Well Abandonment

Bernhart Markus
Bachelor Thesis
Well Abandonment Strategies
Supervised by:
Approval date:
Date: 3/21/2014
Prof. Dr.mont. Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Hofsttter

(to be defined)
Table of Contents
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
General Purpose ........................................................................................................................................ 6
History and Regulations ............................................................................................................................. 6
Abandonment Types ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Permanent Abandonment (PA) .................................................................................................................. 8
Temporary Abandonment (TA)................................................................................................................... 8
Shut-In Wells (SI)........................................................................................................................................ 9
Economics & When to execute abandonment ............................................................................................11
Basic Economic Thoughts ........................................................................................................................11
Operating Expenses (OPEX)....................................................................................................................11
The Oil Price and its Influence ................................................................................................................. 12
Future Production Evaluation................................................................................................................... 15
Production Decline Curves .................................................................................................................. 16
Yearly Production Calculations ............................................................................................................ 17
Changes of Economic Reserves and Required Production Time ..................................................... 18
Present Value Calculations .................................................................................................................. 19
Production Rate Restrictions ............................................................................................................... 19
Economic Analysis of Operations ............................................................................................................ 20
Well Considerations...................................................................................................................................... 23
Well Completion Types............................................................................................................................. 23
Environmental Issues ............................................................................................................................... 23
Depth/Configuration Data/Temperature .............................................................................................. 23
Offshore/Location ................................................................................................................................. 24
Fluid Severity (sour/non-sour).............................................................................................................. 24
Plugs ............................................................................................................................................................. 25
Preparation ............................................................................................................................................... 25
Data collection ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Removal works ..................................................................................................................................... 25
Well Inspection...................................................................................................................................... 25
Cleanout, Removal and Repair ........................................................................................................... 26
Selection and Establishment of Plugging Fluid................................................................................... 27
Establishment of cement slurry composition....................................................................................... 28
Plug Placement Methods ......................................................................................................................... 28
Balanced Method.................................................................................................................................. 28
Existing Casing Plugging Method. ....................................................................................................... 29
Cement Retainer Method ..................................................................................................................... 29
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Two Plug Method .................................................................................................................................. 31

Dump Bailer Method............................................................................................................................. 32
Multiple Plugs........................................................................................................................................ 32
Cement.......................................................................................................................................................... 34
Additives.................................................................................................................................................... 35
Special Cases for Cementing .................................................................................................................. 40
Tools used for Abandonment Operations .................................................................................................... 41
Casing Cutter and Alternatives ................................................................................................................ 41
Cement Service Equipment ..................................................................................................................... 41
Pumps ................................................................................................................................................... 42
Cementing Units ................................................................................................................................... 42
Cement Job Evaluation ................................................................................................................................ 44
Hydraulic Testing ...................................................................................................................................... 44
Acoustic Logging Measurements ............................................................................................................ 44
Temperature and Noise Logging Measurements ................................................................................... 46
Summary....................................................................................................................................................... 47
Conclusion/Outlook ...................................................................................................................................... 48
References.................................................................................................................................................... 49
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Permanent Abandonment Well Schematic2 ................................................................................. 8
Figure 2: Temporary Abandonment Well Schematic2 .................................................................................. 9
Figure 3: Shut-In Well Schematic2 .............................................................................................................. 10
Figure 4: Brent barrel petroleum spot prices, May 1987 Oct. 2009.14 .................................................. 12
Figure 5: Forms of Production Curves E3................................................................................................... 15
Figure 6: Hyperbolic Decline Curves6......................................................................................................... 16
Figure 7: Exponential Production History, Arithmetic Plot and Workover6................................................ 17
Figure 8: Price per Time Unit6 ..................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 9: Restricted Production6 ................................................................................................................. 20
Figure 10: Principles of the Cement Retainer Method11 ........................................................................... 30
Figure 11: Principles of the Two Plug Method11......................................................................................... 31
Figure 12: Principles of the Dump Bailor Method11 ................................................................................... 32
Figure 13: Truck mounted cementing unit16 .............................................................................................. 43
Markus Bernhart
Abstract
All oil and gas wells can someday no longer be run economically, so they will have to be plugged
and abandoned. This plugging and abandoning process results in the installation of several plugs
to prevent any flow between hydrocarbon bearing formations and others as those containing
fresh water or non-productive ones. Upwards migration of gas to surface locations must be
inhibited for reasons of safety. The crucial point is to find the right materials for a given subsurface
situation, to install a solid seal of very long endurance and to perform the abandonment process
properly at the first time to save the money a remedial cementing operation would cost. And there
is to say that remedial works take commonly more time and lead therefore to a drastic increase
of costs.
For this selection, information on common cements, as well as to available additives to adjust
cement properties to various circumstances in the wellbore is provided in this paper. Another
crucial point is to fill up all the space, where the plug is to be installed, with cement. That means
all the fluid and other material in place, before the plugging operation starts, has to be removed.
For this displacement, plugging fluids are used, which are discussed prior to methods to use for
the placement of the cement slurry. A very important aspect in cementing operations is time,
because of the hardening behaviour of a cement. To make sure, the slurry hardens at the proper
point in time, and for adjusting other properties of the cement, numerous additives are used.
Which additives there are, what properties each one influences and how they generally function,
is discussed in a separate chapter of this thesis.
Typically used devices for setting plugs and equipment for cement blending and pressure
pumping are described at a later point in this paper, followed by testing methods that show, if a
plug provides adequate sealing and isolation of formation fluids.
The goal of this thesis is to define the most important points in the planning process of an
abandonment operation and to describe them a little more detailed.
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Introduction
General Purpose
The general thought of abandoning a well is to prevent fluid movement from one formation to any
other, especially migration of hydrocarbons to formations of fresh water. So the primary need is
safety. Gas must be prevented to move upward to the surface, where it might be ignited or just
be a health hazards by inhalation. The potential danger of an abandoned well depends mainly
on its previous usage. Therefore an oil well that was producing over a long period of time is likely
not to have a lot of energy left in it, while a gas well might still have high energy accommodated
even after many years of production.1
The abandonment process, including decommissioning facilities, is just one stage in the life of a
well, but one that is not enjoyed to face, because its costs will not be refunded. Companies are
always trying to find cost-effective ways for decommissioning. So it is necessary to start thinking
about the abandonment process very early in a wells life. They dont accomplish anything by
using cheap methods for abandonment because they still keep liable in the future, even if the
well will be owned by someone else. If any hydrocarbon leakages occur in later times, and the
way the well was sealed was not meeting the regulations, the company will be held responsible.1
So it is recommended to have abandonment issues in mind, as early as a well is completed.
Packers may be positioned where there will be no need to withdraw or destroy them in order to
be able to meet abandoning regulations. Also it is easier to do casing cementing jobs in special
regions of the well in an effective way, than to do it up at later times, when extra tools might be
necessary which will lead to further costs or risks.1
Another point that should be considered is, what the well could be used for in later years and how
these considerations are integrated in the abandonment strategy. The most obvious point would
be to restart production due to oil or gas price changes, which allow cost effective production
again, or to run the well as an input well for maintaining formation pressure. Also to use the well
for geothermal purpose could be considered?1
History and Regulations

In the early days of drilling for oil and gas there were no regulations regarding abandonment of a
well at the end of its life at all. So the typical solution at the end of the economic life of a well was,
to abandon the well by leaving gaping holes in the ground behind. In these times it was used to
not even have records about location and construction of the wells.1
Many years later regulations to describe how wells should be plugged were formulated. At these
early days of such regulations their purpose was to protect the hydrocarbons in the formations
from flooding by fresh water and not to protect the environment. The adverse influence of
improperly abandoned wells in safety and environmental matters were not thought of then. So
thousands of wells were not plugged at all or with very little effort, by throwing all kind of available
stuff, like wood, brush or rocks into it and using smallest amounts of cement because the
standards were formulated very vaguely then.1
With numbers of abandonments increasing due to drastically raised numbers of drilled wells,
states became aware of a necessity to create some standards for abandoning. These standards
progressed similarly in different regions, by including, first regulations on how to prevent the loss
of oil or gas to other strata, and later, what has to be done to protect the fresh water. Still the
environment was not considered important enough to get its place in the regulations. With
advancing standards, cement became more and more important and the required material to
seal off formations of hydrocarbons and water from each other and the top of the wellbore. Also
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the intervals to be sealed and the number and length of cement plugs were regulated and the
materials allowed between these cement plugs were defined.1
In the 1970s the regulations for abandoning oil and gas wells changed significantly due to the
increased environmental awareness. Especially the protection of fresh water zones grew on
importance.1
So, actual regulations contain information on materials permitted to place in the wellbore. These
are non-porous substances as cement, drilling mud, gels and mechanical plugs. Cement is the
most important one, because of its impermeability and it is therefore used to provide the desired
seals, both, of formations and to the surface. Mechanical plug are almost a perfect barrier, but for
their sensitivity to corrosion they might not provide a seal for a period as long as necessary and
will therefore have to be supported by cement.1
Still the specific details on the prescribed plugging structure is country-dependent. If we just have
a look at US-states, it is noticeable that regulations are all but homogenous. For water or
hydrocarbon bearing formations it is standard to plug either above the said strata, below, above
and below, or there are no specified regulations at all. And most countries demand surface plugs
and in addition specify its properties, whereas, as strange as it might seem, in some countries
there is no need to set a surface plug at all.1
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Abandonment Types
Permanent Abandonment (PA)
If it becomes assure, a wellbore is no longer used, it will be permanently abandoned. Therefore
all former production horizons have to be plugged, going along with national standards. Another
plug must be set below surface. Additionally the casing must be cut below the ground level. For
offshore wells the procedure is the same and it is not necessary that a platform stays in place
above.2
Figure 1: Permanent Abandonment Well Schematic2
Temporary Abandonment (TA)

Wells are temporarily abandoned when there is a certain probability of reactivation, due to
economic developments. The difference between temporary and permanent abandonment of a
well in a technical view is, that for temporary abandonment the casing is not cut, but there will be
a corrosion cap made of cement, protecting the casings at surface. The plugs at formation
intervals are still to be done. In case of re-entering a wellbore the cement plugs and possible
additional mechanical plugs are milled or drilled through.2
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Figure 2: Temporary Abandonment Well Schematic2
Shut-In Wells (SI)

A shut-in well completion looks technically the same as that of a flowing well. All devices, like
subsurface safety valve, Christmas tree, master valves and wing valves are in place, but all of
them in closed condition. Plugs, whether cemented or mechanically installed, will not be found in
shut-in wells. When wells are shut in, this can be done to see how the pressure in the well
develops by time. This condition of abandonment is of the shortest time expected.2
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Figure 3: Shut-In Well Schematic2
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Economics & When to execute abandonment

Basically, when producing oil and/or gas, we do always have to know whether it can be done
economically or not. That means there is always a need to think about the future. Knowledge
about the exact time you better have a well abandoned or at least shut in, rather than to do
further production, is of great importance.
Therefore, to find out about the exact time, when production becomes uneconomical, we
need to have a closer look at this topic.15
To find out about the right timing for abandoning a well, costs in respect to time are of
importance. Before discussing the decision making itself, we have to be aware what the
causes for costs are and how future incomes are achieved.
Income means, revenues you can achieve by maintaining production. So, knowledge about
future production rates is needed, that means, a production forecast profile has to be
assumed, to get information about the amount and time of produced goods, as well as the
actual and presumed oil and gas price.
Still further production does also lead to further costs, due to well treatment necessary for
trouble-free production and corresponding to production itself. So we will even have to
decide what has to be done for maintenance and how regularly. 15
Now, after becoming aware of, what we must focus on, a way to compare costs and income
must be found, or lets say, be decided for. Therefore to make this comparison, we pick out
the method of net present value because it implies the time factor, which is very important in
the oil industry due to the fact, assets will be run over decades. 15
Basic Economic Thoughts

Every companys main demand is to save its continuance and to be more or less successful.
But this is not enough, all of those that work professionally, are going to achieve even better
results year after year.
Therefore especially large companies, and there is to say, a lions share of those in the
Petroleum Industry do belong to the large ones, employ a number of clever people, whose
job it is, to make good decisions, which subsequently should lead to a steady increase in
performance. 15
So it is important to know about the factors that influence the profit a company makes and
hence are the basis for such management decisions.
But the management will desire knowledge of future behaviour of those influences, like
production rates, costs and the oil price, not to only react on backwards based numbers,
because this would end up in planning in a way of reaction.
Production facilities, no matter how well their performance is, will someday no more be run
in an economic way and therefore be abandoned. So it is crucial to find out about the right
timing of stopping production. 15
After production is stopped there still exists the possibility to use the well in different way. As
an injection well, it could help to keep the productivity of the field at a satisfying level, whereas
if it is decided to encircle the wellbore from petroleum production, it can still be used for
geothermal purpose. To determine if the well is suitable for one of these applications,
extensive considerations, which exceed the scope of this thesis, are to be undertaken. 15
Operating Expenses (OPEX)

