The oil and gas industry relies on cement for a wide range of critical applications, including well cementing, capping, and plugging of both onshore and offshore wells, onshore pads and foundations, containment barriers, and more. These structures – especially down the well – face extreme conditions: high pressures, corrosive brines and produced waters, saltwater exposure in marine settings, temperature fluctuations, chemical exposure (e.g., CO₂ or H₂S), and mechanical stresses from drilling or seismic activity.
Well cements (e.g., Class G and Class H) are usually based on Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), enhanced with additives like accelerators, retarding agents, and pozzolans. But well cement can crack due to the extreme downhole conditions, creating leakage paths for oil, gas, brines, methane, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene. This leads to sustained casing pressure, environmental risks like methane emissions or groundwater contamination, lost production, regulatory violations, and costly fixes.
Eternite's Aeternum™ provides a superior alternative. It gets stronger on exposure to salt and salt water and is self-healing. Aeternum (with a specific gravity of 2.0) is also much lighter than OPC (specific gravity of 3.1), making for a much better slurry. Aeternum can deliver major improvements in quality, safety, economics, and sustainability to the hydrocarbon industry.
