SPE 116698

Best Practices in Designing HP/HT Cement-Plug Systems

Haidher Syed, SPE, BJ Services Company

Copyright 2008, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Denver, Colorado, USA, 21–24 September 2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Cement plugs are required mainly to abandon a well or zones or to kick off new drilling or completion efforts. Almost all
ultra-HPHT exploratory wells and all other non-producing wells (which have ended their useful life) require abandonment
with cement plugs.
Cement plugs for HPHT and ultra-HPHT application require conform to the acceptable fluidity, ultimate strength and desired
properties. The placement environment exacerbates the challenges of system design, especially if the well is deviated or
approaches horizontal.
Achieving successful cement plugs in highly deviated or in horizontal wells in HPHT and ultra-HPHT conditions, especially in
brine environments, requires special designs and techniques. The requirements include modified testing procedures and
products that can withstand bottomhole pressure and temperature conditions for the entire life of the well. Furthermore, setting
a cement plug downhole in a deviated HPHT well may require special equipment and logistics.
As an example of the complications in HPHT wells, on the east coast of India bottomhole static temperatures are as high as
507°F and mud weight can vary between 14 and 19 ppg in deviated wells. Experience has shown that conventionally
calculated bottomhole circulating temperature alone is inadequate to determine the working temperature downhole. However,
with the help of computer-aided temperature simulation and all the above techniques, many successful cement plug jobs have
been executed under these difficult conditions.
Using case histories for illustration, this paper will share best practices developed from 4 years of experience designing and
placing cement plugs in 8 HPHT and ultra-HPHT wells successfully. These practices will include HPHT cement plug design
considerations, modified lab testing procedures, special placement techniques and product choices.

Introduction
To describe the subject topic, the below write up has divided in to three sections: A) Cement system design process B)
Placement techniques and C) Case histories. Though the case histories also reflected in many part of the other sections, but
exclusively dedicated later under this heading.
The boundaries for defining the HPHT well conditions by general industry acceptance can be given as
a) Drilling mud density more than 15ppg (1.8 sg)
b) Bottom hole temperature exceeding 250ºF (149ºC)
The author feels to define one more temperature boundary for the cement design is Ultra HP/HT, which is over 350ºF (205ºC)
working temperature, since over this temperature most of the currently available chemicals reach their upper limits of working
and the cement also start showing high reactivity as appeared in the preliminary findings by the author. Since these findings
are not in the scope of this paper and the study is still underway, details of these study kept for the next paper.
As always, the design process starts with planning. Job objectives required to be defined at this stage including the risk factors
in these HPHT environments. Then required to gather, record, evaluate and validate the relevant data. Determine the
laboratory test parameters to formulate the fluids. Afterwards simulate the jobs considering various options and arrive to the
best possible treatment design considering the equipment & tools availability.
The final treatment is being designed as consequence of the modified testing temperature of the cement systems after specific
product choice. The case histories considered here had bottom hole temperature ranging from 350ºF to 467ºF at depth ranging
from 15,500 feet MD (14,250 feet TVD) to 19,700 feet MD (TVD 18,500 feet). Such typical well schematic is shown in
Figure-1. These case histories can be a very good example of re-validating the design basis, developing and executing job
specific lab testing plan based on the temperature predictions using computerized simulations. The field blending procedures,
and job execution procedures including specific placement techniques and methods, were carefully monitored, those helped in
a successful application of the cement-plug system for the extreme conditions. The following section will describe step-by-step
procedures, consideration, techniques, equipment & tools for such critical and crucial jobs from preliminary designs to the post
job evaluations.
2 SPE 116698

A. Cement System Design Process

A typical cement system design process shall consist of the following steps before ready for execution:
a. Formulation of job objectives
b. Assessing the extreme conditions, i.e., ultra HPHT, brine environment, deep wells, small cement volume, etc.
c. Assessing the risk involved in these extreme conditions and possible solutions and precautions
d. Monitor the well closely, gathering and collecting the required well / job data
e. Validating the job data collected considering the various methods or measurements/logging
f. Determine the bottom hole working temperature for laboratory testing
g. Assessing the appropriate resources (products, equipment & tools)
h. Collect samples of the relevant products / cement and water using specially prepared procedure for HPHT sampling
i. Perform Lab Testing with the representative samples
j. Compare the properties of the slurry system with desired.
k. Recommend additional / alternate products.

