Mechanical Properties of API Class C Cement Contaminated with Oil-Based Mud OBM at Elevated Temperatures and Early Curing Time

Abstract

The catastrophic events faced by the Oil and Gas industry in the past depict the importance of maintaining the integrity of the well. The cement acts as a crucial barrier throughout the life cycle of the well. The contamination of the cement occurs due to inefficiency in cementing practices and operations. Experimental investigations have been done on the reduction in mechanical properties of different API class cement considering contamination with water-based mud and oil-based mud. This study focuses on analyzing the changes in mechanical properties of API Class C cement on varying the following parameters: OBM contamination (0%, 0.6%, 1.1%, 2.2%, 4.3%) Curing time (4 hrs, 6 hrs, 8 hrs, 1 day, 3 days, 7 days) Temperature (25˚C, 75 ˚C) API recommendations were followed for preparing the cement slurries. The destructive, as well as non-destructive tests were carried out on the cement samples at ambient room temperature to measure the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) for OBM contaminated class C cement slurries. The general trend observed is that the UCS increases with an increase in curing time and temperature. UCS decreases with an increase in OBM contamination. Logarithmic trends were obtained for UCS vs curing time for different contaminations at a given temperature. Exceptions were observed at lower curing times where contaminated samples showed better results than the neat cement slurries. These observations play a critical role in understanding contaminated cement behavior. This widespread work was carried out only on API Class C cement to provide reliable data for future references. The correlations presented in this paper will help operators estimate the deterioration in mechanical properties of Class C cement in the presence of low OBM contamination. Email: nachiket.arbad@ou.edu & cteodoriu@ou.edu