Scott S. Jennings

Cementing at High Pressure Zones in KSA "Discovering the Mystery Behind the Pipe"

Cementing is one of the most important and crucial issues in the oil field, especially for high pressure and gas bearing formations. It is difficult to achieve a good zonal isolation in such formation types, where pressure is abnormal and formation fluid contains corrosive fluids and gases. A common problem associated with highly overpressurized zones is cross-flow after cementing. Fluid flow from an over-pressured zone to a low-pressure, highpermeability zone can lead to deterioration of the existing production hardware. Work over operations that attempt to repair cement voids — including: perforation, squeezing and use of casing patches or scab liners — are not recommended, as they do not provide long-lasting results. In one onshore field in Saudi Arabia, there was a problem related to cementing at high pressure zones. Recently, communication between A (abnormally overpressurized zone) and B (low-pressure zone) formations occurred due to long term sea water injection, and has resulted in production interruption in a few wells. This paper addresses the problem through investigating field practices, including: drilling, cementing, and completion. This study also reviews the field reports and cased hole logs. A three-month study was conducted to evaluate the effects of formation-A water on cement, where the cement was exposed to formation-A water under downhole conditions. The tests for permeability, mechanical properties TGA and EDXRF are presented, in addition to discussions of some of the preliminary findings.