The objective of the plug cement job:

Most of the cases, the objective is to abandon the lower zones. When a zone started producing water and oil/gas recovery is no
longer economical, or requires isolating temporarily to test the upper zone, cement plug often placed as the most reliable
means. Sometimes when a well finishes its useful life, requires permanent abandonment and may be guided by the local
regulations also. Cement plug often also placed over fish in the hole during drilling. To sidetrack from an existing open hole,
often cement are placed as plug. Sometimes difficulties observed during drilling that excessive caving or losses starts, requires
cement plug to cure these.
Assessing the extreme conditions:
Most of the mud system contain large amount of chlorides, which are highly detrimental to the cement slurry pump time and it
becomes severe in HPHT conditions. During testing phase of a well, generally brine is being used as the well bore fluid. If the
well is deviated or approaches horizontal, the cement slurry placed as plugs, tries to flatten down and the objectives is not
being met. Sometimes small volume of slurry is being placed, for example 4-8 bbl in a deep well to abandon a zone of 100 to
200 feet inside production liner. To pump this amount of cement down below 10,000 feet to 20,000 feet in a
deviated/horizontal well and place in HPHT brine environment in an abnormally pressured gas well is an extremely
challenging job. Author likes to share some such case histories to address these extreme conditions.
Assessing the risk:
The risks are very high in these extreme conditions. The risks described here are basically those could arise from an
improper/inappropriate cement design or inadequate treatment process. The most vulnerable risk is early setting of cement due
to this ultra HPHT brine environment where the string may get planted in the cement and appreciable down time may occur.
Over retarding the slurry, might result in soft cement and repetition of the job. Cement may get contaminated or diluted by the
adjacent fluids during placement in a deep well due to long travel of a small volume of cement. In a highly deviated or in a
horizontal well, if all the necessary measures are not being taken, objective may not meet since the cement tries to flatten down
due to its heavier weight than the adjacent fluids. The following paragraphs describe case by case to mitigate the risks.
Collection & validation of data:
For a cement plug job, required data consists of the well/tubular configurations, well bore fluid properties, formation fluids
properties, formation pressure, and the most important one is the temperature. For HPHT or ultra HPHT application, this
temperature requires validation and it is the most vital parameter in these extreme conditions. If it is a drilling phase, obtaining
the accurate temperature is always challenging. The temperature measured by the gauges, those are included in the drilling
bottom hole assembly, reflects mainly the pipe body temperature and it is mostly influenced by the fluids coming down
through the pipe. But it also reflects the circulating temperature for that particular fluid system and the environment. By using
the Horner plot, the formation static temperature could be estimated and requires validation comparing the offset wells where
the temperature is known. Many time gauges on the wireline also being run along with the other tools to log the well. This
temperature is more reliable than the previous method since it does not have external influences and it is being measured when
the well is in static condition, but it requires correction to obtain the actual formation temperature.
If it is a testing phase, before placing a cement plug, temperatures become available from the downhole gauges run with the
bottom hole testing assembly. This is the most reliable means since this gauge stays for long time and the formation fluids also
allowed flowing through.
For HPHT or Ultra HPHT wells, running a temperature gauge is always necessary to design and achieve a successful cement
job. Exception to this or having wrong temperature might bring catastrophe as experienced in the industry.
Determine the bottom hole working temperature for laboratory testing:
During placement of the cement, bottom hole working temperature, known as the bottom hole circulating temperature
(BHCT), is the key parameter affecting the properties and behavior of the fluid system along with other parameters like
pressure, configuration/dimension of the tubular & hole, formation and well bore fluids. In HPHT environment, estimating the
BHCT is one of the crucial parts for the design process. In general, circulating temperatures are lower than the formation static
temperatures. API tables and formulas are also available to calculate the BHCT. But these are limited to the conditions and do
not consider the fluid velocities, formation heat transfer properties, and inclinations and well bore fluid properties, etc. To
assess the circulating temperature more realistically, field-tuned computer aided well temperature simulating software is being
used for these HPHT environment. Studies[1] showed that the computer simulated temperatures are more accurate than any
SPE 116698 3