First it is necessary to know which operations generate OPEX and are therefore the basis
for evaluating the economic limit. 15
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In petroleum economics, like in every other business, there are two major cost factors, direct
operating expenses, which are directly related to production and indirect operating
expenses, which are still needed for running production, but not in such a direct way.E1
For the purpose of deciding for proper point in time to stop production we have to distinguish
between cost factors of those two types and concentrate on OPEX which can be directly
related to an asset and to the barrels produced.
What we can say about OPEX is that they are associated with physical work at the well, or
emanate from operations, especially and exclusively performed for one well, also including
maintenance work. 15
There are various bases for accountancy, like monthly expense per-barrel or per-well, can
be used and will support someone developing forecasts. Difficulties arise when items for
individual well repair or production stimulation treatments are focused. They occur regularly
but not frequently. So they lead to big variations in yearly costs. Due to the fact that someone
does not exactly know in which year such treatment will be necessary, an average value, of,
lets say once every five years, can be used.
In earlier days of a well costs are estimated on basis of historical recordings of nearby similar
operations, further on, costs are frequently developed on basis of per-daily-bbl. or per-well,
maybe every month.3, 15
Indirect operating expenses on the other hand are needed for running a company as well,
but cannot be directly linked to an asset or to the production rate. So there are different
methods to allocate such expenses, the specific method someone wants to use is arbitrary.
After deciding for one, its rules must be kept to maintain uniformity. An example for such a
method is charging a percentage on top of certain direct costs. This will work in many cases,
but there will still be situations, when more accurate procedures for accountancy will be
desired, like at the end of life of a well or if a new drilling program is started. 15
The Oil Price and its Influence

For the fact that this topic is such an extensive one, this paper includes only the most
important factors influencing the oil price, but does not go too much into detail. An example
for the development of the oil price, in this case for Brent, is shown in figure 4.3, 15
Figure 4: Brent barrel petroleum spot prices, May 1987 Oct. 2009.14
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The oil price on international market is usually quoted in U.S. dollars per API barrels at 60F.
An API barrel is 42 U.S. gallons.
Of course the oil price is discussed a lot in any social stratum, because it regards almost
everyone. The oil price depends on several factors, which are worldwide reserves, supply,
which depends on total stockpiles in storage facilities, demand, which in turn shows
elasticity due to price and earnings, speculation and others more. We have to be aware
that the oil price is also connected to the grade of the good. Names corresponding to the
grades and their source area are for example Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and
Dubai/Oman.
Here we will discuss the consequences the oil price has for the producers. For them it does
not only have immediate impact on economics, due to the fact, revenues are calculated by
multiplying amounts of sold product and selling price, but a higher oil price does also allow
the use of more expensive production procedures or to run riskier projects. So enhanced
oil recovery will permit higher volumes of ultimate recovery and as a consequence higher
revenues again.3, 15
In order of their influence on the oil price, the five factors affecting it are:3
Market (supply/demand)
Quality (refining cost and yield
Location (transportation)
Reliability (production rates)
Availability (reserves)
The oil price is always depending on the first three items, the fourth and fifth item do not have
constant importance, but change from time to time.3, 15
Seasonal changes and in recent days even worries caused by pirates operating in the
Middle-East can affect the oil price.5, 15
Another aspect of increasing importance over the last years is factors of the financial market,
like speculation, hedging, or exchange rates. Because the oil price is the main factor
influencing the profitability of an asset, we will now have a closer look at the more important
factors determining it. 15
Supply/Demand includes products produced from crude oil as well, not only crude oil itself.
An old saying in the oilfield is that crude oil in the field tanks is like a fat steer on the range
it needs to be taken somewhere and made into something useful.4, 15
The oil business is complex and one of the largest in the world, including crude buying,
selling and transportation. If we only think about the distribution of demand and supply. Many
regions with very different density of population all around the world, showing different
interest for oil products, and important production locations located far away, make it complex
and time consuming to manage coordination of logistics.
The more important thing of supply/demand in this papers point of view however, is, how
supply, price and demand influence each other. Low prices will increase demand because
people will more likely use oil for heating and not think about oil consumption as much as
when prices for oil products are high. In the long run, this behaviour might lead to situations,
it's getting hard for sellers to supply all needs. So prices will increase again. On the contrary,
high prices will end up in decreasing demand, for people will try to save energy or to even
substitute oil by other sources of energy. This shows that price and volumes influence each
other in a cyclic pattern.
Another thing is that a higher oil price allows companies to increase exploration and, as a
consequence, supply. But then this can end up in supply exceeding demand, followed by a
decrease in oil price again.
What must be mentioned according to the discussed possibility of consumers to influence
the oil price is, that crude oil has to be treated like any other commodity. This is the fact since
the 1980s. Before, crude was seen as a unique product with its price to be controlled,
perhaps politically. This theory changed with the oil price shock in 1986.
An important factor in price building is timing of supply, this stands for adapting time of crude
arrival to changing prices. For example, an oil tanker will take longer to reach its destination,
if prices are expected to rise. It's a common matter that the owner of the goods transported
by ship changes several times during the time of transport.3, 15
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Though one may think all crude oils are more or less alike, refining engineers tell us different.
In real we will not find two crude oils that are physically identical. Differences can be observed
in properties like Stock Tank Liquid Density indicated in API gravity, Gas-Oil Ratio, and
Reservoir Volume Factor, for variations in mixture of natural hydrocarbons.
All these characteristics determine the quality and therefore the price of the good. Even if we
compare some types of crude and observe only small differences in price, we have to think
of the very large volumes to be traded and for this reason, every little change of value is
important. The main thing, influencing an oils price are products obtained after refining and
how cost effective the refining process is. 15
To categorize crude oils we use the API gravity, which gives us an approximation for amount
of straight run gasoline to be expected and the weight percent of sulphur, which is a problem
in respect to corrosion and responsible for fetor of products. Lighter crude oils with according
higher API gravity tend to have a higher gasoline portion, while lower API gravity corresponds
to higher proportions of diesel. Following, higher API gravity and sulphur content both lead
to decreasing prices. 15
Salt water content does also have a bad impact on crude price. In international trade this is
usually expressed in pounds of salt per barrel crude oil. There are still other chemical
properties of a crude that have impact on its worth.
After basic characteristics of a crude are determined, a sample will be examined in laboratory
tests to find out about the approximate fractions that will be obtained in the refinery process.
With these information the price for the analysed crude is found. We can say the price of oil
is determined by setting a top price and deducting corresponding gravity, sulphur, salt water
and other adjustments. Then economic evaluations can be done.3, 15
Due to the fact, crude oil production and consumption are usually located somewhere
different, transportation is another aspect influencing the oil price. Crude oil is moved to
refineries either by ships, pipelines, train, or truck. The decision which one to choose
depends on the volumes of crude oil, the geographical situation and sometimes the physical
properties of the fluid. The volumes, as one can imagine, has significant influence on
transport costs. If production rates are large enough to use overland pipelines, these are the
cheapest possible means of transport, compared on costs per barrel, although the
installation of a pipeline goes along with tremendous costs.3, 15
Before deciding for a pipeline, the extremely high investment and political effort, necessary
for having them run, must be considered. First it is hard work to get green light for building
the pipeline through land owned by numerous people or institutions, second the owner of a
pipeline will need to get along with states, otherwise it is possible, transportation is stopped
due to political problems. It is of absolute importance that once installed pipelines are run
constantly on high flow rates, else the throughput costs would increase and economics
would look worse.6, 15
Transportation over sea will be solved by the use of oil tankers. In this case economies of
scale are very important, because the ships compliment will be pretty much the same for a
medium sized and a huge tanker. Another point, arguing for large ships, is that investment
does not vary directly with size. Therefore costs per barrel will decrease with the size of the
vessel. There are limitations to the size though, due to depth of seawater ports and
passages. Tankers of overwhelming size might have to take much longer routes or commit
their charge to smaller ships, both associated to additional time consumption and higher
costs. An advantage of sea way transport is the flexibility in time, discussed previously. 15
Reliability and availability are discussed in the upcoming sections of this paper.
Including all these factors, the oil price is difficult, but absolutely essential to predict.
Forecasts over the whole life of a production asset or oil field are necessary for evaluation of
its profitability.
There are many analysts in the oil business that do such price predictions. Companies are
aware of this, but do in most cases have their own economists to do calculations as well.
The data obtained is then used to evaluate projects to be started or already run. It is important
to recalculate every now and then with new oil price prognoses available, to be sure actual
production is still cost effective. 15
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Another point of view on the topic of economic production is the break-even crude oil price,
which represents the minimum oil price necessary, an asset still works cost effective. So the
other way around, if costs can be held below the corresponding sales price, a project is
viable.
When having information on costs and the oil price, to be able to perform future economic
evaluations we now need knowledge of future production rates to calculate the income. 15
Future Production Evaluation

It is of great importance to have information on future production rates to be able to make
predictions about the value a well/reservoir still has to a company.
Therefore someone has to know about the actual and future oil price on the market, which
depends on both economic and political influences. As easy it is to get information about the
actual price, as hard it can be to predict the future one. The best instance for making
forecasts is a stable worldwide market. In fact we will not be able to exactly know what the
future price will be, so it is to be estimated with best effort.6, 15
In fact, the market is not likely to be stable, but many factors affect the oil price. The oil price
on the other hand impacts the reserves, because the higher the revenues of sold products
are, the longer, producing may be cost effective, and more expensive procedures of
enhanced oil recovery can be applied. Thus, due to such additional efforts, the residual oil,
which means that part of the liquid
hydrocarbons that stay in the
reservoir and are not produced, is
minimized.6, 15
In the early life of a field, estimates of
future production are mostly based on
similar reservoirs with comparable
rock and fluid properties. It is a good
chance to have a look at reservoirs in
the same area. Later, especially when
wells have been drilled, principles of
reservoir engineering can be applied.
When production has begun,
additional data concerning reservoir
performance is available and
estimates can be made for reservoir
performance under different possible
producing conditions. At some time,
when producing patterns show, final
evaluations can be done.6, 15
The goal of these economical
calculations is to obtain the present
value of a property and furthermore
the economic limit. Therefore it is
necessary to know about the ultimate
recovery, which is estimated in the
early lifetimes of a field. In later stages
of a field, when ultimate recovery can
be calculated, production curves are
used for describing future production
behaviour. There are different types of
such production decline curves as we
can see in Figure 5. They can either
show production rate versus time,
cumulative production versus time,
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Figure 5: Forms of Production Curves E3

Page 15 of 49
production rate versus cumulative production or curves focussing on special relations like
reservoir pressure.6, 15
Production Decline Curves

