MWE
Plugback Cementing
Plugback Cementing
Balanced Cement Plug
Fig. 3.11- Placement technique used for setting cement plug.
Plugback Cementing
Setting Cement Plug
Plugback Cementing
Plugback Cementing
g Case I: No Spacer
g Case II: Equal Height Spacers
g Case III: Spacer Ahead of Cmt. (only)
g Case IV: Two Unequal Spacers
g Mixtures and Solutions
Plugback Cementing
Cementing (Open-Hole Plugging)
1. Plug-back for abandonment
2. Plug-back for fishing or hole deviation
g Open-hole plugging is usually performed
with “slick” drillpipe or tubing.
g In some cases, reciprocating scratchers
may be run to enchance cement
bonding.
Plugback Cementing
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 in 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.
Plugback Cementing
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.
Plugback Cementing
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
Plugback Cementing
Case II hWD = hWA
V WD V WA
=
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
Plugback Cementing
Pumping Sequence:
1. Water spacer for annulus:
10 bbls
2. Cement Slurry for Plug:
315 .15 ft 3 ≅ 56.2 bbls
3. Water spacer behind cement:
2.0 bbls
Plugback Cementing
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)
Plugback Cementing
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
Plugback Cementing ∆PCA + ∆PWA + ∆PMA = ∆PCD + ∆PWD + ∆PMD
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 + ∆PWA + ∆PMA = ∆PCD + ∆PWD + ∆PMD
Plugback Cementing
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
Plugback Cementing
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.
Plugback Cementing
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.
Plugback Cementing
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.
Plugback Cementing
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 Halliburton tables.
2. Multiply this volume by excess factor
(50% excess factor = 1.50)
V2 = V1 * factor, ft 3
Plugback Cementing
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.
Plugback Cementing
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 inside DP + Vol annulus (based on d 2 )
ft 3 ft 3
ft ft
Plugback Cementing
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
Plugback Cementing
Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d
7. Pann = ∆Pcmt + ∆Pspacer + ∆Pannulus mud
PDP = ∆Pcmt + ∆Pspacer + ∆PDP mud
Solve for ∆PDP mud
8. Convert this ∆PDP mud to feet inside DP.
Plugback Cementing
Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d
9. Convert this footage to bbls inside DP for
proper displacement.
10. To find sx cmt required, divide volume,
V2, by yield/sk. This yield, Ysk, may be
in the Halliburton tables.
V2
Number of sx req’d, N=
Ysk
Plugback Cementing
Calculations for balanced plug - cont’d
11. If yield not shown, calculate from ρ 1 v 1
formula for mixtures. Solve for V W
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
Plugback Cementing