other analytical methods available. Also found that the hottest spot in a well is not at the bottom, it is little above. The attached
temperature simulation plot [Figure-3] demonstrates the thermal behavior in a typical HPHT well.
Assessing the appropriate resources:
After the bottom hole working temperature is established, resources required to be selected for optimal performance. These
resources could be describe in four major categories: a) Products b) Equipment & tools 3) Logistics & d) Competent
manpower/expertise.
Products: Most of the commonly available products/additives for the cement do not have the upper temperature limits above
the working temperature in HPHT or Ultra HPHT environment. The cement and the products require to be designed and
manufactured for the HPHT operations and the upper limits of working should be high enough than the working temperature
so that these products can work with its full efficiency. From observation made during testing of cement and relevant fluid for
Ultra HPHT operations, found that the slurries become very thin at the prevailing bottom hole working temperature. At that
moment, the solids in the slurry start settling down and make the fluid unstable. Even the commonly available viscosifying
agents, those are added to stabilize the cement slurries, also suffers degradation/breakdown at these temperatures. To prevent
these phenomena, the following measures are required: a) use of HPHT slurry stabilizers, b) the solids to be used in the slurry
requires uniform particle sizes and optimum fineness so that the tendency of settling out from the slurry at the temperature
reduces to minimum possible, c) use of special additive, which will start hydrating and viscosifying the system at elevated
temperature so that it does not impact on the surface rheologies after being added and at the same time it will prevent settling
of the solid materials at elevated temperature. The main considerations, those are required to be taken into account,
enumerated below:
Cement: Since the cement at the subject temperature starts hardening very fast and difficult to retard[2], choice of cement is
very crucial at this stage. The cement for this application is required to be designed and manufactured for the HPHT
application, i.e., preferably be blended with borates before goes to the kiln. As a result, this cement will have inherent
properties for intensifying the retardation. If it contains fines along with course particles, the slurry generally becomes too
viscous at surface conditions after adding the stabilizers and at the same time the larger particles start settling down when it
reaches at the temperature. The particle size also required to be uniform so that it does not starts settling or viscosifying after a
slurry stabilizer is being added.
Fluid loss control additives: Most of the fluid loss control additives made of organic cellulose/poly
saccharides/ethylene/esters and start degrading/disintegrating over 300-350 ºF. The additives’ working limits should be above
the working temperature range and emphasise to have the upper limit well above the working temperature so that it can work
at its full capacity.
Bonding/gas control additives: This is another critical component of gas tight HPHT slurry. Micro or fumed silica is
generally being used to achieve the gas tight properties by blocking the interstitial pores of the cement matrix. Fumed or micro
silica has very large surface area compared to its weight. As study made by the author, preliminary findings indicate that these
materials show very high surface activities and start adsorbing the retarder over 350 ºF and make quite impossible to retard the
slurry at the ultra high temperature since the retarder being adsorbed on the surface of these micro particles. This area is still
under author’s research and may publish the definite findings as soon as the research comes to a conclusion. On the other
hand, newly developed bonding additives, those are derivatives of polyvinyl alcohol, shows expectable results and can sustain
its ability up to 450 ºF without jeopardise the retarder activities.
Stabilizers: As stated above, as the temperature increases, the cement slurry suffers thinning and when it attains the ultra high
temperature, looses almost all its viscosity and the solid particle start falling down. The stabilizers developed for ultra high
temperature found able to sustain its viscosity up to a certain limit and able to provide support to the solids in the slurry.
Weighing agents: Hematite is being used from the beginning to weigh up the cement density over 16.5 ppg. In case of HPHT
cement slurries, observations[2] reveals that slurries weighted using hematite suffers instability due to its particle size much
bigger than the cement. At the time the slurry reaches its bottom hole circulating temperature and becomes thin like water,
these hematite particles starts falling down. Since it is an abrasive material, manufacturing of fine hematite requires different
processes and makes it costly. On the other hand, manganese-di-oxide is readily available in finer particle sizes and suitable
for this application since it requires very little support to afloat in the slurry and requires less viscosifying agents/slurry
stabilizers for the purpose.
Retarders: These are the most vital additives for the HPHT cement system. Cement slurries require to be retarded to complete
the job keeping couple of hours of safety factor also. In general, the HT retarders are highly sensitive to the temperatures, also
to the quantity is being added in to the cement. Often it found that half a gallon of HT retarder could cause the pump time
increasing or decreasing drastically for a small plug job. Also 10 ºF increase or decrease of the working temperature cause the
pump time decrease or increase drastically [see Figure-2]. Organic based and synthetic based retarders are available these
days. The working temperatures limits of the synthetic based retarders are found much higher than the organic based. The
behavior of such an organic based retarder shown in the Figure-2. After achieving a certain concentration of the retarder, the
sensitivity to the temperature reduced appreciably. This can be achieve directly or by addition of a mild accelerator to push the
concentration to a point where the temperature sensitivity becomes minimum and this is necessary for the HPHT or ultra
HPHT operations to minimize the risks. These concentration ranges, where the sensitivity of the retarders is minimum, could
be termed as retarder buffer zone[2]. Around 400 ºF working temperature, necessity of a retarder intensifier becomes essential
mainly due to two reason: 1) most of the organic HT retarders ends up their working temperature limits at around 400 ºF and
required to push the limit by intensifying it, 2) Since the retarders are at its upper limits or close to it, might suffer deterioration
in the actual job in conjunction with the other chemicals presence in the fluids and required intensified.
4 SPE 116698