After production patterns have established general estimations are made for both the
ultimate recovery and production life of a property. The production rate is, in case of
unrestricted production, the most convenient way to do such predictions. It is generally the
case that the production rate decreases with time and cumulative production. This drop of
production rate can be understood by imagining a reservoir that is partly produced and as a
consequence loses some of the energy that forces the oil to flow into the well. To describe
future behaviour of a well by extrapolating a trend, we have to assume that parameters that
showed in the past, are valid the same way in the future. So we also have to believe in equal
production conditions for past, present and upcoming times.6, 15
The main point in this paper is to find out about the time when production rates become so
small, corresponding net revenues will no longer exceed operating expenses, because the
end of life of a well has commonly economic reasons. What we are interested in the lifetime
of a well is, the remaining producible hydrocarbons in the reservoir and how much time is
still necessary to produce them. This can be obtained by fitting equations to a known
production history or by finding a graphical solution, which works about the same way as the
mathematical solution. This means, by fitting a curve to past, measured production rates at
chosen time intervals, and expanding the curve until an interception with the economic limit
line is found.6, 15
Such extrapolation trend lines for production rates, we develop to predict decline curves, are
mostly hyperbolic ones as shown in figure 6. These can result to show in exponential,
general hyperbolic, or harmonic shape, which only depends on the variable b in the following
equation:
q = q0 (1 + b t / a) ^ (-1 / b)
For b = 0 we have an exponential decline, 0 < b < 1 indicates general hyperbolic decline and
b = 1 stands for harmonic decline. Exponential decline is also called constant percent
decline.3, 6, 15
We now heard about two ways to get information out of production decline data. First by
using mathematical methods, and second by applying a graphical solution. These two can
be combined in any way someone prefers to achieve new knowledge about ultimate
recovery and production life time of
a well/field. We can calculate both,
solve both problems graphically or
combine both procedures, by
calculating one of the wanted
results and finding the second one
in a graphical way.6
Usually information are plotted in
diagrams, to picture a situation and
make it easier to understand.
Displaying available data in
diagrams
has
two
main
advantages. First, it is possible to
find out the value of b, which
represents the characteristics of
past production. When generating
such a plot, it is done several times
on different papers with different
Figure 6: Hyperbolic Decline Curves6
scales and in some case the curve
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Figure 7: Exponential Production History, Arithmetic Plot and Workover6
becomes a straight line with a slope depending on b. For general hyperbolic and harmonic
behaviour, it will be necessary to shift the line to the right or to the left, to find the right position,
where the function becomes a straight line.
In case, rate versus cumulative results in a straight line on arithmetic graph paper, we
recognize an exponential decline with corresponding b = 0, where the function happens to
be a straight line on semi-log paper, with cumulative plotted on arithmetic and rate plotted on
log scale, we know the decline is harmonic with b = 1, and if both rate and cumulative have
to be scaled logarithmically, it will be general hyperbolic decline.
Additionally someone is able to see when time comes and production is not economic any
more. In detail this is the case, as soon as the production rate line intersects the line
representing the economic limit. Another thing we can find out, is the cumulative production
at the time, when we better stop producing. Therefore, at any time during lifetime of a well,
we can calculate the reserves still to be produced, by simply subtracting the produced
amounts from the ultimate recovery. The second advantage is, that interruptions in
production history can be seen in rate versus time graphs.6, 15
A problem corresponding to this is, that due to such an interruption, and keeping with the
same coordinates, the positive point of having a straight line for decline, will no longer show.
Interruptions can happen due to mechanical or other failure, maintenance work on well or
surface equipment, changes in production because of different producing conditions, and
others more. As a way out of this problem we can use rate versus cumulative curves. Then,
interruptions will have no effect on coordinates of the plot, because time is no aspect in such
diagrams. Another positive aspect will show, when workovers are to be evaluated. After
plotting known data we will extrapolate trend lines before an interruption and afterwards too.
Subsequently it is easy to recognize the consequence of an interruption as we can see in
figure 7.1, 6, 15
Yearly Production Calculations

Now, as we know about production decline curves and how to describe them, we will discuss,
how to proceed with these data and how to use them in economic calculations. What we
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Figure 8: Price per Time Unit6
have to be aware of and what is clearly displayed in figure 8 is that the production rate
changes between beginning and end of a period. Otherwise we wouldnt call the function
production decline curve. Only if time periods we work with, to create production figures, are
relatively short, lets say up to one month, it can be okay to take the instantaneous rates and
neglect the inaccuracies. The positive point here is, that data from the beginning of a period
might already be known and therefore be true but not an estimation. In standard yearly
production figures, someone has to take average production and execute calculations with
these data, which is to represent the average production of a time interval.3, 6, 15
To get the data for average production rates, we first take measured production data at
different times and create the function for production rate versus time. Subsequently
cumulative production for a period is calculated by integrating the rate over time, then the
result is divided by the period of observed time.6, 15
A different way for finding a representative value for production is, to take the arithmetic
average of the rates of beginning of the period and end of the period.6, 15
In these two ways we can handle annual, semi-annual, quarterly and monthly production
data, for shorter term data we can stay with instantaneous data sets, because the errors will
be negligible.6, 15
Changes of Economic Reserves and Required Production

Time
We already discussed the different shapes of decline curves, which are the basis for
estimating reserves. What else can be read from figure 4, is, that there is no change of
cumulative production, due to a workover, when ending production at the technical limit and
when using the same means of production techniques. This is indicated by the intersection
of functions, at production rate going to zero, for cases before workover and afterwards. But
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we can also see the difference it makes in case of abandoning production at a certain
economic limit, when production after workover, which in this case represents an acid wash,
ends up in a higher cumulative production. 15
After ultimate recovery is known and adequate plots of production are made, the next thing
we want to have some answers to, is the time required to produce the reserves, until the
economical limit is reached. Accuracy of the results do strongly depend on whether there are
unforeseen interruptions during production or not.
There are different formulas for time calculation. The choice of the appropriate one depends
on the value of b, and so on the type of production decline.
For applying a graphical solution, we again have to fit scaling to get a straight line for past
data and extrapolate it until it intersects the line of the economic limit.
Following, the calculation of the time, needed to get there, is performed.6, 15
Present Value Calculations

From data obtained of decline curve analysis and with knowledge of the oil price and
associated predictions, we can calculate net incomes for actual and forthcoming periods, by
simply multiplying production of a period by the expected oil price. We will have information
on expanses as well. But we also heard that there is a need to discount future cash-flows.
The most common approach is to use a spreadsheet application like Excel. With such a
computer based programme we can easily sum up incomes and expanses for every period.
Then the discounting is performed with the following equation:7, 15
PVi =CFi x (1/(1+i))^ni
When PV is the present value, CF is a value of cash flow, all corresponding to period of index
i and i is the discount factor in percent. Still we have to put attention to the n, which is
calculated with:
n = (period of index i) (time corresponding to PV)
But we have to be aware of the formula for PV being a standard economics formula. We
already heard that petroleum industry works a little different and does not use start of period
discounting but mid period discounting. Therefore the equation has to be changed slightly
to:
PVi =CFi x (1/(1+i))^( ni - 0,5)
Now we subtract half a period from the original difference in time. The only thing left to do, to
get the net present value NPV, is to add up all present values. This NPV is likely to be used
to compare different projects, someone has to choose between.6, 15
Production Rate Restrictions

It is most often the case that facilities do not produce at their capacities, which would be the
maximum possible production rate, but at a certain limitation. Such restrictions may exist due
to physical reasons like transport capacities, dimension of devices or on the other hand
because of orders of regulatory bodies or governments.
If we have to limit production rates, we still assume the ultimate recovery to be the same.
Differences in production do only show, as long as the unrestricted production rate would
exceeds our capacities and there is a need to apply a limitation. Afterwards both production
curves will show the same decline behaviour. For periods of restricted production we may
still assume equal values of cumulative production. This is illustrated by areas A in figure 9
which are the same size. Areas B look exactly the same. This is also an assumption,
because in real life there will be some difference, caused by the time the aquifer has, to take
effect on the reservoir and its characteristics and following production will change slightly.
Also the wellbore itself can be affected if more time elapses, so conditions can change and
as a consequence, production rates decrease slightly. But this effect can be neglected due
to the reason we do economic calculations on actual values of money and therefore these
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Figure 9: Restricted Production6
numbers in later life of the well will be heavily discounted and differences decrease to
unimportance. 15
Economic Analysis of Operations

For having a chance to make good management decisions, we have to know if operations
are performed in line with planning or not. Therefore adequate and timely reporting systems
are required, especially for ongoing operations, which are those, repetitive in nature.3
Not only a company that produces oil and gas, but every other company too, needs four
business elements to work efficiently, a predetermined plan, a proper reporting system,
comparison of actual performance and goals, and a number of ways to react, if differences
between plans and actual results are too significant. In other words, use the plan-do-checkact cycle (PDCA) and a good reporting system.3, 8, 15
In case, results of ongoing operations do not meet expectations in economics and/or
production, changes will be necessary. There are two opportunities.3, 15
First, to try and improve production by changes in technical sector, by well treatment, or
applying methods of enhanced oil recovery, discussed before. This will of course lead to
additional costs, non-repetitive in case of well treatment executed only once, repetitive, but
not frequently, if treatment is done regularly, or continuous costs when using methods
working over long time intervals.3, 15
Second, if investments would not end up in production satisfying the management, by
adjusting the plan to a more realistic picture of performance.3, 15
As mentioned previously, costs can be related to a well or to production. Normally costs are
monitored both, on dollars per barrel produced and on dollars per well per month basis. This
helps in detecting changes in economics of an operation. In this way someone can compare
performance of a well in time or in relation to other wells.3, 15
Well related costs do highly depend on maintenance and repair of production equipment and
well workovers. In later days of a well, repairs, due to equipment wear, will be necessary
more frequently. Maintenance, not only corresponding to production, but also to safety issues
is of importance. Because of all these influences on well-related costs, they are difficult to
handle, also to the fact they include allocated costs (see Table 3) as well.3, 15
Costs related to volume of production are easier to analyse and to control. They will increase
during lifetime of a well, for the fact, daily productivity declines. Even if we take into account,
that costs for transportation decrease as well. But costs for pumping will not change a lot
and therefore cost will not differ as significantly over time as production volumes will.3, 15
Depending on the nature of the oilfield and appearance of sulphur or paraffin, there will
normally be a rise of costs for their removal, in later days of a well's life. Another problem, we
have to prevent, is corrosion. This will lead to higher costs with age of production, too. When
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production decline is countered by secondary or enhanced oil recovery like water-flooding

