Weatherford develops high-performance cement retainer and bridge plug technology certified to API V3 standards
Weatherford International announced its development and deployment of a high-performance cement retainer and bridge plug for use in wells in Sakhalin Island, Russia. “We are pleased to once again deliver a technology solution tailored to meet our client’s needs,” said Nicole Carpenter, vice president and global account manager at Weatherford.
After identifying a need for a higher-performance cement retainer and bridge plug to provide isolation in Sakhalin wells, a major operator in Sakhalin Island contacted Weatherford to develop a technology that reliably meets new, more stringent industry standards. Weatherford’s engineering team enhanced an existing, proven proprietary design, and then conducted extensive testing of the new retainer and bridge plug according to American Petroleum Institute (API) Specification 11D1. The new design achieved the desired V3 rating.
The resulting downhole tool is one of few on the market qualified for use in Sakhalin wells, meaning that it has been tested at the pressures, temperatures and geometries expected throughout the service life of the tool. After successfully pressure testing the tool, Weatherford performed further surface qualification testing to demonstrate that the cement retainer could be easily and reliably drilled with a milled-tooth rock bit. All testing was completed at the Weatherford Research & Development, Engineering, Technology and Training Center in Houston, Texas.
The high-performance cement retainer and bridge plug is among several Weatherford completion technologies fully qualified for deployment in Sakhalin wells.
