API Cement Standardization Committee 10 has striven through the years to provide the worldwide drilling industry with the latest technology as applied to cement specifications and testing of down hole materials. In addition to publishing 22 editions of these standards and specifications, this group has published over 25 technical papers and bulletins as a mechanism of keeping the industry informed.
Perhaps the most significant achievement of this committee has been the preparation of a new textbook covering worldwide cementing practices. Individual chapters deal with everything from primary cementing to the plugging of wells and were authored by recognized experts of major companies' personnel, most of whom are active in API work. This book also contains a complete bibliography of published literature covering papers and patents to 1989. Noteworthy in the text is a survey of over 200 fields, worldwide, covering casing programs, drilling fluids and cementing practices. Many worthwhile and useful statistics may also be found therein.
The paper and oral presentation will highlight the latest in cementing and findings from these worldwide surveys of drilling and completion practices.
Several thousand wells are drilled and completed annually throughout the world--some productive of oil or gas while some are dry--yet during this drilling and completion process most of these wells are cased, with the casing set in the borehole, surrounded by cement.
Cementing technology in the literature dates from the early 1920's. The major part of this cementing information, however, represents practices used after World War II. In 1937 the American Petroleum Institute established the first committee to study the use of cement down hole. There were already a few cement testing laboratories equipped with strength-measuring apparatus and stirring devices to determine the fluidity or pumpability of cement slurries at down hole temperatures.
Since these early events in our industry, many changes have taken place in cement standardization, in cement testing, and in field practices, particularly in drilling below 10,000 feet. API Cement Standardization Committee 10 and its members have played a significant role in the research and development of all phases of cement technology. In 1989, experts within the industry and from Committee 10 finalized an up-to-date text entitled "Worldwide Cementing Practices." This book attempts to mold all the various cementing technologies used today. It is also significant to note that the processes of "cementing a well" are very similar in most parts of the world. Nomenclature and terminology may vary from one area to another, however, the basic process is about the same worldwide. Highlights of the various chapters and authors' opinions are summarized herein.