or gas injection, the handling of produced by-products will lead to constant higher level of
costs. In older water-flood projects, hydrogen sulphide may be generated, which will severe
the problem of corrosion.3, 15
On the other hand, an increase of production, due to which reason ever, will lead to a
decrease in volume-related costs. That is why time of economic production can be
prolonged.3, 15
For all these influences on production economics, it is important and difficult too, to recognize
and isolate the problems we just heard of, and to decide for a proper reaction plan.3, 15
The question is, how long can actions of enhanced oil recovery lead to an increase in
production large enough to keep total costs for production below the economic limit.
The main issue in a company that wants to make good profit, is efficiency. To distinguish
between technical and financial efficiency, is not so important, because usually they
coincide.3, 15
Better performance in technical issues leads to higher production rates and therefore, but
not always, to improved financial efficiency. We have to be careful, not to increase production
no matter the costs, for this might neither reduce costs per barrel for lifting nor in total.3
So the more important factor is to reduce lifting costs, due to its effect of improving financial
efficiency even if production rate keeps the same level.3, 15
To decide whether its worth to invest additional money for increasing a wells performance
or not, differential economics are applied. This implies comparison of two future cash flows,
the base case cash flow for unaltered conditions and the cash flow for changed performance.
For there can be such similar values for both cases, the difference is the important thing to
watch.3, 15
Chosen technical changes should always lead to better performance in technical point of
view, but there is no need, this results in better economics too. In case we invest some
additional money, but do only have slightly higher cash flows, it can happen, this leads to
even worse numbers after discounting, because the money invested is paid at the very
beginning of the compared interval.3, 15
Spending money on well workovers will end up in positive changes most of the times and
will usually pay out soon, for higher daily rates will speed up cash flows.
On the other hand, if too little attention is paid to well conditioning, production decline may
fasten. As a consequence, the need to abandon the well earlier can arise and lead to a loss
of reserves and a passed up opportunity to make higher profits.3, 15
Now we come to Enhanced Oil Recovery, a part of Petroleum Production, applied after
primary recovery, which was based on the natural pressure of the reservoir, becomes
uneconomical. This sector of Petroleum Production includes methods like Carbon Dioxide
Flooding, Chemical Flooding, Thermal Recovery Processes and others more, none of them
further discussed in this paper. The main thing, when using such methods is to find out which
method fits to the reservoir with its specific conditions.9, 10, 15
We have to be aware how large the volumes are that are the target of enhanced recovery
processes. Only about one third of all hydrocarbons in a reservoir can be produced without
applying these procedures, so two thirds would be left subsurface.9, 15
To illustrate this, a typical Southern United States oil field is only produced to 20% before
starting Enhanced Recovery Methods. With the use of such additional methods another 40%
are added to the ultimate recovery.10, 15
Another decision that is to be made, is about equipment replacement. After using equipment
for a couple of years, we might face a need to change some parts. This can be the fact due
to many reasons, such as wear, changed conditions compared to the time the equipment
was installed and consequently its dimension is not ideal any more, and others more.3, 15
The evaluation of a proper decision, whether to change anything, is made on economic
values. It is done the same way someone would choose between different possibilities of
equipping a well for the same function, for the exception, the actual equipment has to be
considered as sunk costs. In the end, the sum of the operating and capital costs of a new
equipment, in other words its total costs, have to be lower than those of the actual equipment,
which consist of operating and maintenance costs.3, 15
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Now we know its always total costs to be compared, therefore it is necessary to be very
careful not to forget a single cost factor. If for example new equipment would lead to higher
production rates, the incremental profit increase will be included in calculations, as well as
additional maintenance costs, that must be considered for adapting the old equipment to
changed conditions, if required.3, 15
When replacing any item, the cost to take into account is only the difference between
purchase price of the new part and the fair market salvage value of the existing one.
Another aspect to handle is the expected lifetimes of both new and old equipment and to
implement adjustments in the evaluation process, if not equal.3, 15
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Well Considerations
Well Completion Types
The completion of a well can either be of cased or uncased type, what to take care of in each
type is shortly discussed below.
Open Hole: Open hole sections are directly in contact to the formation and therefore
challenging in many ways, like coping with wellbore stability problems, those of losing
parts of cementing fluids to the formations and more, discussed in the following chapters.
Another problem of uncased portions of the well is, that volume estimations are hard to
do, especially when dealing with unstable wellbore walls, because the round shape
achieved by rotating drilling tools may be altered. To do satisfying volume estimations,
calliper logs can be run to get information of the wellbore shape. These calliper tools are
either of two-pad, three-pad or four-arm type. The more arms they have, the more
accurate the achieved data will be.12
Cased hole: Cased parts of the well are commonly more stable but have their own very
serious problems, which can be complex to handle. Cemented sections are planned to
be very durable and stable, but for different reasons they can be faulty. So before setting
a cement plug for the purpose of abandonment, such sections must be determined to
know where remedial work has to be performed, then the casing must be penetrated to
allow a remedial cementing slurry to enter those places and higher pressures must be
applied to force enough cement behind the casing walls.12
Another difficulty arises by buckled casing, at least when cementing operations include
mechanical plugs, which will then not be able to pass deformed casing sections. So
buckled sections have to be worked on with special tools like a casing roller, to regain
the casings primary shape.12
Environmental Issues
Problems caused by nature, concerning aspects as pay zone intervals, overpressure formations,
formations of low fracture gradient, salt zones, gas and more must be included in abandonment
planning processes. Also properties as temperature, fluid composition and fluid severity are of
great importance because they can strongly affect the cement, its hardening and therefore its
sealing performance.
Pore pressures have influence on the well-security. Information on the pore pressure can be
provided by mud logging if such tools are available, otherwise the mud weight can be used to get
some indication on pore pressures. This is more a problem during primary casing operations. In
later times, when executing the abandonment process, information on the pore pressures will be
available from drilling recordings. The other extreme is dealing with the fracture gradient, which
should be known for every open-hole section, formerly estimated by leak-off testing. Pay zones
or other permeable formations must be handled very carefully because fluid inflow to the well
during cementing will affect the seal performance of cement plugs rigorously.
Depth/Configuration Data/Temperature
To be able to do a proper cementing job, information on measured depth, vertical depth, casing
and open hole sizes must be available. Depth is important especially because it correlates with
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temperature, which is a main factor to fit the cement slurry to, because it strongly affects setting
and hardening time.
To abandon layers of any formation, state regulations describe the necessary intervals that have
to be plugged, this is linked to depth again. These lengths, as well as casing dimensions are used
to do volume calculations. Uncased parts of the well are typically off gauge and in case of larger
diameters, calliper logging tools may not be available. Then the cross-section of the well is
assumed to be of drilling tool size and some percentage is added to the determined slurry volume
to be on the safe side.
For adjusting the cement to a job, both bottom hole circulating temperature (BHCT) and bottom
hole static temperature (BHST) have to be determined, and the temperature differential between
bottom and top of the cement column should be known. This can be done by calculations or, if
preferred by the operator, by measuring the actual temperatures by the use of thermo-sensitive
probes, that are circulated with the mud. A more modern possibility to determine the temperatures
is to use computer simulators, which model the physics of heat transfer under dynamic
conditions. The BHCT is the temperature to which the cement will be exposed when leaving the
cementing tubular, therefore the BHCT is used for high-temperature, high-pressure thickening
time tests. Such tests result in the decision for adequate additives, which will work under these
very conditions. BHST is important because it influences the long term stability of a cement plug,
as well as the development of the compressive strength. It is commonly determined by the use
of the mean geothermal gradient in the area of interest. On the other hand, it can be obtained by
measurements done while drilling, but that data must be altered due to the time of circulation, for
the reason that circulation leads to a slight change of temperatures. Another important point is
the temperature differential between bottom and top of the cement column. Because of this
temperature difference it may happen, that a cement slurry planned on BHCT may lead to a solid
plug at bottom regions but the strength development at top of the cement (TOC) conditions can
be problematical. Therefore compressive strength test need to be done at conditions of TOC. If
it becomes clear, that trouble will occur, it might be necessary to perform the cementing job in
more than one stage.
Offshore/Location
On offshore locations you are not as flexible in equipment providing like on land, at least it is
expansive to get material to platforms. So you might have to plan with device already in place,
e.g. to use salt water for mixing cement slurries, which again has influence on a cements
performance. To balance this effect, additives will be necessary. Another point is to perform a
cementing job with tubular actually on site.
Fluid Severity (sour/non-sour)

Formation fluids can vary significantly in composition, and components like H2S and CO2 can
have dramatic influence on completion materials, as well as on the cement itself. Dissolved CO2
from injection attacks conventional Portland cement and both, so called sour fluids, show great
influence on the effect of corrosion. Therefore special materials for corrosive environments are
to be used.
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Plugs
Preparation
A number of activities is necessary to prepare the well for abandonment. Additionally to a proper
environment to carry out the abandonment process, the integrity of the wellbore must be ensured,
so its actual state is investigated and if necessary improved by adjusted activities. All this is done
to ensure the long-term protection of different formations. These activities are as follows:11
Data collection
For the abandonment process it is indispensable to collect the available information about well
construction and geology. These, generally available from operation records, allow adequate
planning of all aspects of the abandonment project.11
Information concerning geology, especially on layers of hydrocarbons and drinking water, fluid
quality and formation properties influencing the planning of the cement composition should be
available from geophysical and geological logs. Another very important point is to know about the
pressures in fluid bearing formations, because these energies must be coped with.11
Construction details of the well should be even more likely to get. In drilling and completion
recordings, you find information on all casing constructions and belonging cementing works in
general.11
Removal works
The actual preparation begins with the removal of the tubing, if present. Accordingly the packer
can be removed simultaneously. Therefore a work-over rig is necessary and a work-over fluid
system must be established in the well. By circulating this fluid the well is cleaned out. At this time
other equipment is removed too.11
The rig is chosen accordingly to the lifting requirements, which more or less depend on the depth
of a well. It must be strong enough to pull the pipe, turn the pipe in the hole and to control the
pressure in the wellbore by circulation of the work-over fluid by the means of high-pressure
pumping equipment.11
The appropriate work-over fluid is placed in the annulus and circulated to remove sand and debris
like congealed drilling mud, which otherwise could collect above the packer and lead to sticking
pipe. So the work-over fluid is adjusted to the actual conditions by using brines or specially
prepared muds. Additionally it is used for formation pressure control and wall support in open
hole sections.11
When the initial circulation is done, the packer is released and the tubing is removed. Problems
with the release mechanism of the packer may arise, then the tubing can be cut immediately
above the packer and once more, circulation is done. Afterwards you retry to release the packer,
if success stays out again, there is still the possibility to mill the packer and then pull the rest of
the tubing. The same is done when a permanent or drillable packer is used. For grounding a
packer, carbide-dipped mills are used.11
Well Inspection
When removal work is done, the actual condition of the well, which most of all means, its
mechanical integrity, is examined. The casings potential for leakage, according to corrosion and
the structural deformation is determined. Those deformations are of importance because they
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can be the reason for leakage, but also cause problems when running plug-setting tools into the
well. Another point to examine is the integrity of casing cements.11
For investigation on the mechanical integrity a number of methods can be accomplished. For the
overall integrity, pressure tests can be done, for determining the condition of the casing cement,
geophysical logging techniques, like tracer tests can be used, these do also give information on
annular fluid migration. Calliper logs, electromagnetic casing inspection logs and temperature
surveys will give information on the actual state of the casing. Records of corrosiveness tests,
done during well operations can be re-examined to find out on positions of potential problems
with corrosion. The choice of which techniques to use depends on the expected condition of the
well.11
Cleanout, Removal and Repair

For a properly done plugging process it is necessary to get adequate access to the places the
plugs shall be set. So preparations in order to clean the well, salvage material and do repair works
are to be done. Only when those steps are finished, an effective seal can be achieved.11
How much of the casing strings are salvaged before the plugs are set is to be defined in the
abandonment program planning and depends on the type of well and the cementing necessities.
If a casing is only cemented at its shoe, it can be cut off there and simply be removed. For such
cutting operations variable specialised tools and techniques are available, applying jet, chemical,
mechanical or explosive forces to cut the casing. They can either be used from the outside or the
inside of the casing. The tool selection depends on internal/external accessibility, casing
characteristics and the condition of the well.11
Particles that are to be removed from the wellbore will either be sand, formation materials or other
small pieces that can be circulated out, or other denser materials left back earlier which cause
the need to use some special junk retriever to remove them. These are called junk baskets.11
For retrieving small particles, the simplest form of such a basket, called the finger-type basket, is
commonly used. It is a cylindrical device with flexible fingers that jut out and used by placing it
over the junk and applying some weight on it, so the junk is forced inside. The problem is, the
junk must be lying on the bottom. If junk is not lying on bottom but is protruding of the wall, a coretype basket can be used, which is able to cut off those protruding materials.
Another type of retrievers are so called reverse circulation junk retrievers that use hydraulic
pressure to loosen the junk from the bottom and lift it up and into a basket. The baskets base is
finger-type, so the fluid can go upwards, but debris cant fall back down. For retrieving metal junk,
magnetic tools can be employed. Bigger or oddly shaped pieces of junk that cannot be retrieved
with tools mentioned above can be broken up with a so called jet bottom-hole cutter, and then be
removed with a conventional basket.11
Stuck drill pipe and other larger parts lost in the wellbore happen regularly, so numerous methods
of retrieval, depending on position and condition of the material were developed and are available
now. In case the top of the pipe is free but in bad shape, the part in bad condition can be worn off
with a milling device. Followed by the use of an overshot tool, that is placed on the pipe and
rotated to install a connection between pipe and tapered inside of the tool, or a spear device, that
is also lowered over the pipe and works in general the same way as the overshot tool, but from
the inside. Depending on the spears type it is either released to establish the connection or
expanded to do so. Another method is to reinstall a thread on the pipe by using taps and die
collars.11
It happens that the zones to be plugged are not accessible and therefore require casing repair
first. Collapsed or buckled casing can be treated with a casing roller or a swaging tool. Edges of
a cut off casing stub are ground to prevent premature setting and damage to any tools run into
the well. When the cement is in bad condition the most common measure is squeeze cementing.
For this technique a cement slurry is placed in the concerned area and forced into the formation
by applying high pressure. If the casing is intact but the cement behind it has to be improved, the
casing must be perforated first.11
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Now, before the plugging fluid comes into play, there are still other preparations to be done, like
removing the mudcake from the wellbores wall, both in cased and open-hole sections, to enable
adequate bonding of the cement plugs with its surroundings. Another point to put attention to, is
how to minimise cement contamination. There is different equipment and procedures to reach
these goals.11
Two types of scratchers can be attached to the lower end of pipe, used for the cementing process
and fulfil the job of removing the wall cake at the depth where a plug is to be set, either by rotation
or reciprocation, depending on its design. After some time, needed to remove the wall cake, the
cement slurry is pumped into the well and cementing can begin. Centralisers, attached to the
lower end of the cementing tubing, are used to prevent channelling of cement to one side of the
wellbore and therefore lead to a more homogeneous plug.11
Another way to remove wall cake is the use of pre-washes, these are chemical washes, injected
in combination with the plugging fluid. They can be of acid type and work by shrinking mud
particles, or of thinners type, that is preferable in water based plugging fluids and disperse
fluctuated clay particles. They must be used carefully, because these chemicals may influence
the setting of the cement like a retarder or even inhibit setting completely.11
Spacer fluids are an additional chance to avoid contamination of the cement slurry. They are
placed in front of the cement as well as behind it in the placement tubing. The consistency of
such a fluid is pretty much the same as that of the pre washes discussed above and the way it
works is by separating the cement slurry and the plugging fluid physically. Spacer fluids are
frequently used in combination with mechanical cementing plugs.11
Selection and Establishment of Plugging Fluid

