PETE 411

Well Drilling

Lesson 31
Plugback Cementing

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 1 of 42

 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

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 2 of 42

 Read:
Applied Drilling Engineering
Ch. 3. Cementing

HW #15
Due November 12, 2001

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 3 of 42

 Balanced Cement Plug

Fig. 3.11- Placement technique used for setting cement plug.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 4 of 42

 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.
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 5 of 42
 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.
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 6 of 42
 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.
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 7 of 42
 Case I
T C

ft 3
C  annular capacity,
ft
ft 3
T  drill pipe capacity,
ft

Height of
plug with Height of plug
pipe in place after pulling pipe

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 8 of 42

 Case I
T C
ft 3
C  annular capacity,
ft
ft 3
T  drill pipe capacity,
ft
V  volume of slurry, ft 3
H  height of cement plug
wit h pipe in place
H Final V  H *C  H *T
Height  H(C  T)
V

H
CT
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 9 of 42
 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

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 10 of 42

 Example - Case I

(a) Calculate volume of cement slurry DH

required:

L
   10.75 
2

V DH L   
2 2
ft (500 ft)
4 4  12 

 315.15 ft 3
of slurry required

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 11 of 42

 Example - Case I

(b) Calculate actual height of plug

when DP is in place at 9,000 ft.

If C  annular capacity in ft / ft 3

T  drillpipe capacity in ft / ft 3

then V  (C  T)H T C
V
 H
CT
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 12 of 42
 Example - Case I

(b) cont’d
 10.75  5  2
 2 2

In this case, C   ft *1 ft/ft

4 144 

 0.49394 ft / ft 3

T  0.0997 ft / ft 3

( Halliburton Book )
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 13 of 42
 Example - Case I

(b) cont’d

V 315.15 ft 3
H  
C  T (0.49394  0.0997 ) ft 3 / ft

 530.9 ft
 height of plug, with pipe in place

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 14 of 42

 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’.

PD  PA
ΔP CD  PMD  PCA  PMA
0.052(ρ MD )h MD  0.052(ρ MA )h MA

hMD = hMA PD PA
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 15 of 42
 Example - Case I

 height of mud inside drillpipe

 height of mud in annulus

 height of mud inside drillpipe

 9,000 - 530.9

 8,469.1 ft
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 16 of 42
 Example - Case I

Volume of mud displacement

(behing the cement slurry)
3
= 8,469 ft * 0.0997 ft /ft

bbl
 844.4 ft * 3
3
5.61 ft

VDispl = 150.4 bbl (of mud)

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 17 of 42

 Example - Case I
Also required:
3
315 .15 ft
Class H cement  3
req’d 1.18 ft / sk

 267.1 sks
267 .1 sks * 5.2 gal/sk

Mix water req’d 42 gal/bbl

 33.1 bbl
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 18 of 42
 Case II hWD = hWA

VWD VWA

mud T C
T 
water VWD  VWA  
C
cement hW
Height of
water Height of plug
plug with
pipe in place after pulling pipe
mud

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 19 of 42

 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
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 20 of 42
 Example - Case II

(a) & (b) From previous example:

V  315 .15 ft 3 , vol. of cement slurry

C  0.49394 ft 3 / ft, annular capacity

T  0.0997 ft / ft, drillpipe capacity

3

V
H  530 .9 ft,  height of plug
CT
with drillpipe in place
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 21 of 42
 Example - Case II

(c) Calculate height (length) of water spacer

in DP: 3
ft
10 bbl * 5.61
VWA bbl
In annulus, h WA   3
C 0.49394 ft / ft

 113.6 ft

 h WD  113.6 ft
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 22 of 42
 Example - Case II

(d) Volume of water spacer inside DP

T
V W,DP  Vol. of spacer in annulus *  
C

0.0997 ft 3 / ft
 10 bbls * 3
0.49394 ft / ft

 2.02 bbls
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 23 of 42
 Example - Case II

(e) A balanced plug

requires that

PD  PA

PCD  PW D  PMD  PCA  PW A  PMA

PD PA
 mud in drillpipe must extend to the surface.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 24 of 42

 Example - Case II
(e) cont’d
 Height of mud in drillpipe

 9,000 - h CD  hW D

 9,000  530.9  113.6

 8,355.5 ft
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 25 of 42
 Example - Case II

Volume of mud required to displace

cement and spacers
ft 3
 8,355.5 ft * 0.0997
ft
3
= 833.0 ft

VDispl = 148.5 bbls

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 26 of 42

 Check

148.5 bbls  2.02 bbls

 150.5 bbls

 answer to previous problem - Case I

 OK.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 27 of 42

 Pumping Sequence:

1. Water spacer for annulus:

10 bbls
2. Cement Slurry for Plug:
315.15 ft  56.2 bbls
3

3. Water spacer behind cement:

2.0 bbls

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 28 of 42

 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)

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 29 of 42

 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.
hW
Height of
plug with Height of plug
pipe in place after pulling pipe

PA  PD
31. Plugback Cementing PCA  PWA  PMA  PCD  PWD  PMD
PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 30 of 42
 Case IV - General Case

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.

PA  PD

PCA  PW A  PMA  PCD  PW D  PMD

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 31 of 42
 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

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 32 of 42

 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.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 33 of 42

 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.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 34 of 42

 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.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 35 of 42

 Calculations to Design a Balanced
Open Hole Cement Plug

1. Calculate cu. ft. of slurry required for

plug in open hole.
π 2
V1  d L ft
4
3
 
or, use Halliburto n tables.

2. Multiply this volume by excess factor

(50% excess factor = 1.50)

V2  V1 * factor, ft 3

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 36 of 42

Calculations for balanced plug - HINT
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.

V2  V1 * 1.5 If 50% excess is required

π 2 π 2
d2  d1 * 1.5
4 4
Use d2 for calculations
d 2  d1 1.5  1.225 d1
This is the effective dia.
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 37 of 42
 Calculations for balanced plug

3. Find height (h, ft) cement will occupy when

drillpipe is at bottom of plug during pumping:

V2 , ft 3
h
Vol insideDP  Vol annulus (based on d 2 )

3 3
ft ft
ft ft
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 38 of 42
Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d
4. Find height (ft) water spacer ahead of
cement will occupy in annulus. Use
d2 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.
PDP  Pann
6. Pressures must balance at bottom of plug
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 39 of 42
Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d

7. Pann  Δ Pcmt  Δ Pspacer  Δ Pannulusmud

PDP  Δ Pcmt  Δ Pspacer  Δ PDP mud

Solve for Δ PDP mud

8. Convert this PDP mud to feet inside DP.

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 40 of 42

Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d

9. Convert this footage to bbls inside DP for

proper displacement.

10. To find sks cmt required, divide volume,

V2, by yield/sk. This yield, Ysk, may be
in the Halliburton tables (or may not…).

V2
Number of sx req’d, N
Ysk
31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 41 of 42
Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d

11. If yield not shown, calculate from 1 v1

formula for mixtures. Solve for VW
in this formula. Add the V’s for yield.

12. Total mix water will be VW / sk times

number of sacks.

VW total = (VW / sk) * N

31. Plugback Cementing PETE 411 Well Drilling Slide 42 of 42