Assets

Kabannik

Khudorozhkova

Fedorov

et al. 2022

Day 3 Wed, October 19, 2022

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The positive pressure increase effect from a displacement plug hitting the landing collar is often a signal for the end of cement displacement. Occasionally the plug is damaged by frictional wear, chemicals, and temperature, however displacement can also be affected by the mud compressibility, a complex value dependent on the downhole conditions (rheology, density, temperature, etc.) and pump efficiency, which are never truly 100 percent efficient. Using a high frequency pressure monitoring system, it is possible to detect the location of the wiper plug when passing through each casing joint as it produces a pulse that can be detected in real time, even as the displacement plug fins are worn away with friction. Controlling displacement volume is crucial for the cementing job as overdisplacement of cement can complicate the isolation of the string cemented due to contaminated cement pushed up into the annulus and under-displacement may result in extra drill out time and therefore nonproductive time in both scenarios. Testing of a novel cement displacement method by measuring pressure at high frequencies to see the pulses generated by the displacement plug passing through the casing joints consisted of validating the technology to an accuracy of one casing joint or around 12 meters. The Mexico Land analysis has shown that on average, 45 m of cement is left above the retention collar, or 45 meters of cement that was never planned to be left inside the casing. The technology demonstrated great success where casing joints have a positive internal diameter change. By combining the measurements of displacement volume and pressure pulses produced as the plug passes through a casing joint, a more accurate measurement of the wiper plug location is achieved versus conventional displacement methods.

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A Systematic Cementing Approach to Improve the Shoe Track Integrity: Case Studies from Saudi Arabia

Ali,

Al Turki,

Bouaraki

et al. 2024

Day 3 Wed, February 14, 2024

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Incompetent shoe tracks are typical in oil well cementing and cost many hours of lost rig time for remediation. An incompetent shoe track results from unset, severely contaminated, or no cement inside the casing section between the float collar and shoe after a primary cement job. This paper will address several case studies where a systematic and engineered approach was utilized to apply various solutions that helped to improve the shoe track integrity. The wet shoe has been of the utmost attention to oil and gas companies, as expensive remedial cementing operations are needed to repair the deficiency in shoe track integrity. After a thorough process review, many opportunities were identified to improve the cementing basis of design, such as lead and tail slurries for liners and multiple stage jobs, increased length of shoe track, the addition of bottom wiper plugs, and the use of lost circulation material in the spacer and cement slurries. This paper illustrates the case studies where the above-stated methods were successfully applied to improve the shoe track integrity. Some of the major contributing factors to incompetent shoe track integrity were identified as attempting to cement the long sections with a single slurry, excessive thickening time requirements to accommodate the operation of liner hangers and stage tools, over-displacement of cement during placement, overestimated bottom hole temperatures, severe or total losses during cement placement, cement slurry contamination by the lack of a bottom wiper plug, and picking weak casing point. It was also observed that the consequences of poor shoe track integrity were amplified in challenging drilling environments where formations were either reactive, hard and abrasive, abnormally pressured, high downhole temperature, or prone to lost circulation. As a result, an increased effort was put in place to eliminate the poor shoe track integrity by implementing the opportunities identified during the process review. Cement inside the shoe track was found to take more weight on bit and have a slower penetration rate during drill out. Also, the required casing and formation integrity tests were achieved even in areas historically prone to compromised shoe track integrity. This confirmed the success of this systematic cementing approach and helped revise the basis of design. This paper presents a detailed study of the novel engineering process that was successfully deployed to plan and execute the primary cement jobs with the assurance of shoe track integrity. In addition, this paper highlights the systematic approach utilized to eliminate or mitigate the occurrences of incompetent shoe track integrity with observed improvement in field deployment results.

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Studies of Cement Wiper Plugs Suggest New Deepwater Standards

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Going the Distance Cement Wiper Plug Technology

Going the Distance Cement Wiper Plug Technology

High Frequency Pressure Based Downhole Monitoring System Implemented in Mexico Land Assets

A Systematic Cementing Approach to Improve the Shoe Track Integrity: Case Studies from Saudi Arabia

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