When the well is ready for plugging, the recommended thing to start with is to choose and
establish a proper fluid system in the well. This must provide an environment that allows the
cement to be placed and set properly and work as a plugging fluid between the cement plugs
itself. Drilling fluids are not designed to fulfil these abandonment objectives, but in some case
they can work too. Commonly a suitable fluid with the right characteristics is designed.11
Such a fluid should guarantee static conditions in the wellbore during setting of cement plugs and
afterwards. It must be designed to provide sufficient hydrostatic head to keep formation fluids
under control, to remain in place over a very long time, from setting of the plugs, when it has to
provide static conditions and later to stay in place for an indefinite period of time and as another
point, to withstand any physical or chemical circumstances.11
In most cases a mud-laden drilling fluid is an adequate plugging fluid. To meet the needs,
numerous adjustments on the fluid properties can be done. For maintaining pressure control the
density of the fluid can easily be adjusted and to prevent filtration, lost circulation additives are
used. Clay and other natural materials are used to guarantee the fluids resistance to chemical
deterioration. When they are in place, the clay particles hydrate and lead to very little interference
and settling.11
Wells that are fully cased and do not show the problem of pressure control do not need special
plugging fluid design and even water or brine maintain sufficient hydrostatic pressure. In wells
that are fully cased, but formation pressure may be a problem, a blow-out preventer, a retainer
or a high density fluid can be used to control the pressure while the bottom plug is set. After the
bottom plug is set, a low density fluid will do and the higher density one can be removed and
used elsewhere. It's a matter of fact that weight goes directly with costs, so it is common
procedure to reuse heavier fluids if possible. In some special cases it may be better to support
the bottom plug by a dense fluid, just to assure no fluid will move through the plug.11
Now that a suitable fluid, fit to the very situation of the well, is selected, the foundation for a
controlled abandonment is set. So the procedure of replacing every previously used fluid, which
is still in the wellbore, by the plugging fluid can begin. This is done via drill pipe or other tubing.
The condition expected after the job is done will not be reached with one, but several complete
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circulations, because the plugging fluids properties will change slightly when in contact with other
fluids. Therefore the properties of the plugging fluid are permanently controlled and adjusted.
Density and viscosity are the properties that are measured permanently, as well as fluid loss and
pressures are monitored. After sufficient circulation, well conditions should be homogeneous and
fluid level and pressure have to keep constant. Then the pumps are stopped to allow the well to
come to static conditions. Now time has come to set the plugs.11
Establishment of cement slurry composition

The quality of the plugging performance highly depends on successful adjustment of the cement
slurry to the well conditions and to the plugging fluid, which has to be replaced without having the
cement being contaminated by it. Otherwise problems with positioning of the plug can occur too.
For successful displacement, the slurry should have a higher yield strength and viscosity than
the plugging fluid. An effective plug must be durable and impermeable, and the plug should bind
to the borehole wall or casing to guarantee stability, so no fluid can move within the wellbore at
any time.11
Special behaviour of temperature, pressure or high filtration potential in the well must be taken
into account because they can influence the cements hardening time. For fitting cement
properties to different conditions additives are used, which will be discussed later.11
Plug Placement Methods

After preparations are done and the well is at static conditions, it is time to begin the final stage
of abandonment, which is the installation of the plugs. That will be done by applying a formerly
chosen plugging technique. Available techniques for setting plugs are the balanced method, the
existing casing plugging method, the cement retainer method, the dump bailor method and the
two-plug method. Those are discussed in the following. Which one to decide for is depending on
various factors, as the desired position of the plug, the well configuration and the condition of the
well.11
Balanced Method
The balance method is a technique likely to be used for oil and gas wells, because a cementing
service unit is the only special equipment needed. It allows to set plugs at the bottom as well as
at an intermediate depth, in cased and in open-hole sections. On the other hand side, it is not
easy to accomplish and the effectiveness and safety of the plug highly depend on the operators
skills.11
This method requires exact calculations of the cement volume that is then pumped down through
drillpipe or other tubing and displaces the plugging fluid there. The proper amount of cement
pumped is of importance because the level of cement in the annulus and in the tubing must be
the same to build an effective plug. When that balance situation is accomplished, the tubing is
drawn back above the cement and cleaned by reverse circulation. If spacer fluids are used, the
volumes pumped in front and behind the cement are matched to reach a balance after the
cement is in place, as well.11, 12
The quality of the plug depends on how little the cement is contaminated during setting. This
again goes hand in hand with the operators skills and the usage of a well-chosen tubing. A small
diameter tubing causes less contamination, because its smaller volume neither causes a
significant drop of the cement level, nor a surge of the cement plug, when it is withdrawn. Another
difficulty is to exactly meet the same levels of cement in the tubing and in the annulus. Exact
calculations need to be done, including information on volumes of plugging fluid and pre-washes.
Especially if plugs are to be set in uncased areas, the wellbore volumes calculated can hardly be
exact, even after determining the varying diameter with a calliper log. So again theres the
problem of meeting the balance and to minimise contamination of the cement. The common
procedure is to tend to a slightly increased level in the tubing.11
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For setting a plug at an intermediate depth, you generally set a bridge plug at the bottom location
of the plug first, although this is not strictly necessary. A sand pack placed on top of the bridge
plug or on the bottom of the well may support the cement while setting and allows filtrate in the
plug to leave it while the plug sets. Due to this behaviour, a filter cake builds, that helps preventing
migration of formation fluids through the well.11, 1
A bridge plug is a mechanical part, typically made of cast iron and a seal element surrounded by
dual slips. It is designed for establishing a solid seal within the wellbore, on top of which a
cementing job can be performed to seal the well completely. Especially if formations containing
moderate to high pressure gas are to be sealed, such a bridge plug will be set first to form an
initial seal and prevent gas contamination of the cement slurry set on it.1
A special form of a bridge plug is the cement retainer which is discussed a little later.
Existing Casing Plugging Method.

The existing casing plugging method is another one that can be performed without the need to
use additional material and the most common one to be used to set the bottom plug in injection
wells, but it can be used in production wells too, if the casing is going to the bottom. The procedure
starts with filling a defined volume of cement into the top of the well, right before another fluid. To
minimise contamination, cementing plugs or spacer fluids can be used right in front of the cement
as well as right behind it. When such plugs are used, they build a seal for the cement slurry. Now
pumping starts and all fluid that is still in the well is forced downwards by the cement slurry or
cementing plug and has to find its way into the formation. When the cement reaches the bottom
of the well, it is in place and pumping can stop. If squeeze cementing is preferred, the pumping
continues and some part of the cement slurry is forced into the formation. While waiting on
cement, the pressure in the well can be controlled by shutting the well in.11
This method is favourable especially for setting a pressurised bottom plug, because no extra
tools are necessary, the pressure can easily be controlled without having to establish a static
equilibrium first.11
It is important that the formation allows all the fluid underneath the cement slurry to enter it, and
the well must be able to withstand the pressures applied. If any parts of the well collapse, a
cementing plug can no longer move all the way to the bottom.11
All methods following, use special mechanical device that will increase costs, but do also improve
performance. How they work and which benefits they bring is described on the next pages.
Cement Retainer Method

This method is a variation of the balanced method, with the difference that it allows cement
pressurisation because of the use of the cement retainer. The retainer, consisting of composites
and a packing element, is placed on the bottom of the placement tubing and fulfils its purpose by
creating a seal of the annulus, when expanded. After the device is activated, cement can pass
the retainer downwards through a valve but no longer upwards through the annulus. After
pumping is finished the tubing is disengaged from the retainer, which stays in its position. Cement
pressurisation is a standard procedure in uncased parts of the well and at perforations. Due to
high pressure the cement is penetrating the formation as well as the space behind the casing.
For that fact this method is regularly applied, although costs are definitely higher than for the
conventional balanced method.11
The process of setting a plug with the retainer method begins with attaching the device to the
bottom end of the plug setting tubing. The tools are then lowered into the well until the bottom is
reached, or in case of an intermediate setting depth, a previously set packer on bottom of a
desired cement plug, is reached. Then cement is pumped down through the pipe, fills up the
space below and flows back upwards until it reaches a level about 50 to 100 ft above the retainers
final destination. The pumping is stopped and the retainer is pulled back to the location where its
finally set. Then the cement is pumped again, this time under high pressure, commonly 1000 to
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Figure 10: Principles of the Cement Retainer Method11
1500 psi, and squeezed into the formation. After a predetermined volume of cement has passed,
the retainer valve is closed, the tubing is disconnected from the retainer and slowly moved
upwards, so cement, which is still in the tubing, can fall out. Finally some cement is placed on top
of the retainer for extra safety. When the tubing is located sufficiently away from the cement, it
will be cleaned by reverse circulation.11
The problem using the retainer method is that the expansion of the seal element is limited and
one cannot guarantee that it works in uncased portions of the well. If no seal is achieved, the
cementing will only work like the balanced method and no cement can be squeezed into the
formation. Therefore some service companies offer inflatable packers that have greater
expansion capacity, the problem here is, that they are not as reliable as the retainer. As a
consequence, cementing of uncased portions are often done by starting the operation with the
retainer in the uncased part of the well and then pulling it upwards to finally set it at the bottom of
a casing. This solution can end up in difficulties when trying to re-enter the casing. Some service
companies recommend never to leave the cased part of a well, and if intermediate parts of the
well shall be salvaged, this should be done after setting deeper placed plugs, avoid the same
problem there.11
The advantage of the cement retainer method is the increased safety and reliability, achieved by
a better bonding between cement and formation, an additional barrier for migration of fluid, in
form of the retainer itself and by sealing not only the inside of a casing but also the annulus. The
points, testing the plug is not required because the set retainer provides an extra seal and prevent
contamination, and another plug can be set immediately after the last job is finished, represent a
saving of costs. On the other hand it is more expansive than the balanced method because the
retainer is an additional tool and setting the plug this way takes you longer. But if cheaper
methods fail and a plug must be reset this would result in an even more expensive solution.11
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Two Plug Method

The two plugs this method is named after, are of mechanical nature and so called cementing
plugs because they support the cementing process. They are used to give a cement plug stability,
prevent contamination and avoid both, over- and under-displacement of cement. Therefore they
are placed in the placement tubing right before the cement and, in case of the two plug method,
after it. The method works both in cased and uncased portions of the well.11
To execute this method a bottom plug, a top plug and a plug catcher are needed. First the
placement string, including the plug catcher is run into the hole to the desired depth, then the
bottom plug is inserted, followed by the desired amount of cement, which is then followed again
by another plug, the top plug. Next comes the plugging fluid. Everything is pumped down
together, until the bottom plug reaches the plug catcher, the bottom plug passes the catcher and
enters the well below. After the predefined volume of cement has passed, the top plug enters the
plug catcher and sets there, so no fluid can pass any more. The tubing will then be removed
slowly out of the cement, followed by reverse circulation that is not prevented by the top plug set
in the plug catcher.11
Figure 11: Principles of the Two Plug Method11
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Compared to the balanced method costs are definitely higher for the two plug method, because
of the extra equipment, but its performance exceeds. The two plug method allows minimisation
of cement contamination and a maximum of accuracy for positioning the plug. The predefined
volume of cement and the fact the slurry is closed in to both sides, highly improves control of
cement and it comes to no over- displacement. This affect is of higher importance the deeper the
well reaches, because volume measurements are generally harder to do the deeper you get and
cement displacement control is more difficult. 11, 12
This method can be varied by using only the top plug to prevent over displacement, but not
contamination by formerly used fluids. On the other hand you can use more than one bottom
plug to ensure the casing is wiped clean in front of the cement slurry, if pre-washes or spacer
fluids were used.11
Dump Bailer Method

