CA1094799A - Method of determining the integrity of abandonment plugs in wells - Google Patents

Method of determining the integrity of abandonment plugs in wells

Info

Publication number
CA1094799A
CA1094799A CA298,698A CA298698A CA1094799A CA 1094799 A CA1094799 A CA 1094799A CA 298698 A CA298698 A CA 298698A CA 1094799 A CA1094799 A CA 1094799A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
plug
detection device
cement
abandonment
weight
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA298,698A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Francis J. Bennett
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
SUNGROUP ENERGY SERVICES Co
Original Assignee
CANADIAN PERFORATORS Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by CANADIAN PERFORATORS Ltd filed Critical CANADIAN PERFORATORS Ltd
Priority to CA298,698A priority Critical patent/CA1094799A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1094799A publication Critical patent/CA1094799A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • EFIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21BEARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
    • E21B47/00Survey of boreholes or wells
    • E21B47/005Monitoring or checking of cementation quality or level

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • Geophysics (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Drilling And Boring (AREA)
  • Earth Drilling (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An abandonment plug is placed by the drill pipe which is then raised above the plug until some hardening of the plug takes place. A detection or measuring unit is lowered down the hole through the drill pipe by a winch system such as a wireline device, until it contacts the plug at which time a weight measurement indicates that an obstruction has been reached. A temperature measuring de-vice will indicate a rise in temperature if the plug has been encountered, due to the fact that the hardening cement gives off heat. Further, by means of adding a radio active material to the cement, a radiation detector will indicate an increase in the counting rate. The combination of all three measurements confirms that the plug has been placed and also the depth at which it has been placed. Due to the relative lightweight of the detection device on the end of the cable compared to the relatively heavyweight of the drill pipe string which is normally used to determine the setting of the plug, the waiting time for the cement to harden enough to support the weight of the device is re-duced considerably.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to new and useful improve-ments in methods for measuring the steps of abandonment plugs and determining the integrity thereof within bore holes.

~.

10~7~9 When a gas or oil well is abandoned, it is neces-sary to situate cement abandonment plugs at locations down the well bore and regulations require that the abandonment plug locations be proven.

These plugs are placed in the bore hole in order to prevent formation fluid from moving up or down the aban-doned bore hole from one porous formation to another there-by isolating the zones from one another in order to prevent pressure flow and sometimes to prevent contamination of nearby fresh water supplies.

Conventionally, the plugs are placed in the well by means of pumping a mixture of cement and water down the center of the drill pipe and out of the open end of the pipe.
It will be appreciated that the bore hole is already full of drilling mud fluid and the cement and water mixture is de-signed so that it is approximately the same density as the drilling mud. Therefore, the plug will not move up or down the hole as a result of buoyancy after it has been placed.

When the appropriate amount of cement and water has been pumped into th drill pipe, it is followed by an amount of water measured to exactly fill up the drill pipe thereby expelling all of the cement water mixture from the pipe.
This water is called displacement water. The drill pipe is then hoisted up the hole a short distance leaving the cement plug behind, to wait for the hardening of the ce-ment.

Conventionally, the rig must wait for the cement to harden to a point where the plug supports the full weight of the drill pipe thus indicating that the plug has been set and indicating the approximate location of the S plug down the hole.

Inasmuch as drill pipes may weigh many thousands of pounds, the waiting time for the cement to set up suffi-ciently to support this weight, is usually eight to ten hours and, of course, is extremely costly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes these disadvanta-ges by utilizing a detection device which may be lowered downwardly through the drill pipe system, on the end of a cable such as a wireline device. Due to the relatively lightweight of such a detection device, the cement will have set sufficiently to support the weight thereof in approximately one hour, thus saving considerable rig time per abandonment and at the same time establishing the in-tegrity of the plug and the location thereof.

One aspect of the invention consists of a method of determining the integrity of a cement a~andonment plug within a well bore hole in which a drill tube string is run;
comprising the steps of first setting the plug at the loca-tion desired, raising the drill tube string a distance above 10~47~9 the plug and allowing said plug to commence hardening, lowering a detection device from the surface, downwardly through the drill tube until it engages the upper surface of the plug, measur-ing the weight of the detection device as it descends the bore hole, stopping the descent of the detection device when a de-crease in weight thereof is indicated due to an obstruction be-ing reached by the detection device, and confirming the location of the abandonment plug by recording the ambient temperature as the detection device descends and by noting an increase in the ambient temperature due to the heat generated by the hardening of the cement plug.

