A safety net for controlling lost circulation

Oilfield Review

Volumn 15, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 20-27

  Abbas, Raafat ^a   Jarouj, Haitham ^a   Dole, Steve ^a   Junaidi, Effendhy Hendri ^b   El Hassan, Hassan ^c   Francis, Lee ^d   Hornsby, Lee ^e   McCraith, Steve ^f   Shuttleworth, Nigel ^f   Van Der Plas, Klaas ^f   Messier, Eric ^g   Munk, Trevor ^a   Nødland, Nils ^g   Svendsen, R Krister ^a   Therond, Emmanuel ^a   Taoutaou, Salim ^a  

^a EnCana Corporation ^*

^b ADCO   (United Arab Emirates)

^c Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation   (United States)

^d Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation   (United States)

^e Shell UK Exploration and Production   (United Kingdom)

^f Devon Canada Corporation   (Canada)

^g STATOIL   (Norway)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BOREHOLES; CEMENTS; COSTS; EFFICIENCY; FLOW OF FLUIDS; OIL WELL CASINGS; OIL WELL CEMENTING; OIL WELL PUMPING; PETROLEUM RESERVOIRS; QUALITY ASSURANCE; SEEPAGE; SLURRIES;

FLUID CIRCULATION; FLUID DENSITY; LOST CIRCULATION; PARTIAL LOST RETURN; TOTAL LOST CIRCULATION; WELLBORE;

PETROLEUM INDUSTRY;

EID: 12144291460     PISSN: 09231730     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. For more on lost circulation in deep water: Power D, Ivan CD and Brooks SW: "The Top 10 Lost Circulation Concerns in Deepwater Drilling," paper SPE 81133, presented at the SPE Latin America and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, West Indies, April 27-30, 2003.
2. For more on foamed and ultralightweight cements: Al Suwaidi A, Hun C, Bustillos JL, Guillot D, Rondeau J, Vigneaux P, Helou H, Martínez Ramírez JA and Reséndiz Robles JL: "Light as a Feather, Hard as a Rock," Oilfield Review 13, no. 2 (Summer 2001): 2-15.
3. Primary cementing operations may involve as many as four slurries, but jobs with two slurries, known as the lead slurry and the tail slurry, are more common. "Lead" refers to the first slurry pumped during primary cementing operations. "Tail" refers to the last slurry pumped during primary cementing operations. Typically, the tail slurry coverts the pay zone and is denser than the lead slurry.
4. For more on slurries that use optimized particle-size distributions: Boisnault JM, Guillot D, Bourahla A, Tirlia T, Dahl T, Holmes C, Raiturkar AM, Maroy P, Moffett C, Pérez Mejia G, Ramírez Martínez I, Revil P and Roemer R: "Concrete Developments in Cementing Technology," Oilfield Review 11, no. 1 (Spring 1999): 16-29.
5. For more on stage cementing operations: Boisnault et al, reference 4.
6. Nelson EB, Baret J-F and Michaux M: "Cement Additives and Mechanisms of Action," in Nelson EB: Well Cementing. Sugar Land, Texas, USA: Schlumberger Dowell (1990): 3-30-3-31.
7. For more on lost circulation in well cementing: Nelson et al, reference 6.
8. Baret J-F, Daccord G and Yearwood J: "Cement/Formation Interactions," in Nelson EB: Well Cementing. Sugar Land, Texas, USA: Schlumberger Dowell (1990): 6-7-6-16.
9. Low N, Daccord G and Bedel J.-P: "Designing Fibered Cement Slurries for Lost Circulation Applications: Case Histories," paper SPE 84617, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado, USA, October 5-8, 2003.
10. For details of the experiments: Low et al, reference 8.
11. For more on decision trees: Coopersmith E, Dean G, McVean J and Storaune E: "Making Decisions in the Oil and Gas Industry," Oilfield Review 12, no. 4 (Winter 2000/2001): 2-9.
12. Top-job operations involve pumping cement down the annulus from surface, rather than down the drillpipe and up the annulus, to fill the space between the formation and the casing.
13. For more on the use of CemNET technology in the Middle East and Asia: El-Hassan HI, Abbas R, Jarouj H and Munk T: "Using a Novel Fiber Cement System to Control Lost Circulation: Case Histories from the Middle East and the Far East," paper SPE 85324, presented at the SPE/IADC Middle East Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, October 20-22, 2003.
14. For more on heavy oil and the Duri field: Curtis C, Kopper R, Decoster E, Guzmán-Garcia A, Huggins C, Knauer L, Minner M, Kupsch N, Linares LM, Rough H and Waite M: "Heavy-Oil Reservoirs," Oilfield Review 14, no. 3 (Autumn 2002): 16-29.
15. Effendhy, Junaidi H, Abbas R and Malik BZ: "Fibers in Cement Form Network to Cure Lost Circulation," World Oil 224, no. 6 (June 2003): 48-50.
16. Effendhy et al, reference 14.
17. For more on the use of CemNET technology in Indonesia: El-Hassan et al, reference 12.
18. For more on zonal isolation in the Tampen area: Abbas R, Cunningham E, Munk T, Bjelland B, Chukwueke V, Ferri A, Garrison G, Hollies D, Labat C and Moussa O: "Solutions for Long-Term Zonal Isolation," Oilfield Review 14, no. 3 (Autum 2002): 30-51.
19. A leakoff test is performed to determine the strength or fracture pressure of the open formation, and is usually conducted immediately after drilling below a new casing shoe. During the test, the well is shut in and fluid is pumped into the wellbore to gradually increase the pressure on the formation. At some pressure, fluid will enter the formation, or leak off, either moving through permeable paths in the rock or by creating a space by fracturing the rock. The results of the leakoff test dictate the maximum pressure or mud weight that may be applied to the well during drilling operations. To maintain a small safety factor to permit safe well-control operations, the maximum operation pressure is usually slightly below the leakoff test result.
20. The shoe track is the space between the float or guide shoe and the landing or float collar. The principal function of this space is to ensure that the shoe is surrounded by high-quality cement and that any contamination that may bypass the top cement plus is safely contained within the shoe track.
21. Anderson J, Simpson M, Basinski P, Beaton A, Boyer C, Bulat D, Ray S, Reinheimer D, Schlachter G, Colson L, Olsen T, John Z, Khan R, Low N, Ryan B and Schoderbek D: "Producing Natural Gas from Coal," Oilfield Review 15, no. 3 (Autumn 2003): 8-31.
22. Messier E, Stiles D and Morgan R: "Controlling Cement Tops Through Use of Fiber-Based Slurries Reduces Drilling Costs," paper 2002-085, presented at the Petroleum Society's Canadian International Petroleum Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 11-13, 2002.