A dump bailer is a vessel run on wireline that
contains some volume of cement, which can
be released at a desired depth. Generally you
set a bridge plug or a cement basket first.11
This method is used for setting plugs, but very
rarely for abandonment plugging, because
the dump bailer contains only a relatively
small amount of cement and in abandonment
processes, long intervals need to be
cemented most of the time. So,
abandonment jobs would take a lot of time
because of the large number of runs needed
and there is a time interval between every two
runs to let the previous plug set. Another
problem occurring in deep wells is that a
retarder must be added to the cement to
prevent too early setting.11, 13
For the fact the dump bailer is run on wireline,
very little special equipment is required,
resulting in manageable costs. Another plus
is the excellent depth control, becoming more
and more important. 11, 13
Figure 12: Principles of the Dump Bailor Method11
Multiple Plugs
No matter which plugging method you use, there will commonly be the need to set more than
just one plug to abandon a well. How a single plug is set depends on the chosen method, these
were discussed before. The most important thing in executing multiple plugs is time, because
after pumping the cement slurry in place, someone should wait 8 to 12 hours to let the cement
settle and solidify. That means no pumping and correspondingly no movement of fluids at all.
This leads to static conditions down-hole and optimal conditions for the slurry to settle. If there is
any disturbance due to fluid flow, the cement slurry might be contaminated or partly displaced.11
After a previous plug has set, it is necessary to exactly evaluate the upper end of the plug. This
is done by so called tapping, meaning knocking on it with the pipe. Additionally you find out
whether the plug has solidified yet. For the next step it can be useful to recirculate the plugging
fluid to re-establish homogeneous conditions. Before setting the next plug, the fluid in the well is
brought back to static conditions.11
The one exception for waiting on the cement to harden is when setting the bottom plug with the
cement retainer method, because the retainer itself represents the top of the plug itself and
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ensures that the cement slurry below is not contaminated by the fluid above when it is pumped.
So the next plug can be set immediately.11
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Cement
A typical plugging material is classified as one that, when combined with a proper amount of
water, without the need to use any additives, results in a slurry with cementitious properties. This
can be a single ingredient, or several combined, but the combination must always be the same,
also when additives are used. The one, by far, most frequently used is Portland cement.13
In 1952 the American Petroleum Institute (API) established a classification system (see Table API
Cement Classification) for oilfield cements because the conditions in which cements are used in
the oil-industry differ significantly to those at ambient conditions in construction. Their most
important property therefore is the one, which defines them as hydraulic cements, viz. not to build
up compressive strength as a result of a drying process, but as a result of hydration, a reaction
between the cement compounds and water. There are eight classes, named A to H, arranged by
the depth and according temperatures they are used at. All of the API-cements are Portland
cement-based and consist principally of the same four ingredients, which are tricalcium silicate,
dicalcium silicate, tricalcium aluminate and tetracalcium aluminoferrite, only varying in fineness
and mixing proportions. The variation results in different water requirement, hardening behaviour
and sealing performance. In some classes, cements can be categorised due to their sulphate
resistance, which depends the tricalcium aluminate content, and named: ordinary (O), moderate
sulphate resistance (MSR) and high sulphate resistance (HSR).13
Class A
Intended for use from surface to a depth of 6,000 ft, when special properties are
not required. Available only in Ordinary type.
Class B
Intended for use from surface to a depth of 6,000 ft, when conditions require
moderate to high sulphate resistance.
Class C
Intended for use from surface to a depth of 6,000 ft, when conditions require high
early strength. To achieve high early strength, the tricalcium silicate content and
the surface area are relatively high.
Class D
Intended for use at depth from 6,000 ft to 10,000 ft, under conditions of moderately
high temperatures and pressures. It is available in MSR and HSR types.
Class E
Intended for use at depth from 10,000 ft to 14,000 ft, under conditions of high
temperatures and pressures. It is available in MSR and HSR types.
Class F
Intended for use at depth from 10,000 ft to 16,000 ft, under conditions of extremely
high temperatures and pressures. It is available in MSR and HSR types.
Class G,
Class H
Intended for use as a basic well cement from surface to 8,000 ft as manufactured
or can be used with accelerators and retarders to cover a wide range of well depths
and temperatures. No additions other than calcium sulphate or water, or both, shall
be inter-ground or blended with the clinker during manufacture of Class G and H
cements. They are available in MSR and HSR types.
Table 1: API Cement Classification (from Nelson, 1990)13
Class E, F and G were developed for the use in deeper wells. They are known as retarded
cements. By reducing the faster-hydrating portions and using larger particles in these cements,
the setting and hardening time are increased and longer pumping times allowed. Cements of
these classes were manufactured first, so since that time cement additives have improved a lot
and as a consequence, such common retarded cements are hardly used today. For special
cases there is a number of additives that are blended to the cement. Most frequently used today,
are cements of classes G and H which are essentially identical, but vary in coarseness. Class G
cements are significantly finer than class H. This proves by different water requirements, going
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along with the different surfaces. Every company has its own preferences how or with which
additives to adjust the cement properties to special circumstances. Additives will be discussed
later.12, 13
The cement manufacturing process begins with mixing defined amounts materials, containing
lime, alumina, silica and iron oxide. This mixture is then ground to a fine powder and fed into a
kiln, where it is converted to cement clinker. After the cooling process, in which time plays an
important role, the clinker in combination with small amounts of gypsum is pulverised again. The
product is the Portland cement.1
The composition of a cement is managed in terms of gallons (gal) of water and pounds (lb) of
additives per 94-lb sack (sk) of cement. While cements have not changed a lot over the last
decades, additives have and significantly help to increase the sealing performance provided by
a cement plug. Along with development of drilling technology and types of wells being drilled and
completed, cement did as well.1
As mentioned before, the effectiveness of an abandonment plug depends highly on adequate
design of the cement slurry. It should be designed to provide an impermeable and durable barrier
for fluid flow in the wellbore. So it is necessary to achieve a good bond between cement and
borehole wall. To allow the slurry to form a solid plug, its being contaminated by any other fluids
should be minimised. Therefore it needs properties that allow good displacement of plugging fluid
or others. Special conditions in the well, concerning high temperature, pressure, filtration potential
or compatibility problems must be thought about. The temperature at the level the plug is to be
set should be known to decide for the proper API class of cement. Normally a volume of fluid,
about enough to reach the bottom end of the placement tubing plus 10 meters, is pumped prior
to the cement slurry. This procedure reduces the temperature at the plugging level and in that
way the threat of premature setting is reduced. It is useful to have information on the temperature
when the cement slurry reaches the desired location. Companies run lab tests on the cement
before using it in a wellbore.11
Generally the use of a cement of increased density like API classes A, G and H with a dispersant
added will do. Setting and hardening of such cements happens fast in general. The quicker the
strength builds up, the shorter the time to wait for the next job will be. A dispersant is responsible
for handling filtration, fluid loss and the potential of dehydration that could lead to premature
setting of the cement, or movement of the slurry in the well.11
Additives
As we heard before, the cement slurry must be adjusted to the circumstances in the well,
problems by reasons of temperature, pressure, high permeable formations or interaction of
additives must be coped with. Temperatures may range from freezing in permafrost zones up to
700F (350C) in thermal recovery and geothermal zones, pressures may range from almost
ambient conditions in shallow regions up to 30,000 psi in very deep wells. Other challenges arise
due to weak formations, porous wellbore walls, high pressure formations or corrosive fluids. Only
an appropriate mixture results in a plug of high quality, both in durability and impermeability. A
cement has to bind to the borehole wall to form a solid seal, as well as to minimise being
contaminated by the plugging fluid. For all those adjustments necessary, there are large numbers
of additives available today, which are provided in solid or liquid form. They can be categorised
to the following:12, 13
Retarders increase the setting time of a cement, so it can be pumped for longer times,
which will be necessary in deeper wells and if the placement tubing is to be removed.
Sodium and calcium salts of lignosulphonic acids are the most common
representatives.12
An Accelerator works exactly the opposite way, it shortens the setting time of the cement
to prevent flow in the well even earlier and it also shortens the hardening time. This
results in higher safety and because following plugs can be set after shorter waiting
times, in a reduction of the overall time needed for the abandonment job and therefore
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in a safe of money. They are frequently used for clearing the retardation that arises by
the use of dispersants and fluid-loss control agents.12, 13
Examples for accelerators of Portland cements are many inorganic salts, within these, chlorides
are the best known, but other salts like carbonates, silicates, aluminates, nitrates, nitrites,
sulphates and more work too. Of all the chlorides, the accelerating performance increases from
monovalent to bivalent and trivalent chlorides.12
The most efficient and economical accelerator is calcium chloride which is used in concentrations
between 2% to 4% by weight of cement (BWOC). Regardless how small the portion of calcium
chloride added may be, it will always cause an accelerating action. It is proven, that small
amounts have great influence on thickening time and compressive strength. Concentrations of
6% and more lead to unpredictable results and might cause premature setting. The
concentrations of an accelerator may also be described by weight of mix water (BWOW), where
numbers up to 10% BWOW for sodium chloride work accelerating, numbers between 10% and
18% BWOW are neutral, but concentrations higher than 18% result in retardation.13
In case of higher formation pressure, unstable wellbore walls or deformable formations

Weighting Additives help to keep control by increasing the slurrys density and hence the
hydrostatic pressure. Such circumstances in common require mud densities above 18
lb/gal, so the density of the cement slurry must be equal or even higher.13
There are two ways to increase the weight of a cement, one is to reduce the amount of water,
and the other one adds heavy weight materials to the cement slurry. By reducing the water
content, densities no higher than 18 lb/gal can be achieved, and there may arise problems in
pumpability, fluid-loss control, rheology and solids settling. So dispersants have to be added to
maintain pumpability, if fluid-loss control is not optimised, solids might settle the risk of bridging
may arise, resulting in an inhomogeneous plug. For higher densities the second method has to
be used. But weighting materials must meet some criteria. Their particle seize distribution must
be compatible to that of the cement, the additive itself must be compatible to others, water
requirement must be low and it must be inert with respect to cement hydration.12
Such additives can be barite, ilmenite and haematite.12
On the other hand, Extenders (Light-Weight Additives) reduce the density of the slurry
when it comes to problems with the formation fracture-gradient, and if a heavier slurry
would result in a hydrostatic pressure high enough to breakdown weak formations. The
second effect extenders are used for, is their ability to produce larger volumes of slurry
with the same amount of cement, so economics are more efficient. Extenders are
grouped into the following three categories, accordingly to their relation of density
reduction/yield increase.12
Water Extenders allow the use of additional water, which has the effect of reducing the density of
the slurry, and they prevent the development of excessive free water.12
Low-Density Aggregates that have a specific weight lower than that of Portland-cement reduce
the slurries density when adding large amounts of those additives.12
Gaseous Extenders use nitrogen or air to produce foamed cements of very low density, yet
sufficient compressive strength. The application of foamed cements is complex.12
Above 6% BWOC of bentonite, which can be added up to 20% BWOC, adding a dispersant will
be necessary to balance slurry viscosity and gel strength. By recommendation of the API, 5.3%
BWOC of water should be added for each percent BWOC of bentonite, independent of the class
of cement.12
Pozzolans are a very important representatives of an extender, for the fact that a significant
portion of calcium-hydroxide Ca(OH)2 is liberated, when cement hydrates. Pozzolan, more
exactly, the silica within the pozzolan, reacts with the liberated material to form a stable
cementitious compound, whereas without the presence of pozzolan, the liberated Ca(OH)2 is
relatively soluble and would weaken the cement, when dissolved and removed by water. They
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can either be of natural type, e.g. volcanic ashes and distomaceous earth, or of artificial type,
such as certain fly ashes.
Extender
Range of obtainable
slurry densities
Performance features and other

benefits
Bentonite
11.5 15
Assists fluid-loss control.
Fly Ashes
13.1 14.1
Resists corrosive fluids.
Sodium Silicates
11.1 14.5
Only small percentages required.

Ideal for seawater mixing.
8.5 15
Good compressive strength,

thermal stability, and insulating
properties.
Microspheres
Foamed Cement
6 - 15
Excellent strength
permeability.
and
low
Table 2: Summary of Extenders12
Before the cement hardens, it is a common situation that fluid is lost to permeable
formations, when the hydrostatic pressure of the cement slurry exceeds the formation
pressure. To reduce the volume of fluid loss, Fluid-Loss Control Agents are added to the
cement slurry to plug up the formations pores. For the different sized pores a variation
of materials is used. The two typical classes of agents are finely divided particulate
material or water-soluble polymers.12
If the fluid loss is not under control, the performance of the cement job is at risk, because of the
following reasons. The slurry properties will diverge from its original behaviour when parts of the
aqueous phase vanish and as a result the viscosity of the slurry increases. It will have influence
on properties like rheology or thickening time. If large proportions of the aqueous phase are lost
to the formation, the slurry may even become unpumpable. A fluid loss rate of 50ml/30min is
commonly welcome, without fluid-loss-agents, the fluid-loss-rate of a neat cement generally
exceeds 1500ml/30min. The processes behind fluid loss protection are either building up a filter
cake of fluid-loss-agent materials at the problem zones or to increase the slurry viscosity and
therefore to handicap the inflow to a formation.12
Even if their application is mainly important in primary cementing jobs, Lost-CirculationAdditives are shortly mentioned at this point. They are used to reduce or prevent flow of
cement slurry into the formation, which will especially occur when dealing with weak, or
vuggy formations or in highly fractured incompetent zones that are fragile even at low
hydrostatic pressures. In case of primary cementing jobs, the need for lost-circulationadditives might show to an experienced operator already during drilling, when it comes
to trouble with circulation. The two types of lost-circulation-additives are bridging
materials and thixotropic cements.12
Bridging materials work, as their name tells us, by bridging over fractures and block weak zones.
It is important that they do not react with Portland cement when the hydration is taking place.
Typical representatives are gilsonite and granular coal, less often used are ground walnut or
pecan shells coarse bentonite or corn cobs.12
Thixotropic cements are used when formations are extremely vuggy and cavernous, so bridging
materials don't work anymore. When this kind of cement enters fractures and is no longer
subjected to shear, it gels and becomes self-supporting.12
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In case of deep wells, Dispersants (Friction Reducers) can be used to lower the apparent
viscosity of the cement slurry and simultaneously improve its rheological properties. A
Page 37 of 49
dispersant is in general added to a suspension to maintain its ability to flow by improving

