Because of increasing rig rates, the costs associated with the cement bond evaluation are now subject to scrutiny. Traditionally, the cost of the service and interpretation were linked to the value of the information provided, i.e. the quality of data gathered was directly related to the necessity of zonal isolation. The daily rig cost must now be considered, specifically costs directly related to the operating time required to acquire the cement evaluation data. The cost of operating rig time is often an order of magnitude higher than that of the cement bond logging service and should be a critical factor in the determination of the service provider and type of equipment run. The correct logging tool and evaluation method provides the best process for evaluating the cement sheath. Several wellbore factors should be considered when selecting the proper tool for optimal results, including casing size, well deviation, fluid type, and fluid weight during the logging operations. However, the reservoir and the chosen completion should also influence the selection of the cement evaluation tool. Reservoir properties to consider include water contacts in or near zone of interest, drive mechanisms and isolation between production zones. The completion design, including perforation strategies, stimulation method, and sand control, should also influence the cement sheath evaluation process. The challenges of a cost efficient and complete cement sheath evaluation required the development of a new cement evaluation tool. The FASTCAST™ tool expands the capabilities of CAST-V™ and existing analysis software. The new ultrasonic tools increase the logging speed up to five times, significantly reducing logging time, rig time, and costs. The tool provides cement evaluation and casing evaluation during the same logging pass. The existing software packages for cement and casing evaluation were updated to provide a complete analysis package for the new tool. The paper presents case histories to provide details about the economic advantage from using this new technology and processed logs showing both casing and cement evaluation. Traditional Cement and Casing Evaluation Tools Traditional cement evaluation uses standard tools and methods to determine the presence and integrity of the cement sheath. These tools include the sonic or standard cement bond log (CBL), and the newer ultrasonic tools, which consist of the multi-transducer ultrasonic tools and the new generation of rotating, single-transducer ultrasonic tools. Several previously published papers in the bibliography Frisch et al.12345 provide more detail about tool theory and applications. When combined, these two types of tools provide an accurate determination of the cement sheath and cement to pipe and cement to formation coupling. Unfortunately, the standard logging speed of cement evaluation tools are 15 FPM to 30 FPM. Since the cost of a typical remedial cement operation can be as much as $2,000,00 in Deepwater US, it is time to seriously evaluate cement evaluation tools and techniques to reduce needless remedial cement expenses and cement evaluation logging time. Cement Bond Log (CBL) Tools In conventional CBL tools, a transmitter is pulsed to produce an omnidirectional acoustic signal that travels along various paths through the borehole fluid, pipe, cement, and formation, to a set of receivers. The logging system records the received waveforms and displays them on the log along with a pipe-amplitude curve. Interpretation of the CBL uses these two measurements to evaluate two bonds; the first bond measures the cement-to-pipe bond, and the second measures the cement-to-formation bond. These tools include cement bond (CBL), segmented bond (SB), and the radial bond (RB). Traditionally the pipe amplitude curve has been used to determine the quality of the pipe to cement bond, while the waveform display is used to determine both the pipe to cement bond and the cement to formation bond. The classic interpretation of the waveform display is that straight traces indicate there is no cement in the borehole, while any variation in the acoustical waveform indicates that some cement is present.

A new generation electro-mechanical downhole power unit for setting and retrieving packers, bridge plugs, whipstocks, subsea tree plugs, and other downhole devices has been recently developed and deployed. The new Downhole Power Unit - Intelligent, DPU-I® is designed to operate at high temperatures and extremely high pressures (400°F, 30K psi) and to provide up to 100K lbf setting force. The high force for either setting or retrieving downhole devices is independent of hydrostatic pressure and provides an alternative to jointed pipe or coiled tubing interventions, which were previously required to obtain high setting forces. New to the industry is the ability to monitor the downhole line tension, stroke length, setting force, the rate at which the force is being applied during the setting operation, and force at which the DPU-I detaches from the downhole device in real time at the wellsite or remotely by means of global satellite communications. This new functionality enables well completions experts to remotely monitor the setting or retrieval operations 24 hours per day, seven days per week. It also provides a record of the setting operation for risk mitigation, and for developing and improving best practices. This new downhole power unit conforms to our digital workflows used to model, measure, and optimize customer assets. The slow controlled setting operation enables the slips or other anchoring mechanisms in the device to be set and to fully engage the casing/tubing and for the elastomer sealing elements to conform to the casing or tubing ID. This function is extremely critical in highly deviated well conditions and when using casing or tubing with high Rockwell hardness. Unlike setting devices that use explosives, military or governmental escorts are not required. In addition, single lift heli-operations can be used. This tool does not require radio silence operations, and there is no nonproductive time associated with tool re-dressing between runs. Tool sizes are available for well intervention in 2 3/8 in. tubing through 13 3/8 in. casing and can be tractor-conveyed in high angle or horizontal wells. Introduction Traditionally, the method of choice for setting packers, bridge plugs, and similar wellbore devices consisted of conveying an electrically-activated explosive-charge setting tool to the required depth on electric line and activating the explosive train (deflagration) by applying voltage or current to the e-line. Although this explosively activated setting tool has been used in the industry for many decades, it has many limitations and safety issues:Requires explosive activation • Requires special explosive transport and rig/well site explosive storageRequires radio and telecommunication silence on the rig during operationsRequires personnel trained to use explosivesSetting force decreases with increasing hydrostatic pressureSetting force is rapidly applied over a few seconds, which may not be sufficient time for slips and elastomers to conform and engage in the casing/tubing.High temperature operations can be more difficult to perform reliablyNeed to re-dress between runs