Methods for formulating a cement slurry for use in a subterranean salt formation using geometric modeling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10364643-B2
Application number	US-201715809967-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2017
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Jul 30, 2019
Grant date	Jul 30, 2019

Abstract

Methods including experimentally determining a salt creep profile for a single salt or intercalated salts in a subterranean formation, designing a proposed cement slurry based on the salt creep profile, experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming a wellbore load resistant cement sheath based on actual thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of the proposed cement slurry, theoretically determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath by designing an electronic, cross-section geometric model of the subterranean salt formation and simulating a condition of the wellbore loads on the cured proposed cement slurry using the geometric model, establishing a final cement slurry capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath, and performing a final cementing operation with the final cement slurry in the subterranean salt formation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
designing a proposed cement slurry based on an experimentally determined salt creep profile for a single salt at a first location in a wellbore in a subterranean salt formation;
experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming a wellbore load resistant cement sheath at the first location based on actual thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of the proposed cement slurry;
theoretically determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath at the first location, the theoretical determination comprising: designing an electronic, cross-section geometric model of the subterranean salt formation at the first location, wherein the geometric model represents the subterranean salt formation, a casing, and the proposed cement slurry after curing, and
simulating a plane-strain condition of wellbore loads on the cured proposed cement slurry at the first location in the subterranean formation using the geometric model; and
establishing a final cement slurry capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath based on the experimental and theoretical determinations.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising experimentally determining the salt creep profile by performing at least one of: obtaining at least one wellbore core sample of the wellbore in the subterranean formation at the first location, and performing a core sample salt creep load measurement using the wellbore core sample, performing a downhole salt creep load measurement at the first location in the wellbore in the subterranean formation, and obtaining an offset well salt creep load measurement and performing a parametric analysis thereon, wherein the offset well and the wellbore in the subterranean salt formation are located in a same oil field.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath comprises performing at least one of: curing the proposed cement slurry, and performing an ultrasonic cement analyzer test on the cured proposed cement slurry, and curing the proposed cement slurry, and performing uniaxial and triaxial compression tests on the cured proposed cement slurry.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein simulating the plane-strain condition of the wellbore loads comprises simulating the plane-strain condition of wellbore loads based on the wellbore loads and one or both of: theoretical thermal and thereto-mechanical properties of the cured proposed cement slurry, or the actual thermal and thereto-mechanical properties of the cured proposed cement slurry.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein theoretically determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath comprises: simulating the plane-strain condition of wellbore loads based on the theoretical thermal and thereto-mechanical properties before experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming a wellbore load resistant cement sheath, and simulating the plane-strain condition of wellbore loads based on the actual thermal and thereto-mechanical properties after experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming a wellbore load resistant cement sheath.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: providing the wellbore in the subterranean salt formation; experimentally determining the salt creep profile for the single salt at the first location in the wellbore in the subterranean formation; and performing a final cementing operation with the final cement slurry in the subterranean salt formation.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: manipulating the proposed cement slurry after experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath; and repeating the experimental and theoretical determinations until the proposed cement slurry is the final cement slurry that is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: manipulating the proposed cement slurry after theoretically determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath; and repeating the experimental and theoretical determinations until the proposed cement slurry is the final cement slurry that is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising introducing the final cement slurry into the wellbore through a tubular extending into the wellbore with a pump fluidly coupled to the tubular.

10. A method comprising:
designing a proposed cement slurry based on an experimentally determined salt creep profile for intercalated salts along a first length of a wellbore in a subterranean salt formation; experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming a wellbore load resistant cement sheath along the first length based on actual thermal and thermo-mechanical properties of the proposed cement slurry;
theoretically determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath along the first length, the theoretical determination comprising: designing an electronic, longitudinal geometric model of the subterranean salt formation along the first length, wherein the geometric model represents the subterranean salt formation, a casing, and the proposed cement slurry after curing, and
simulating an axisymmetric condition or a three-dimensional condition of wellbore loads on the cured proposed cement slurry along the first length in the subterranean salt formation using the geometric model; and
establishing a final cement slurry capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath based on the experimental and theoretical determinations.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising experimentally determining the salt creep profile by performing at least one of: obtaining at least one wellbore core sample of the wellbore in the subterranean salt formation at the first length, and performing a core sample salt creep load measurement using the wellbore core sample, performing a downhole salt creep load measurement at the first length in the wellbore in the subterranean salt formation, and obtaining an offset well salt creep load measurement and performing a parametric analysis thereon, wherein the offset well and the wellbore in the subterranean salt formation are located in a same oil field.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein experimentally determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capable of forming the wellbore load resistant cement sheath comprises performing at least one of: curing the proposed cement slurry, and performing an ultrasonic cement analyzer test on the cured proposed cement slurry, and curing the proposed cement slurry, and performing uniaxial and triaxial compression tests on the cured proposed cement slurry.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein simulating the axisymmetric condition or the three-dimensional condition of the wellbore loads comprises simulating the axisymmetric condition or the three-dimensional condition based on the wellbore loads and one or both of: theoretical thermal and thereto-mechanical properties of the cured proposed cement slurry, or the actual thermal and thereto-mechanical properties of the cured proposed cement slurry.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein theoretically determining whether the proposed cement slurry is capab

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Jandhyala Siva Rama Krishna
• Ravi Krishna M

Classifications

• E21B33/14 Primary

  for cementing casings into boreholes · CPC title

• C04B7/361

  Condition or time responsive control in hydraulic cement manufacturing processes (controlling or regulating in general G05; F27B7/42 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B47/08

  Measuring diameters or related dimensions at the borehole · CPC title

• E21B49/00

  Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells · CPC title

• G06F9/455

  Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines · CPC title