separation of particles and therefore prevent settling. Because of the viscosity changes,
turbulent flow is reached at lower pumping rates, which keeps the friction pressure at a
lower level. Additionally this behaviour can be used, by mixing the slurry at a higher
density by reducing the amount of water, as the light weight material, and in that way,
avoiding the need for weighting materials.12
There is still a number of additives used, that cannot be categorised to the previously
mentioned groups, so called Specialty Additives. Some are mentioned in the following.12
Antifoam agents balance the effect of foaming, arising by the use of other cement additives.
Otherwise this effect could result in cavitation, leading to material damage in the pumping system
and therefore in a reduction of the hydraulic pressure, slurry gelation and air entrainment, an
effect that leads to densities higher than planned. To achieve the desired density of the cementwater-air mixture during the slurry mixing process, densitometers are used. Still there is to
mention that the surface density is not the same than the downhole density because of the
compressibility of the cement-ingredient air. Antifoam agents can either be dry blended to the
cement, or added to the mix water.12
Strengthening agents, commonly fibrous materials, added in concentrations of 0.15% to 0.5%
BWOC, are used to increase the resistance of the cement to stresses going along with the use
of drill collars or during perforation operations.12
Radioactive tracer agents are shortly mentioned at this point even though they are hardly seen
nowadays and they are not used in abandoning jobs but for remedial cementing operations. The
one thing they are used for is to determine the cements exact position. Therefore a base radiation
log is run before a cement job is done, to determine the formations own radioactivity. Another
radiation log is run after cementing. By comparison of the two logging results, the placement of
the cement is determined. Radioactive tracer agents include 53I131 with a half time of 8.1 days or
192 with a half time of 74 days.12
77Ir
Mud decontaminants are used when the cement slurry is infiltrated by parts of mud, that could
end up in a strong retardation effect.12, 13
For the fact that chemical and physical properties of a cement slurry may differ significantly, even
within an API-class, it is not to be expected that adding the same amount of the same additive to
different cements will lead to the same results.12
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Additive Category
retarder
Benefit
Mechanism of Action
lignosulphonates,
hydroxycarboxylic acids,
cellulose derivatives
adsorption onto C-S-H gel layer,

reducing permeability
organophosphonates,
certain inorganic compounds
prevention of nucleation and

growth of hydration products
chelation of calcium ions,
precipitation of impermeable solids
on C-S-H gel layer
- shorter thickening time

- higher early compressive
strength
CaCl2 , NaCl
increased permeability of
C-S-H gel layer
sodium silicates
formation of C-S-H gel nuclei by

reaction with Ca2+ ions
weighting agent
higher slurry density
barite (BaSO4)
haematite (Fe2O3)
ilmenite (FeTiO3)
higher density than cement
extender
- lower slurry density

- higher slurry yield
bentonite
absorption of water
sodium silicates
formation of C-S-H gel and

absorption of water
pozzolans,
gilsonite,
powdered coal,
microspheres
lower density than cement
nitrogen
foamed cement
cellulosic polymers
increased viscosity of aqueous

phase of slurry
poly-amines,
sulphonated aromatic polymers,
polyvinylpyrrolidone,
polyvinylalcohol,
AMPS copolymers of terpolymers
reduce permeability of cement filter

cake
bentonite,
latices
particle bridging of cement filter

cake
gilsonite,
granular coal,
cellophane flakes,
nut shells
bridging effect across formation
gypsum,
certain soluble sulfate salts,
bentonite,
crosslinked cellulosic polymers
induce thixotropic behaviour of

slurry
lower slurry viscosity
polynaphtalene sulfonates,
polylamine sulfonates,
lignosulfonates,
polystyrene sulfonate,
hydroxylated polysaccharides,
hydroxycarboxylic acids
induce electrostatic repulsion of

cement grains
antifoam agent
reduced air entrainment,

aid for slurry mixing
polyglycol ethers,
silicones
insoluble in foaming system,

lower surface tension than foaming
system
strengthening
agent
increase shock resistance and/or

flexural strength of set cement
nylon fibers,
ground rubber
transmit localised stresses more

evenly throughout cement matrix
radioactive tracing
agent
easier determination of location

behind casing
131
53I
192
77Ir
emission of radioactivity
accelerator
fluid-loss-agent
lost-circulationadditive
dispersant
longer thickening time
Chemical Composition
reduced slurry dehydration
prevent loss of slurry to formation
Special Additives
Table 3: Summary of additives and mechanisms of action12
Markus Bernhart
Page 39 of 49
Special Cases for Cementing

Most of the abandonment cementing jobs can be performed with standard cements, but there
are still those, which desire some special cement blend to meet the circumstances in the wellbore
and reduce the risk of installing a plug that does not meet the needs. Even if the use of standard
cement would lead to a satisfying result in most of the cases, there is the chance to increase the
performance of the seal by the use of additives in the following special applications:
Pumping cement to very deep locations in a wellbore takes more time and therefore the
cement must be influenced in a way, it hardens later. To prevent premature hardening
and corresponding pumping problems, retarders are used. Another problem that occurs
due to the long placement string is friction. It can be minimised by the use of friction
reducers.
Horizontal wells can be a problem when water or solids separate from the slurry before
the cement sets. Water as the lighter component would then migrate to the top, solids
to the bottom of the horizontal sections. The top part of the horizontal well section would
then be unplugged, the bottom part weakened, so it might fail during operations under
high pressure. Of course the behaviour is the same in vertical wells, but for the fact thin
layered formations are sealed with long cement plugs, the impact in cement properties
is not that important.
Especially gas migration outside the casing in moderate to high pressure gas wells has
been a major problem for the oil and gas industry for a long time. Over the years, with
increasing demand of gas, more and more natural gas wells have been drilled and the
solution of this problem grew in importance, because every badly sealed well could lead
to fresh water being contaminated by gas. Companies developed special additives that
increase the cements strength in early stages of the plugging operations and so the gas
migration could be reduced.
When wells are drilled through natural salt zones, precautions must be taken. Otherwise
the salt might enter the cement as it is pumped through the salt layer and affect it to
harden prematurely, because of the salt absorbing water out of the cement slurry.
So, when doing detailed abandonment planning, an appropriate cement blend is chosen, with its
properties to be adjusted to well conditions by the use of suitable additives. Further, a placement
method is decided for, in matters of performance, hence safety and economics. While planning
such operations, you may never forget to meet state regulations.
Markus Bernhart
Page 40 of 49
Tools used for Abandonment Operations

For all the steps necessary to fulfil an abandonment job, there are numerous different tools
available. Some of them are described in the following.
Casing Cutter and Alternatives

Preparations, before the actual abandonment procedure starts, commonly include cutting a
casing or pipe. To perform this task, motorised cutting tools, explosives, jet cutters or chemical
cutters can be used. The discussion of all these tools would be too extensive for this paper, but
it is to mention that they base on different, either physical or chemical, principles available to
destructively cut the materials in place.
When chemical cutters are used, the pipe is dissolved, resulting in a clean cut. The advantage of
this method is that no debris is generated and no milling activity is necessary prior to the pipe
retrieval. Another positive point is the flexible applicability, even in situations when other
techniques become ineffective, like a deformed casing, chemical cutters still perform.
The application can be planned in a way, that chemical cutters can dissolve specially designed
permanent packers and cut pipe during abandonment operations. So they lead to a save of time
and therefore reduce costs. On the other hand, chemical cutters are still considered not to be
very reliable.
Cement Service Equipment

As we know from previous chapters, a cement slurry has to be adjusted to well characteristics
and predefined proportions of water, cement of an adequate type and suitable additives have to
be mixed up. These additives are available in dry or liquid form and according to this state,
numerous mixing procedures can be used. The overall process always remains more or less the
same. By the difference, that dry additive blending is typically executed at a central storage
location, whereas liquid additives are delivered to a wells location in their pure form, where they
are first mixed with water and subsequently enter the cement mixer, where the final cement slurry
is blended. When using liquid additives special care has to be taken for the fact these additives
tend to post reaction, which might alter cement slurry properties. Dry additives can also show that
reaction, but do so much less frequently.12
To get the desired material to the well site, various ways of transportation can be chosen. For
land rigs the most common way of transport is by truck or semitrailer. On truck, vertically mounted
tanks, on semitrailer, both vertically or horizontally mounted truck are usually used. For locations
difficult to reach, helicopters may be used to deliver materials, commonly in form of sacks or big
bags. For offshore rigs, supply boats or cementing vessels that have built in tanks and contain
unloading equipment as well as a supply of hoses.12
The final cement is always mixed at the well location. Mixing procedures differ in equipment and
in the way cement and water come into contact. Cement is typically carried by pressurized air
and moved to a hopper and subsequently enters a mixing bowl, where it comes into contact with
water, which is forced into the bowl through jets. In other systems, metered volumes of cement
and water meet right before they fall into a mixing tub. In this recirculation process it is important
that it comes to contact before the compounds meet with the already mixed slurry in the tub. The
mixing systems using jets can be of recirculating type too. Further information can be looked up
in literature like the book referenced here.12
Then the cement slurry has to be brought in place, in other words pumped downhole. For the
long distances and the high friction pressure losses going along, high pressure pumps are
required and some of their attributes are described in the following.
Markus Bernhart
Page 41 of 49
Pumps
All cementing operations desire generation of high pressure, because of the long distances a
cement slurry has to be pumped, as well as for the high downhole pressure necessary in squeeze
cementing operations. To provide such pressures, reciprocating pumps need be used, commonly
of triplex type (using three plungers) and using spring-loaded valves, both on suction and
discharge side. The horsepower, depending on the model lying between 200 and 500 hp is
provided in rotating form and has to be transformed to reciprocating motion. To carry that
transformation out, systems of crankshaft and connecting rods or one of swash plate and
connecting rods are commonly used. To get an idea of the dimensions, the stroke of such an
axial displacement pump varies from 5 to 10 in., the diameter of a plunger from 3 to 6 in..
Depending on the model, the output of a pump can be adjusted by changing parts of the fluidend assembly, while the input power stays the same.12
Such pumps are versatile in the way they can also be used for well stimulation or fracturing jobs,
not only for cementing jobs. Typically there is only one pump for all cementing activities at one
well site, with a maximum rate of about 8 bbl/min. This value is based on the maximum allowable
rate for a 2 in. treating line that is most commonly used for cementing operations. In onshore
cementing operations that use mobile cementing units, pumps are commonly driven by diesel
engines, for offshore application, permanently installed electrical motors are used.12
During the cementing job some slurry properties including:
Mix water volume,
Cement and slurry volumes,
Pressure,
Flow rate and
Slurry density
are to be watched. Others like slurry rheology and compressive strength are determined and
controlled in laboratory tests. Nowadays central recording units, which measure vital pumping
parameters and save the data simultaneously, are available. On basis of these measurements,
parameters can be adapted automatically.12
Cementing Units
The tasks of fabricating and injecting the cement slurry have to be executed by the components
of a cementing unit. These components are described above, the general assembly is shown in
figure 13, where the powering unit (2), a measuring tank (3), the transmission (4) and in case of
this figure, a triplex plunger pump (5) are mounted on a chassis truck (1). An adequate design
of cementing unit, meaning the right combination of components, has to be chosen according to
the type of rig, the desired versatility and mobility. In general there exist the following types of
units:12, 16
Skid-mounted units: for isolated land rigs, offshore rigs, open-sea cementing vessels
Truck-mounted units: for land rigs, design depends on the surface to travel
Semitrailer-mounted units: preferable to truck-mounted units because they can be

drawn by different types of vehicles, also tractors, for the fact they have more axles than
trucks, which leads to a better weight distribution and because of their higher authorised
payload
Helicopter units: only used if other means of transport are not applicable, because units
cannot be transported in one part, due to their heaviness, so costs for extra time desired
for dismantling and reconnecting arise; some parts have to be exclusively designed and
build of lightweight materials
Markus Bernhart
Page 42 of 49
Figure 13: Truck mounted cementing unit16
Once a cementing job is started, it is of great importance to finish the job, so all vital parts of a
cementing unit desired to execute it are on-site duplicate. Further, cementing units are designed
to meet state specifications, for as many states as possible, for economic reasons. More and
more the implication of noise is to be reduced, because wells are regularly located near
residential areas. So the power units of a cementing unit is installed within a soundproofed cabin.
Some extra attention should be paid to environmental and safety issues, so enhanced design of
the equipment can avoid environmental release of wastes. The most important point still is the
personal to stay focused and concentrated while working.12
Danger arises especially in areas where inflammable or explosive gases are expected. If the
cementing unit can be placed 98 ft away from the wellbore, no special modifications will be
necessary, but within a dangerous area. At offshore locations the situation is more difficult,
because every place on a platform is classified due to its potential to fire or explosion hazards.12
Markus Bernhart
Page 43 of 49
Cement Job Evaluation

