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CASING
AND
CEMENTING
Third Edition
Unit II, Lesson 4
ROTARY DRILLING SERIES
Casing and
Cementing
Unit II, Lesson 4
Third Edition
By William E. Jackson
Published by
PETROLEUM EXTENSION SERVICE
Continuing & Extended Education
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
in cooperation with
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF DRILLING CONTRACTORS
Houston, Texas
2001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
iii
Pumping 70
Displacing the Drilling Mud 70
Pumping the Cement 71
Casing Accessories 73
To Summarize 79
Cement Volume Requirements 81
Calculating Open-Hole Capacity 82
To Summarize 83
Considerations After Cementing 84
Waiting on Cement 84
Checking the Cement Top 85
Pressure Testing 87
To Summarize 87
Glossary 89
1. These joints of casing are ready to be run into the well, where
they will serve at least seven important functions. 3 Figures
2. Most wells require several strings of casing, each of which
serves a specific purpose important to the completion of the
well. 5
3. Conductor pipe in offshore operations extends the hole
from the seafloor, up through the water, to a point in the air
just below the drilling deck. 6
4. A liner is a relatively short string of casing that extends from
the bottom of the open hole, up into another string. 8
5. Liner strings are nearly always suspended from the upper
string by means of a liner hanger. 8
6. A tie-back string from the liner to the surface may be used if
an existing casing string has been weakened by drilling. 9
7. Whether on or offshore, preventive maintenance is key to
protecting casing as it is prepared to run into the well. 17
8. A thread protector should be in place any time a joint of cas-
ing is handled. 18
9. Casing resting on stringers 19
10. Before casing is run, threads are inspected for damage that
may have occurred during shipping and racking. 20
11. Pipe is tallied three times: when it is shipped, when it arrives
at location, and after the casing string has been run. 22
12. Running casing 23
13. Stabbing casing 24
14. Special bucket and sling arrangement raise a joint of casing to
the rig floor 27
15. Thread compound may be applied over the entire surface of
the casing threads just before stabbing. 28
16. Hydraulic power tongs are placed around a joint of casing to
make it up to a predetermined torque. 29
17. Casing elevators and casing spider support the casing as it is
being lowered into the well. 31
18. Landing the casing involves transferring the casing string
weight to the wellhead, usually with a casing hanger that
seats in the casinghead and seals the annulus between the
outer and inner strings. 32
19. Downhole casing hangers are used to relieve some of the load
on the casinghead. 35
20. Casing with a coupling (A) and a threaded end (B) 42
21. Examples of API-threaded connections 43
22. Examples of premium-threaded connections 45
v
23. Halliburton cementing equipment from the 1920s 51
24. Primary cementing is performed immediately after the casing
has been run in the hole, to seal and separate each zone, and
to protect the pipe. 53
25. Cementing trucks transport dry cement blends to the well
site. 55
26. High-energy recirculating mixers provide thoroughly mixed
slurries at a wide range of densities and rates. 67
27. Internal operation of a recirculating mixer 68
28. The demands and expense associated with offshore opera-
tions have led to the development of sophisticated, high-tech
mixing and data acquisition systems. 68
29. Internal operation of a batch mixer 69
30. A primary cementing job 71
31. Wiper plugs are placed in the cementing head to wipe mud
off the inside of the casing and keep it separated from the ce-
ment. 72
32. A typical casing string with accessories 73
33. A guide shoe 74
34. An automatic fill-up shoe 74
35. A float collar prevents backflow of cement during the cement-
ing operation. 75
36. Multistage cementing devices are used to cement two or more
separate sections behind a casing string. 76
37. Bow (A) and solid body (B) centralizers 77
38. Scratchers (A) and wipers (B) help remove filter cake and
gelled mud from the well as the casing is run. 78
39. Temperature survey showing the top of cement outside the
casing 85
vi
Foreword
Ron Baker
vii
Acknowledgments
ix
Units of Measurement
x
Introduction
C asing and cementing are essential to drilling oil and gas wells.
Lining a hole with casing keeps it from caving in after it is
drilled, sealing the wellbore from encroaching fluids and gasses.
Cementing the casing in place attaches it firmly to the wellbore wall
and stabilizes the hole. Casing and cement both serve additional,
important functions in the well. These functions will be addressed
later in this manual.
Casing and cementing procedures have grown more sophis-
ticated in recent years as the search for new hydrocarbon-bearing
reservoirs takes wells deeper and into more hostile environments
(i.e., deep water, high pressures and temperatures, and sour gases).
Engineers and metallurgists work continually to refine casing or
cementing designs and procedures to handle the challenges as-
sociated with offshore and remote locations, extreme depths, and
severe conditions.
During the days of cable-tool drilling, numerous strings of
casing had to be set as a well was drilled. With the advent of rotary
drilling came better quality muds with greater ability to control
well pressures. As a result, much more open hole could be drilled.
Casing is now generally set to serve a specific purpose and is neither
arbitrary nor compulsory for any hole conditions.
1
Casing
Figure 1. These joints of casing are ready to be run into the well,
where they will serve at least seven important functions.
3
Cementing
Figure 23. Halliburton cementing equipment from the 1920s (Courtesy of Halliburton)
51
Glossary
bending n: occurs when tension is increased on one side of the pipe while
compression is increased on the other.
B
billet n: a solid steel cylinder used to produce seamless casing. The billet is
pierced lengthwise to form a hollow tube that is shaped and sized to produce
the casing.
boot n: a tubular device placed in a vertical position, either inside or outside
a larger vessel, through which well fluids are conducted before they enter the
larger vessel. A boot aids in the separation of gas from wet oil. Also called
a flume or conductor pipe.
bottom wiper plug n: a device placed in the cementing head and run down
the casing in front of cement to clean the mud off the walls of the casing and
to prevent contamination between the mud and the cement.
89
rotary drilling series
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