Even a HT retarder without intensifier may work in the lab over 400 ºF, the author feels that addition of the intensifier acts as
an insurance to the system at these temperatures as because if the retarder suffers degradation due to down hole actual
conditions, intensifiers found keep the retarders working.
Spacers: By definition, spacers are the fluid keep the cement and other well bore fluids separated so that the cement properties
does not deteriorates by coming in contact with the other incompatible well bore fluids. Another three important purpose of
these spacers are: 1) Displace the mud from the hole so the cement can be placed as pure as possible without having mud or
any other well bore fluids’ contamination, 2) Clean the pipes’ outer surfaces and formation faces from mud cake so the cement
can make bonds with the adjacent surfaces, and 3) Water wet the casing surfaces and formation faces, in case a non water
based mud is in use, so that the cement can make stronger bonds with the adjacent surfaces.
For the HPHT operations, spacer has another vital function that is to cool down the formation and prevent the cement from
thermal shock. When the fresh water based fluid reaches the open hole from the casing, specially the water based non-
weighted pre flush, it starts gaining heat very rapidly and as shown in the Figure-3, its temperature rises far beyond the
calculated bottom hole circulation temperature. If the amount of spacer is small, the cement at that time will be flowing just
other side of the pipe and will heat up prematurely and may reach the circulating temperature before it leaves the casing. This
rapid preheating of cement is called here thermal shock. This phenomenon may lead to early setting of cement. To avoid this
risk, enough amount of spacer requires to pump so that the temperature of the fresh fluids (i.e., pre flush and spacers) reduce to
an acceptable level before cement come in to contact thermally from the other sides of the pipe and minimise its pre heating.
Note: Details of the cement additives, pre flushes and spacers’ selection criteria are enumerated in an earlier paper[2] written by
the author. Here only the main features are emphasized.
Collecting samples for laboratory testing and designing:
Collection of cement, additives sample is a crucial task for HPHT application. General industry standard practices can be
followed [4]. For this HPHT application, additional step is validating the samples. The cement and additives may suffer
degradation due to transportation, storage conditions and handling process. It is recommended[4] to take composite samples for
each and every additive though they may be from the same batch. Before taking the samples, the required tentative quantities
to be isolated first and to be marked for the job and then carry out the sampling. After sampling, QA/QC tests require to be
carried out on each sample. Afterwards, requires performing a pilot test following a previously known fluid and validating that
each component is performing as per their full capabilities and not degraded anyway
Lab Testing and the Fluid Design:
It is now ready to start the final stage of design process. For HPHT application, all the testing procedures require re-evaluating
since still not enough and adequate testing procedures and apparatus are available for ultra HPHT testing. For general purpose
or even for HPHT application up to 350 ºF working temperature, API specifications and recommended procedures are the
standard followed by the industry. As observed by the author, the cement and the relevant fluids start behaving quite
differently than these are below the ultra HPHT conditions. For example, most of the polymer based additives starts
degrading/disintegrating over 350 ºF. If one of these is being used for fluid loss control, this fluid requires to be tested at
elevated temperature under motion. Till now, the best process author found to condition this cement slurry in the HPHT
consistometer under down hole conditions and then cool down below the boiling point and shift the cement from the
consistometer to the fluid loss test apparatus and heat up again to the test temperature. Figure-4 illustrated such conditioning.
But still it has limitation that the fluid suffered cooling in between. So the fluid loss obtained by this way still may not
represent the actual when it will reach the bottom hole. The effect of this heating cooling heating on the organic polymer based
constituents requires further study.
Since the HPHT cement slurry requires precise density to be attained and maintained before pumping down hole, batch mixers
are often used to prepare the cement slurry. To test the pump down time, this batch mixing needs to be simulated in the
machine. The general process adapted by the author till now to test the HPHT and ultra HPHT cement slurry is illustrated in
figure-5. Which is, first 30-60 minutes batch mixing at 110 ºF depending on the time requires to batch mix the desired volume,
then ramp it to the circulating temperature as per the calculated pump time to send the slurry at down hole hot spot [see Figure-
3] and then soak. The following tests are deemed necessary to design a HPHT cement system: 1) Rheology & gel strength at
surface and at down hole conditions, 2) Fluid loss of the cement, 3) Slurry stability by settling tests, 4) Thickening time (i.e.,
pump time) test by the above modified procedure 5) Compressive strength test for 120 hours and 6) gas flow test if the cement
is being designed for gas tight properties.
Each of the above tests has limitations considering the HPHT environment and these limitations are not the scope of this paper.
Further study is required and proper procedures need to be developed. Some of these are still under the study of the author.
Longevity of the cement sheath:
The cement placed as sheath or as plug in a well, requires its longevity to sustain the operations of the well for its entire period
of economic life. Preliminary study reveals that if the formation temperature goes over 350 ºF, the cement sheath is more
vulnerable to strength retrogression due to the chemistry of the cement. Also the additives, those are deemed necessary for the
HPHT environment, have impact on the final strength of the cement. Though it is established that 35% silica prevents strength
retrogression, may not be true for HPHT environment considering the presence of other ingredients to control the cement
properties. As illustrated in Figure-6, test done by the author, shows strength retrogression of cement having 40% silica in it.
Figure-7 demonstrates the control of the retrogression using 50% silica. These are not under the direct scope of this paper and
still under further study by the author and the conclusive findings will be published as the research finishes. Author’s earlier
paper[2] enumerated more details of these including the testing procedures.
SPE 116698 5