Another aspect of the invention consists of a method of determining the integrity of a cement abandonment plug with-in a well bore hole similar tc that described above comprising the additional step of adding a detectable radio active material to the cement, and monitoring the radiation emitted by the radio active material as the detection device approaches and reaches the upper side of the plug.

With the foregoing in view, and other advantages as will become apparent to those silled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

DESCRIPTION OF T~E FIGURES
Figure 1 is a schematic cross section of a bore hole with several abandonment plugs installed therein.

109~799 Figure 2 is a schematic view of the lower end of a drill tube system showing the plug being placed.

Figure 3 is a schematic cross sectional view of a well bore hole with a plug in place and showing the detection device and associated measuring system.

Figure 4 is a graph showing an example of the weight change when the detection device reaches the plug.

_ j, 10!~4799 Figure 5 shows a graph representing radiation count and temperature at the location of the plug.

In the drawings like characters of reference in-dicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Proceeding therefore to describe the invention in detail, reference should first be made to Figures 1 and 2 in which 10 illustrates the surface and 11 a well bore hole formed downwardly shown with a plurality of abandonment plugs 12 located therein, between various zones indicated schematically by arrow 13.

The surface casing 14 is placed and cement 15 sur-rounds the annulus between the outside of the surface cas-ing and the wall 16 of the bore hole as shown.

In Figure 2, reference character 17 illustrates schematically, the drill tube system having a lower open end 18, said drill tube system being lowered from the sur-face by conventional equipment (not illustrated).

A mixture of cement and water 19 is pumped from the surface down the drill tube 17, it being understood 109~799 that the bore hole is full of drilling mud and fluids (not illustrated). The density of the cement/water mixture 19 is similar to the density of the drill mud so that it does not sink or rise once it is expelled from the lower end of the drill tube 17. Once the cement has been pumped into the drill tube system, an amount of water equivalent to the volume of the drill tube, is pumped into the drill tube as indicated by arrow 20, thus displacing the cement/water from the open lower end 18 of the drill tube and upwardly to surround the drill tube as indicated in Figure 2. The drill tube system is then withdrawn a pre-determined safe distance above the plug 19 and held there until the plug begins to harden or set.

After approximately one hour, the time depending upon ambient temperatures and other conditions, a detection device collectively designated 21, is lowered down the drill tube system by means of a flexible cable 22, forming part of a device such as a conventional wireline device.

The wireline device includes the aforementioned flexible cable 22, fed over guidance pulleys or sheaves 23 supported in derrick 24 above the upper end of the bore, and controlled from a winch system 25 within an instrument truck or vehicle such as indicated schematically by refer-ence character 26. However, other winching devices can be used, but as wireline devices are used extensively in well drilling operations, such a device is usually readily avail-able.

The detection device 21 consists of an elongated cas-ing 27 containing conventional detectors such as for example a radiation detector illustrated schematically by reference charac-ter 28, and a heat or temperature indicating device as indicated schematically by reference character 29. These devices are con-ventional and are connected by any suitable means, to meters and gauges within the instrument truck 26 and illustrated schemati-cally by reference character 30.

The method of connecting the measuring devices 28 and 29, to the instrumentation 30, may either be by means of cable connections or radio connections, such connections being conven-tional.

It is desirable under certain circumstances, that a detectable radio active material (not illustrated) be mixed with the cement/water mixture forming the plug 19 and the radiation detection device 28 is adapted to measure the rays given off by radio active material.

~s an example, radio active material may be used which produces gamma rays which are readily detectable by the device 28 and indicated by the instrumentation 30 which preferably in-cludes means to display the information in graph form as illus-trated in Figures 4 and 5.

_ -8-~09~799 Also provided within the instrument vehicle 26, is a scale device (not illustrated) to measure the weight of the detection device 20 together with the associated cable 22. Once again, such measuring device is conven-S tional and it is not believed necessary to describe samefurther except to mention that it also should be provided with means to produce a graph such as that illustrated in Figure 4, it being understood that the weight of the de-tection device together with the cable 22, increases as it is lowered down the bore hole due to the additional amount of cable being required.

Inasmuch as the detection device 21 and cable 22 weigh considerably less than the conventional drill tube system, it will be apparent that the cement plug does not have to harden to its fullest extent before it will sup-port the weight of the detection device and cable.

