Open Access

ARTICLE

Development of a High-Temperature Thixotropic Cement Slurry System

Ping Lv¹, Jiufei Liu², Mengran Xu^3,*, Hui Tian^3,4, Huajie Liu³, Yuhuan Bu³, Zhuang Cai³, Junfeng Qu⁵

1 Institute of Petroleum Engineering Technology, Sinopec Northwest Oil Field Company, Urumqi, 830000, China
2 Xinjiang Branch of CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company Limited, Korla, 841000, China
3 School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China
4 Sinopec Shengli Petroleum Engineering Co., Ltd., Dongying, China
5 Henan Science and Technology Innovation Promotion Center, Zhenzhou, 450003, China

* Corresponding Author: Mengran Xu. Email:

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2023, 19(11), 2907-2921. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2023.029304

Received 12 February 2023; Accepted 25 April 2023; Issue published 18 September 2023

Abstract

Cementing carbonate reservoirs is generally a difficult task. The so-called thixotropic cement slurry has gained considerable attention in this regard as it can help to fix some notable problems. More precisely, it can easily fill the leakage layer; moreover, its gelling strength can grow rapidly when pumping stops, thereby increasing the resistance to gas channeling, effectively preventing this undesired phenomenon in many cases. High-temperature thixotropic cement slurry systems, however, are still in an early stage of development and additional research is needed to make them a viable option. In the present study, using a self-developed composite high-temperature thixotropic additive as a basis, it is shown that the compressive strength can be adjusted by tuning the proportion of silica sand, the high-temperature retarder, fluid loss additive and dispersant (compatible with the thixotropic additive). According to the tests, the developed high-temperature thixotropic cement slurry system has a 14 d compressive strength of 29.73 MPa at 150°C, and a thickening time of 330 min when the dosage of retarder is 2%. At the same time, the rheological property, water loss, permeability, water separation rate, and settlement stability of the cement slurry system meet the requirements of cementing construction.

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Keywords

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