Comparing the properties of the slurry system with desired:

An HPHT application may require conforming specific properties such as specific fluid loss depending on the application,
pump time, low/high down hole rheologies, etc. For example, the cement may required to be gas tight. The cement slurry and
the relevant fluids, such as pre flush or spacer, etc., is required to achieve the desired properties before recommending for
execution. Sometimes it is quite difficult to achieve the desired properties, especially if it is for HPHT application, without the
appropriate product/materials. Author feels that for any HPHT, especially for ultra HPHT applications, proper fit for the
purpose material should be utilized considering the long-term economy of the well. In absence of the proper
cement/additives/material, to carry out HPHT cement jobs impose risks as experienced.
Cement Slurry On Job QC
After preparing the slurry in the batch mixer or the 1st bbl of slurry prepared on the ADC cement unit, the rheologies need to
be checked against the laboratory results. Any variation is required to be reported to the engineering department for
adjustment. After preparing the slurry on the batch mixer or on the ADC tub, only the paddles need to be rotating to avoid
excess sharing of cement and to reduce the mechanical energy being transmitted in to the cement as heat.
Density Measurement: It is extremely important to prepare the cement slurry at designed density to avoid undesired changes of
the properties, which might in turn impact the operations/drilling or the well adversely. Pressurized mud balance, the most
preferred field measurement device, could be available for measuring the slurry density.

