Abstract
Gas and water migration in the hydrating cement slurry is a major cause of well completion failure. Gas and water migration may occur at different curing times due to varying well conditions and cement slurries. The current study has not been carried out to investigate the gas and water migration at different curing times. In this paper, theoretical calculations and migration experiments are used to investigate the gas and water migration in cement slurry at different curing times. The gas and water migration process can be divided into the formation rock to annular cement slurry (F-A) stage and the bottom to top (B-T) stage. At relatively short curing time, the cement slurry is more like a viscous fluid and there is clear interface between the gas and slurry. The pressure difference required for gas migration in F-A stage is very small. Maximum velocity of gas bubble migration in B-T stage is closely related to gas bubble size and cement viscosity. The smaller the size of gas bubble and the greater the viscosity of the cement slurry, the smaller the maximum velocity of the gas bubble will be. There is no clear interface between the water and slurry at relatively short curing time. The pressure difference of water migration is small. At relatively long curing time, the cement slurry has a certain of gel strength and there is also clear interface between the gas/water and slurry. The water migration is similar to gas migration. The pressure difference required for gas and water migration in F-A stage increases as the static gel strength increases. The size of the gas and water bubbles formed after invasion increases as the static gel strength increases. The critical radius at which gas and water bubbles can move is closely related to the static gel strength of the cement slurry. The greater the static gel strength, the larger the critical radius will be. The channeling path sizes of the gas and water migration are all small at relatively short curing times. The dimensions of the channel are gradually increasing from bottom to top. The pressure difference of gas migration and the dimension of channel increase as curing time increases. When the cement slurry cures for a long enough period, the gas cannot migrate in the cement slurry, but only along the weak cement slurry-wellbore interface.
Published Version
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