In abandonment operations the objectives of a cement job are said separation of different
horizons, whether in respect to protect zones of fresh water, to keep gas off the surface or to
prevent a formation that is still produced through other wells to lose fluid, which would end up in
a reduction of pressure and hence reduce productivity. Cement jobs objectives are the basis to
decide for adequate testing procedures. There are numerous testing methods, categorized the
following:
Hydraulic Testing
Temperature, Nuclear, Noise Logging Measurements
Acoustic Logging Measurements
When the plugging procedure has finished, only methods of hydraulic testing can be performed,
because all other methods need some testing device be run down the wellbore as far as the
cement reaches. So these others are of importance when information on casing cementing is
desired. In abandonment operations this is the case before the actual plugging starts, and it is of
interest to know in which condition the older cement is. 12
In fact, a company does not only want to know about the cements condition, but it has to provide
evidence to the government, that the integrity of the cement is meeting the standards.
The one additional information you can get after setting a plug is the depth of the top of the plug.
This is obtained by tapping on it with the tubing. 12
Hydraulic Testing
In Pressure Testing, the most widely used hydraulic testing method, pressure is applied to
determine whether an isolation achieved by a plug is effective. This method is used both after
primary cementing and in times of abandonment cementing.12
Dry Testing is a testing method performed by reducing the hydrostatic pressure in the wellbore
by removing the fluid above the abandonment plug. By that procedure it is checked, if the
pressure keeps constant. Otherwise it is obvious that fluid is entering the wellbore and remedial
cementing operations will be necessary. Dry testing is also applied for determining the sealing
efficiency of cement behind the casing. This is done by establishing a link to the annulus in a nonpermeable formation. As a result you see whether the sealing works and it comes to no change
of the downhole pressure. If it comes to a pressure change you know the seal leaks and remedial
cementing will be necessary.12
Acoustic Logging Measurements

Methods of acoustic measurements are by far the most important and wide spread methods to
evaluate cement jobs, nowadays. In combination of knowledge about acoustic properties of the
surrounding environment (formation, cement, casing), the response of the logging device
provides information on the acoustic coupling between either casing and cement, or cement and
formation. But there is still the problem there is no relationship between acoustic coupling and
sealing performance. To have a good bond only means, the acoustic coupling is of good quality
but the zonal isolation may still be poor. 12
The principal of operation is to induce an acoustic signal to the surroundings. Short bursts of
acoustic energy, with burst duration of about 50s and repetition rates of 10 60 Hz for cement
bond logs or 300 600 kHz for ultrasonic pulse echo respectively. 12
Markus Bernhart
Page 44 of 49
When performing a cement bond log (CBL), the emitted signal expands spherical and can find
its way from transmitter to a single, or each one of two used receivers along different paths. Those
can either be:
through mud - reflected by the casing - through mud,
through mud to casing - along the casing - through mud,
through both - along the cement - through both, or
through all three - along formation - through all three
to the receiver(s). Travelling and being reflected by a material has influence on the form of the
acoustic wave. Normally the wave to be received is the one that travelled along the casing
because of its relative short way and the high propagation speed through steel. The direct
reflection that only travels through mud goes the shortest of all paths, but nevertheless arrives at
last. What you really get is a composite result, containing all different waves received. The
received signal bears information on the path the emitted wave took. When there is a good bond
between casing and cement, most of the emitted energy will pass the casing and go into the
cement, when the bond between cement and formation is good, a large portion of the wave
energy will move into the formation, and vice versa. By interpreting a waveform signal diagram,
you can conclude on the path the signal travelled. There are still some special cases that lead to
difficulties in log-interpretation, but this is not dealt with in this paper. 12
The ultrasonic imaging tool (USIT, also ultrasonic pulse echo) technique provides nearly 100%
coverage of the casing wall when the pulse-echo type tool is rotated continuously. While the
transducer is rotated, it emits signals to and receives reflections from the casing wall. The
transducer rotates at about 7.5 rps and is fired 18 to 36 times per revolution, sending pulses of
200 to 700 kHz. The signal emitted towards the casing is partly reflected when it reaches the
edge of a material. Parts of the signal move on and the process repeats when reaching the next
material. To get an overall well integrity picture, the USIT is preferably used in combination with
CBL. The result is a colour-coded image, easy to read and interpret. The tool allows evaluation
of cement bond quality and internal and external casing condition.
When information on acoustic properties of the formation and the cement are available, acoustic
log interpretation provide various information. The response of the logging device is influenced
by different parameters, cement itself is the most obvious one. When interpreting an acoustic log,
detailed information on the well geometry, the cement job and on the formation characteristics
help to determine the origin of the log response. Another point that helps is to provide an
anticipated measurement result, which is then compared with the actual one. 12
An acoustic logging unit always contains a transducer, which induces the acoustic waves and
transmits it to the surroundings, and receivers, which measure the returning waves. The physical
basis of those measurements is the transmission speed of acoustic waves when travelling
through different materials, which can either be solids or fluids. For downhole measurements you
do always fill the space between logging device and borehole wall with some fluid to transmit the
signal to the surrounding formations. To position the logging device in the centre of the wellbore,
some centralisers are used for every such job. 12
There is to mention that acoustic properties of formations are generally well known, but those of
a cement bear some uncertainties. Cement doesnt keep its properties over its lifetime, but
changes, more rapidly in the beginning, when the hydration process takes in, but also at later
times. There shows a tendency, that with increasing density of a cement, the velocity of wave
propagation increases too. But in general, the lighter the cement, the more remarkable the
changes of acoustic properties. A very special case is foamed cement, especially when dealing
with high quality cement, it is hard to differentiate between water and cement. Long sections of
cement are another problem because the temperatures at both ends can differ significantly. That
results in cement of inhomogeneous properties, not only because of different hydration speed
during the hydration process, but also in later times when differences in composition were present
and consolidated. 12
Markus Bernhart
Page 45 of 49
Temperature and Noise Logging Measurements

The main application of temperature logging is the detection of the top of the cement in primary
cementing operations. This works on the principle of heat generation whilst the cement hardens,
in other words, cement hydration is an exothermal process and the logging device, run some
hours after the cement job is done, gives you some non-uniformity in the logging profile. This
deviation of the normal temperature gradient stands for the depth at which the cement column
ends. Factors like annular thickness, heat conductivity of the formation and cement additives
influence the practicability of temperature logs strongly, but because this is only important after
primary cementing, this is not discussed in detail in this paper. 12
To identify communication behind the cemented casing is the more important application of
temperature logs within this paper. Therefore, a first temperature survey is done to measure the
actual temperature profile of the wellbore. Then some amount of fluid, e.g. diesel oil, is injected
in the depth of interest an after another survey, both profiles are compared to determine the
sealing quality of the cement. 12
Every movement of fluids generates noise. For that fact, noise logging can be applied to detect
fluid flow from the formation into the wellbore, as well as fluid communication behind the casing.
Although this technique might give accurate results for flow behind the casing, it is hardly used
because it takes a lot of time per length, for the reason that noise is produced from the equipment
itself when in motion. So adequate results desire to perform static measurements and that takes
a lot of time and hence money. 12
Markus Bernhart
Page 46 of 49
Summary
Every production well has to be abandoned in some point in time, going along with regulations
of the country in which it is placed. So there are some specifications you have to plan going along
with. Other issues, depending on the environment of the wellbore have to be adjusted choosing
of available material and tool selections. In the end it is all about sealing the wellbore in a long
term way, either for separating different layers of hydrocarbons and/or water bearing, or to
prevent migration of fluids to the surface.
Someone has to decide which parts to plan with, either with material already available at the wellsite or specially delivered for the abandonment job. A very import point is to perform the job in an
adequate way without remedial work.
To install an appropriate seal, the cement of the plug has to be adjusted to the wells needs, which
is done by the use of numerous available additives and as another important point, the right
placement was discussed, including the right displacement of fluids previously in place, as well
as the choice of the right placement method. The decision for a method highly depends on
economic measures, as well as on the aspect of time, which is needed by the cement to build up
strength, but is related to costs again.
In the end of the paper, methods to determine the integrity of a plug and how they are executed
are mentioned.
Markus Bernhart
Page 47 of 49
Conclusion/Outlook
Already in early stages in the lifetime of a well the operator should think of the aspect of
abandonment and plan the completion in ways that allow effective sealing of the well and provide
long-time integrity. No matter how aggressive the environment might be, the use of the right
materials can provide proper safety. A very important point is to execute the abandonment job
properly at the first time, to prevent the necessity of remedial operations, which would result in
tremendous extra costs, due to the longer time used for it.
In the economic aspect I recommend to do abandonment analysis regularly, like once a year,
and before any larger investment is necessary to maintain production performance. For decision
making itself, we have to oppose expected data for future income, depending on production
forecast and expected oil prices, and expectations concerning upcoming total costs. This is done
on basis of net present value calculations. The results will be checked, whether continuing the
project is economic, in case of a positive NPV or if the money needed to proceed with production
is better to be used somewhere else.
Well abandonment and the right timing of execution do highly depend on the quality of production
forecasts, right determination of production costs and the oil price, which is the main factor.
Therefore acquisition of reliable data is necessary, followed by finding a corresponding production
profile that fits to the observed data and extrapolating it for expected future behaviour. This goes
hand in hand with cost estimations, including not only costs caused by production itself, but also
for maintenance work, that is required for constant production.
By far the most important factor is the oil price, which is directly related to the revenues, so, at a
higher oil price, even less effective work might become economical and allow to use a method of
enhanced oil recovery that subsequently increases ultimate recovery, which in the end leads to
higher revenues again.
Markus Bernhart
Page 48 of 49
References
1
Working Document of the NPC North American Resource Development Study, Made
Available September 15, 2011, Paper #2-25, PLUGGING AND ABANDONMENT OF
OIL AND GAS WELLS, Prepared by the Technology Subgroup of the Operations &
Environment Task Group,
Risk Assessment of Temporarily Abandoned or Shut-in Wells, J.R. Nichol, M.Eng.,

P.Eng. and S. N. Kariyawasam, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Richard D. Seba, Economics of Worldwide Petroleum Production, Oil & Gas

Consultants International, 1998 and 1993 editions
Max Ball, This Fascinating Oil Business, 1940, Bobbs-Merrill Co., New York
http://www.oil-price.net/en/articles/reasons-behind-oil-price-rise.php; 13.12.2010, 16.05

MESZ
Arthur W. McCray, Petroleum Evaluations and Economic Decisions, Prentice-Hall, Inc.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2187130_calculate-net-present-value-npv.html; 14.12.2010,
09.00 MESZ
http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite3/toolkit/dcacycl.htm; 18.12.2010, 13.30 MES
Enhanced Oil Recovery, Don W. Green, G. Paul Willhite
10
http://www.oil-price.net/en/articles/novel-crude-oil-recovery.php;
MESZ
11
Technical Manual Injection Well Abandonment, Gerathy & Miller, Inc.
12
Well Cementing, Erik B. Nelson, 1990
13
The Plugging Process: Securing old Gas & Oil Wells for the Protection of the
Environment, Steven A. Fields and Max M. Martin
14
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_of_petroleum; 12.01.2011, 15.55 MESZ
15
Abandonment Decision Economics, Markus Bernhart, 2010
16
http://www.petal.ro/produse-sub-agregate-id-6-lang-en.html
Markus Bernhart
13.12.2010,
13.30
Page 49 of 49

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Well Abandonment

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Bernhart Markus

Prof. Dr.mont. Dipl.-Ing. Herbert Hofsttter

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Two Plug Method .................................................................................................................................. 31

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

History and Regulations

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 1: Permanent Abandonment Well Schematic2

Temporary Abandonment (TA)

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 2: Temporary Abandonment Well Schematic2

Shut-In Wells (SI)

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 3: Shut-In Well Schematic2

Well Abandonment Strategies

Economics & When to execute abandonment

Basic Economic Thoughts

Operating Expenses (OPEX)

Well Abandonment Strategies

The Oil Price and its Influence

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Future Production Evaluation

Figure 5: Forms of Production Curves E3

Well Abandonment Strategies

Production Decline Curves

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 7: Exponential Production History, Arithmetic Plot and Workover6

Yearly Production Calculations

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 8: Price per Time Unit6

Changes of Economic Reserves and Required Production

Well Abandonment Strategies

Present Value Calculations

Production Rate Restrictions

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 9: Restricted Production6

Economic Analysis of Operations

Well Abandonment Strategies

production decline is countered by secondary or enhanced oil recovery like water-flooding

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Fluid Severity (sour/non-sour)

Well Abandonment Strategies

Well Abandonment Strategies

Cleanout, Removal and Repair

Well Abandonment Strategies

Selection and Establishment of Plugging Fluid

Well Abandonment Strategies

Establishment of cement slurry composition

Plug Placement Methods

Well Abandonment Strategies

Existing Casing Plugging Method.

Cement Retainer Method

Well Abandonment Strategies

Figure 10: Principles of the Cement Retainer Method11

Well Abandonment Strategies

Two Plug Method