B. Cement Placement Techniques

After finalizing the cement and relevant fluid designs, emphasis needs to be put on the placement techniques as fur as the
cement plug application is in concern. The two major process of placing the plugs are a) by balanced methods and b) by
utilizing equipment/tools.
Placing a cement plug in HPHT conditions are always challenging since these HPHT conditions prevails, in general, in deep &
long wells except in some instances where the HPHT environment encountered at much shallower depth in geothermal wells.
Difficulty is mainly because of the flow pattern of various fluids during placement. For example, if cement plugs are being
placed at 15,000 feet deep at 400 ºF, and if there is no physical barriers in between the fluids, during flow, one fluid will try to
channel thru the other fluid ahead due to its flow tip development. Figure-8 demonstrates the development of flow tips and
intrusion of a fluid in to the other fluid ahead in laminar flow conditions. In turbulent flow condition, these become severe
since mixing occurs at the fluid interfaces more violently and propagates simultaneously due to turbulence. As a result, the
cement gets either contaminated or diluted and looses its original properties. Observations shows that in deep HPHT
environment, achieving a balanced system is simply impossible by the conventional balance plug calculations/methods since
the ingoing fluid found more heavier than the outgoing fluid due to the temperature thinning effect. The challenges become
more acquit if the well is highly deviated/horizontal containing brine over temperature 400 ºF, where the cement just flattens
down after placement as described earlier and jeopardise the objectives. From the statistics, success ratios of balanced plugs in
these situations are not good. As the author experienced, utilization of specific techniques and tools in these environments
highly beneficent in terms of the overall well economics by having better success ratios. Brief case-by-case studies were
provided afterwards to enlighten such success. The well bore fluid could be water based or oil based mud, brines or multiple
fluids including the formation fluids. To describe the placement techniques, three scenarios for the HPHT application have
considered, 1) Vertical or slightly deviated deep wells requires small volume of cement plug, 2) In highly deviated or
horizontal wells and 3) In brine environment.
Use of equipment & tools to place cement plugs, requires pre plan and expertise. The equipment & tools also required to be
manufactured for that particular temperature where the cement plug is being placed. Four kinds of such equipment/tools
currently available, i) Plug Catcher ii) Sponge Wiper Balls iii) Para Bow Cementing Tool and iv) Cross Linked Gel. To get
familiar with, brief description of these equipment/tools are written below:
i) Plug Catcher is an equipment/tool placed on the work string at a depth where the cement top will be. It comprised of
a rubber wiper plug/dart and a receiver. The receiver run with the work string in such a position that after placement
of the cement, cement top will be just below the plug receiver. The Wiper Plug acts as a barrier and wipes the cement
from inside of the work string and followed by the displacement. As soon as the plug reaches the receiver, it seals the
port of the receiver and blocks the flow path. As a consequences, pressure rises, indicates that the displacement is
completed. Figure-9 is a sketch of such Plug Catchers’ operation.
ii) Sponge Wiper Balls are soft foam balls made of rubber available in different sizes. It provides physical barriers
between the fluids. Figure-11 shows such a ball of diameter 5” usable in 3-1/2” to 2-7/8” tubing/pipes.
iii) Para Bow Cementing Tool consists of an umbrella shaped membranes to separate the fluids below and above it in
the well. When a cement plug is being placed in a well at a place where much lighter fluid present beneath the
cement, this cement will try to fall through[3] (i.e., fluids starts swabbing) due to its heavier weight than the fluid
below. This Para Bow acts as a barrier to prevent swabbing of fluids[3] and keeps the cement plug in place.
iv) Cross Linked Gel is a crossed linked, highly viscosified gel, keeps the fluids separated from each other when it is
being placed in between. This gel is sensitive to temperature and becomes thinner and thinner as it experienced more
and more temperature. This is ideal for low to medium temperature applications and is not considered under this
papers’ scope.
1) Small cement plugs in vertical or slightly deviated deep wells:
For example, if it is required to place a 100 feet cement plug inside a 23.2ppf 5” liner at depth 19,000 feet, the cement volume
will be around 1.7 bbl and the displacement volumes will be around 386 bbl. After placement of this 1.7 bbl of cement by 386
6 SPE 116698

