Successful Application of Slag Based Flexible Cement for Resilient and Carbon Dioxide Corrosion Resistance

摘要

In 2018, an operator in Malaysia completed a sidetrack campaign consisting of injector wells. These wells were planned for maximum productivity via sustainable wellbore zonal isolation. The presence of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in these wells elevated concern about the zonal isolation of cement across the interval. Moreover, for an injector well, the cement must exhibit resilient properties by design of enhanced mechanical properties to provide long-term isolation based on a cyclic wellbore. An advanced slurry system was designed that enabled the set cement to manifest superior properties in three parameters—corrosion resistance against CO2, flexibility against wellbore stress changes, and expansion to mitigate microannuli. The design of the slag-based flexible cement system with expanding additive (slag-flex) considered all three parameters in the fit-for-purpose application of a resilient and flexible expansive cement system in a CO2-rich well. The system’s mechanical properties, such as Young’s Modulus, Poisson’s Ratio, and tensile strength, were verified with laboratory-scale testing and validation against stress analysis software to confirm on the resilient and flexible properties. The laboratory testing result demonstrated the improved properties of the system, including high tensile strength and low Young’s modulus. Furthermore, the reduced water content of the system decreases the permeability of set cement and thus increases resistance towards corrosive substance such as CO2. For certain cases in the past, two separate slurry systems had to be designed—a lead slurry with CO2- resistant properties and a tail slurry with flexible and resilient properties. Often, several issues arose from this practice, including complex logistics due to cement silo blend arrangement and complexity during job execution. Hence, this new system presents a novel idea and methodology that will deliver value to the oilfield industry by integrating CO2 resistance, flexibility and expansion properties in a single slurry system. The system was successfully pumped in wells in Malaysia; no sustained casing pressure has been recorded to date, and wells have been delivered to their intended zonal isolation requirements without compromising well design and overall integrity. This is an innovative application of this type of cement system in the region, and the long-term zonal isolation and well integrity assurance in these and future wells have the potential to save millions of dollars in remedial work. The cement system is currently recognized as the default technology for CO2-rich injector wells in Malaysia.