Abstract

Good-quality cementing is achieved when drilling mud is replaced completely with cement slurry. Construction of directional wells is often accompanied by presence of bottlenecks at pipe-borehole contact points restricting the flow of drilling mud. The most effective technique to solve this problem is rotation of the casing string during cementing. Numerous bench tests and simulation studies confirmed that casing rotation can improve replacement of drilling mud with cement slurry. However, this is not a commonly used practice. This is primarily due to lack of specialized wellhead equipment and threaded joints load limitation. The paper reviews the development of casing-rotation-while-cementing technology in PJSC TATNEFT. The first casing rotation operations were performed in heavyoil horizontal wells drilled using slant drilling rigs. Application of a rotating cementing head enabled continuous casing rotation with no need for shutdowns to squeeze the cement plug and significantly improved cementing quality. For large-scale implementation of the casing rotation technique, a versatile rotating cementing head has been manufactured for cementing of 102-168-mm casing strings. Experience has shown that the key barrier for nonstop casing rotation during cementing jobs is torque limitation for buttress thread connections. Another limiting factor is the effect of torque and drag accompanied by the increased hook load, resulting in casing rotation stoppage. Nevertheless, acoustic and gamma-gamma cement-bond logs prove beneficial effect of casing rotation in obtaining a homogeneous cement sheath.

Key words:

casing cementing, casing rotation, cementing head, cementing quality, zonal isolation

References

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Authors

F.F. Akhmadishin, PhD, Head of Drilling Department, TatNIPIneft Institute – PJSC TATNEFT
40, M.Djalil st., Bugulma, 423326, Russia Federation
E-mail: ffa@tatnipi.ru

A.R. Iskhakov, Junior Research Associate, Well Casing Laboratory, TatNIPIneft Institute – PJSC TATNEFT
40, M.Djalil st., Bugulma, 423326, Russia Federation
E-mail: krep@tatnipi.ru

I.V. Lvova, PhD, Scientific Secretary, TatNIPIneft–PJSC TATNEFT
40, M.Djalil st., Bugulma, 423326, Russia Federation
E-mail: dis@tatnipi.ru

A.V. Abakumov, Technician Engineer, Well Cementing and Trouble Zone Isolation Sector, Well Construction Administration – PJSC TATNEFT
75, Lenin st., Almetyevsk, 423400, Russia Federation
E-mail: AbakumovAV@tatneft.ru

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