bbl of displacement by balanced plug method, could be observed that no cement is in place, indicates that it could have mixed
up with the fluid ahead and behind completely. Also only 0.44% error in the displacement will place this cement not at the
desired depth and as a result the cement could not be seen. In this case, if a Plug catcher is deployed, the cement will be
separated from the fluid behind by the wiper plug/dart and displacement could be made accurate as the wiper plug will sit on
the receiver. Such a case history described later in the paper.
2) In highly deviated or horizontal well:
In these wells, if the bottom, where the cement plug will be placed, is open (i.e., the bore continues further down and lighter
fluid is present in it), the cement placed as plug will flatten down due to gravity and the objectives will not be met. First thing
in these cases, a solid support base is required to hold the cement from spreading/falling down. Second, displacement volume
is required to be accurate otherwise the plug will not be properly placed and may results in upper side no cement. Even if the
displacement is accurate, the upper side of the cement will still be flattening down. Excess cement is required to pump to
compensate the flattening phenomenon. Also the pump times needed to be precise as such that as soon as the cement is being
pumped down, it should start gelling up quickly and set up. Thixotropic cement slurries are ideal for these cases. As the author
observed to achieve successful cement plugs in these cases, as a summary, place a Para Bow at the depth, run the Plug
Catcher, pump thixotropic cement slurry with sufficient excess and accurately displace using the wiper dart.
3) Placing cement plug in brine environment at ultra high temperature:
As enumerated earlier, it is very challenging to design cement slurries having the desired properties and it becomes more
severe when brines are encountered in the well at ultra high temperature. Specially, in the testing phases of a well and when
the lower zones is required to isolate to test the upper zones, often brines are encountered by the cement plugs. Depths of these
zones vary from 10,000 feet to 20,000 feet in the subject cases. And it is know that brines consisting of chlorides and bromides
accelerate the thickening time, the cement jobs face the risks of early setting. Large volumes of fresh water ahead of the
spacer, permitted by the bottom hole pore pressures, experienced success. Large volume of fresh water and spacer reduces the
chances of contamination of cement by the brines. In between the perforated intervals, distance remains quite short to place a
good amount of cement, exacerbates the challenges. As experienced, if good amount of cement, say over 10-15 bbl, is feasible
to pump, then sponge wiper balls could be a good option. Generally these plugs are being placed on solid base such as bridge
plug or test packer. Plug Catchers are also provides success in these cases.
Apart from the above-mentioned equipment & tools, all other industry standard good practices[3,4] to place a cement plug are
required to be followed. The end of the string always tries to lean on the bore wall due to inclination of the well and when
cement starts coming out of the string, slurry may not rise upward uniformly due to the eccentricity of the pipe in the hole and
results in contamination of cement. Centralizers are highly recommended to centralize the work string during cement
placement. It is worth mentioning that use of closed end perforated stinger provides better success[3] as seen by the industry.

