SPE Drilling & Completion
Volume 25,
Number 4,
December 2010,
pp. 426-437
Summary
The global oil and gas industry is being challenged to increase production
to meet the rising world energy demand. One of the key areas now being explored
and developed to meet this demand are reserves below massive salt
formations.
To reach these reserves, it is necessary to drill through and case off the
salt. Casing and cementing operations in such salt zones can pose particular
challenges, ranging from the effect of salt dissolution on cement-slurry
properties to the potential dangers presented by salt creep to the integrity of
the well and the need to plan for contingencies for potential zones of
overpressure or lost circulation. This paper examines and explores the
challenges inherent with cementing across salt zones in the global arena.
The current best practices for cementing casing strings across salt zones in
some of the major subsalt basins of the world, including the North Sea and the
Gulf of Mexico, are detailed and discussed.
This work should assist those tasked with the construction of wells that
have to penetrate significant salt formations to achieve their objectives
safely and reliably.
© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
12 June 2009
- Meeting paper published:
5 August 2009
- Revised manuscript received:
16 March 2010
- Manuscript approved:
18 March 2010
- Published online:
21 October 2010
- Version of record:
16 December 2010
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