As an example, the detection device and cable may weigh in the neighborhood of 200 pounds compared to the weight of the drill tube system which may weigh several thousand pounds.

~ hen the plug material 19 has set up sufficiently to support the weight of the detection device 21, the de-tection device is lowered down the drill tube system 17 until the lower end 31 reaches an obstruction, said point being indicated by a decrease in the weight being recorded by the in-strumentation. Confirmation that this obstruction, in face the upper side l9A of the abandonment plug, may then be made by examining the record of the ambient temperature and if required, the radiation measured by the detection devices 28 and 29 re-spectively.

As an example, the ambient temperature will be relative-ly constant until it reaches the proximity of the abandonment plug at which time an increase of temperature will be noted due to the fact that when cement is hardening, heat is given off.

By the same token, the background radiation being measured by the device 28, remains reasonably constant as the device descends the bore hole, until it is in the vicinity of the plug material 19 at which time an increase in radiation will be noticed due to the radio active material incorporated in the cementforming the plug.

These three measurements, the weight comparison, the temperature increase and the radiation increase, reinforce one another to confirm that in fact the detection device 21 has reached the upper side of the plug and by measuring the amount of cable required to lower the detection device to the plug, the depth or location of the plug in the bore hole may also be ascer-tained.

Considerable time and expense is therefore saved by the '~, " 1094799 use of this device as compared to the conventional plug proving system.

The invention permits the location of the plug to be determined firstly by the weight measurement of the detection device and this location may then be confirmed by the increase in the ambient temperature due to the setting up action of the cement. Further confirmation may be obtained either by measur-ing the increase in radiation, if radio active material is in-corporated in the cement or by measuring the length of cable re-quired for the detection device to reach the plug, or both.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from such spirit and scope, it is intended that lS all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

"~

Claims

WHAT I CLAIM AS MY INVENTION IS:
(1) A method of determining the integrity of a ce-ment abandonment plug within a well bore hole in which a drill tube string is run; comprising the steps of first setting the plug at the location desired, raising the drill tube string a distance above the plug and allowing said plug to commence har-dening, lowering a detection device from the surface, downward-ly through the drill tube until it engages the upper surface of the plug, measuring the weight of the detection device as it descends the bore hole, stopping the descent of the detection when a decrease in weight thereof is indicated due to an ob-struction being reached by the detection device, and confirming the location of the abandonment plug by recording the ambient temperature as the detection device descends and by noting an increase in the ambient temperature due to the heat generated by the hardening of the cement plug.

(2) The method according to Claim 1 which includes adding a quantity of detectable radio active material to the cement forming the plug and monitoring the radiation emitted by the radio active material as the detection device approaches and reaches the upper side of the plug.

(3) The method according to Claim 1 which includes the additional step of measuring the length of the cable support-ing the said detection device when it has reached the upper side of the abandonment plug thereby indicating the depth at which said plug is located.

(4) The method according to Claim 2 which includes the additional step of measuring the length of the cable support-ing the said detection device when it has reached the upper side of the abandonment plug thereby indicating the depth at which said plug is located.
CA298,698A 1978-03-10 1978-03-10 Method of determining the integrity of abandonment plugs in wells Expired CA1094799A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA298,698A CA1094799A (en) 1978-03-10 1978-03-10 Method of determining the integrity of abandonment plugs in wells

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CA298,698A CA1094799A (en) 1978-03-10 1978-03-10 Method of determining the integrity of abandonment plugs in wells

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1094799A true CA1094799A (en) 1981-02-03

Family

ID=4110960

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA298,698A Expired CA1094799A (en) 1978-03-10 1978-03-10 Method of determining the integrity of abandonment plugs in wells

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1094799A (en)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4607694A (en) * 1985-01-16 1986-08-26 Ramesh Sah Well plug quality testing
US7380598B2 (en) * 2005-05-26 2008-06-03 Bp Corporation North America Inc. Method for detecting fluid leakage from a subterranean formation

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4607694A (en) * 1985-01-16 1986-08-26 Ramesh Sah Well plug quality testing
US7380598B2 (en) * 2005-05-26 2008-06-03 Bp Corporation North America Inc. Method for detecting fluid leakage from a subterranean formation
US7775274B2 (en) 2005-05-26 2010-08-17 Bp Corporation North America Inc. Method for detecting fluid leakage from a subterranean formation

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