C. Case Histories
Case Histories I: On the east coast of India on the Krishna Godavary basin, more than 14 HPHT cement plugs were placed by
balanced plug method. Temperatures were ranging from 282 ºF to 467 ºF at depths around 11,700 feet to 19,500 feet in brine
as well as in SOBM environment. Mud weights were in between 14.8 ppg to 16.9 ppg. Inclinations were ranging from 29-43
deg. Four of them were not able to achieve the objectives due to either contaminated/diluted by the adjacent fluids, or over
displaced or not found at all.
Case Histories II: Three jobs were executed following the subject cement design and using sponge wiper balls, found all
successful. Well depths varied from 15444 feet m to 17717m, temperatures were ranging from 356 to 467 ºF, inclinations were
between 29- 43 deg, mud/brine weights were ranging from 14.8 – 16.9 ppg.
Case Histories III: In a same well, two jobs were executed using the same ultra HPHT cement design process and using Plug
Catcher. Temperatures were ranging from 386 ºF to 374 ºF at depths around 16,500 feet in brine environment. Brine weight
was 15.2 ppg. Inclination was 31 deg. Both the jobs achieved the objectives.
Cement Quality Evaluation
The quality evaluation criteria for the cement plugs are quite different than the methods applied for the cement used for
conventional casing or liner job. In gas wells, the plugs require to isolate the zones and no gas should be passing thru the
cement. Generally, the quality of an abandonment plug is being tested by putting weight on it, drill through it and applying
pressure against it to see whether it can hold or not. If the drilling penetration rate thru the cement remains below 5 feet/hour,
could be considered good quality of plug. Penetration rate through the cement up to 10 feet/hour is also acceptable to many
drilling authorities. Obviously, these penetration rates depend on the drilling parameters and the types of BHA & bits are in
use. Hydraulic isolation is essential against any gas bearing formation, as remedial operations are more challenging and
expensive.
All the plug jobs, those utilized the equipment/tools as mentioned above, were tested and found met the objectives. The plugs,
those were placed using the conventional balanced plug method, lags complete success. On the contrary, the plugs, those were
placed in ultra HPHT environment using the equipment/tools mentioned in section B, found completely successful till now.

Conclusions
9 The HPHT cement system designs were successful for all the plugs since these showed liquid nature during the pump
time period and became hard after waiting for pre-determined hours, confirmed by cement cuttings return.
9 Though the conventional balance plug methods have good success rates in the area of low-medium temperature and at
shallow depths, does not have good success rates in the HPHT environment in deep long highly deviated wells.
SPE 116698 7

9 In deep & long and highly deviated or in horizontal HPHT wells, the plugs placed using the equipment/tools
mentioned in section B, have complete successes.
9 The pressure integrities of these plugs were also achieved.
9 Hydraulic isolations between the gas sands were also achieved.
9 The cement plug programs for the subject HPHT environment were able to execute successfully.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Gujarat State Petroleum Company and to BJ Services for the permission to publish this paper. The views and
opinions expressed are solely by the author and do not necessarily reflect those of any of the companies involved.
Nomenclature
API > American Petroleum Institute
Bbl > barrel
ppg > pound mass per gallon
BHT > bottom hole temperature
BHST > bottom hole static temperature
BHCT > bottom hole circulating temperature
HPHT > high pressure high temperature
HT > high temperature
ADC > Automatic Density Control
TOC > top of cement
TD > target depth
SOBM > synthetic oil based mud
QA/QC > quality assurance/quality control
BHA> bottom hole assemblies
OD > outside diameter

References:
1) SPE/IADC-105437, Mathematical Temperature Simulators for Drilling Deepwater HTHP Wells, by David Stiles & Mark Trigg
2) SPE-104048, HPHT Cement System Design - East Coast Case History, by Syed Haidher, Samir Kale, Sami Affes, Suresh Kumar
3) Improved Method of Setting Successful Cement Plugs, by R.C. Smith, R.M. Beinus & Holman, G.B. SPE.
4) Cementing Engineering Support Manual – BJ Services (HPHT Cementing Practices)

Figure-1: Typical Well Schematic Figure-2: Behavior of HT Retarder

8 SPE 116698

Figure-03: Temperature profile along the well

bore

Figure-05: HPHT Thickening Time Test

Figure-04: HPHT Slurry Conditioning

Figure-06: Compressive Strength Chart – 40% Silica Figure-07: Compressive Strengths Plot – 50% & 70%Silica

Com pressive Strength vs Tim e 50% Silica

70% Silica
3500
Compressive Stength

3000
2500
(psi)

2000
1500
1000
0 5 10 15 20
Days Cured
SPE 116698 9

Figure-08: Flow Tip Development

Figure-09: Plug Catcher Operations

10 SPE 116698

Figure-10: Para Bow Cementing Tool Figure-11: Sponge Wiper Ball