Oilfield Cement Return Rings

Cement rings used in the oilfield are fast becoming old school with costs that can spiral out of control, environmental concerns and safety issues. 

Cement Ring Mess

Costs:

Cement return rings are very labour intensive.  Cement rings are first assembled on the oilfield lease which includes bolting the rings together and placing a plastic liner inside the ring.  After the drilling rig has placed the cement in the ring it is allowed a few days to set up.  After the drilling rig moves off location a crew comes back out to location and disassembles the ring.  From there a backhoe is used to break up the cured cement into small pieces and then loaded on to a gravel truck.  From there the cement is then hauled to a landfill.  If you add up all the expenses in doing business this way you will find that cement rings are not all that cost effective.

Environment Concerns:

Everybody in the oil patch that has used cement rings has seen the mess these rings can produce.  The plastic liners in these rings can be punctured during the set and with the pressure from the liquid cement, a small hole can become a very large one rather quickly.  Other times, cement returns are pumped into the ring too fast causing the plastic liner to bulge out from underneath the steel ring causing the ring to lift up and then fall down puncturing the liner which can create another huge mess. 

If there is no problems with the ring while filling it up there is always the problem when it comes to clean up, especially on "no disturbance locations".  After cement is broken apart there is always shard of cement left on the lease, even when it has been swept. 

When these cement returns are disposed off at the landfill they receive hardened cement with the plastic liner chunks all through it, making for a very ugly mess.

Safety Issues:

Assembling and disassembling rings can be very dangerous.  Rings have very sharp edges and as many crew members can testify, these edges can cut very deeply.  Are you willing to have this kind of thing on you safety record?