Casing

Setting Casing
As the drilling of an oil or gas well progresses, it becomes necessary to line the walls of the hole with
heavy steel pipe called
casing. Casing, together with cement around it, performs the following functions:
• prevents caving of the hole,
• prevents contamination of freshwater in the upper sand zones,
• excludes water from the oil or gas producing formations,
• confines production to the wellbore,
• provides a means for controlling pressure,
• facilitates installation of subsurface equipment required if artificial lift becomes necessary in producing
the well
• facilitates the use of acidizing, zone fracturing, etc

Classification:
Surface casing
Surface casing is run from the surface to below the last fresh water sand. This casing provides the means
for attaching the BOP, in addition to protecting the fresh water zones.

Intermediate casing
The primary applications of intermediate casing involves abnormally high or subnormal formation
pressure. As higher mud weights are required to control these pressures, the shallower weak formations
must be protected to prevent lost circulation or stuck pipe.
Occasionally, intermediate pipe is used to isolate zones that cause hole problems such as sloughing
shales or salt zones.

Production casing
Production casing is often called the oil string. This casing can be set at a depth slightly above, midway
through, or below the pay zone. The casing serves the following purposes:
• isolates the producing zone from other formations,
• provides a work shaft of a known diameter to the pay zone,
• protects the production tubing equipment, etc.
Components
Casing is composed of the following sections:

1. Casing-cementing heads (Plug Container)

Casing heads provide a connection from cementing and rig pump lines to casing.

2. Guide and float shoes

There are two kinds of shoes: plain guide shoes, and the combination float and guide shoe.
The plain guide shoe is run on the bottom joint of casing and is only intended to guide the casing past
any sidewall irregularities. The combination float and guide shoe includes a back pressure valve as an
integral part of the equipment and a side discharge. The back pressure valve is composed of drillable
materials such as cement and plastics.
3. Float collars

A device with a valve, installed in the casing string two or three joints from bottom. A float collar is
designed to serve as a receptacle for cement plugs and to keep drilling mud in the hole from entering the
casing

4. Wiper plugs

Both top and bottom plugs are used during cementing operations. They are used to separate the various
fluids from one another.
The red bottom plug has a shallow top, is made of rubber, and has a hollow core. It is used ahead of the
cement slurry to prevent cement/drilling fluid contamination and to clean the casing wall of filter cake.
After the bottom plug comes into contact with the float valve, sufficient pressure (150 to 350 psi) causes
the top diaphragm to rupture, allowing the cement slurry to flow through it.
The black top plug has a deep cup on its top and has a solid, molded rubber core. It is dropped after the
cement slurry has been pumped, to prevent contamination with the displacement fluid. The top plug
also signals the end of displacement by forming a seal on top of the bottom plug, causing a pressure
increase
5. Casing centralizers

Casing centralizers are used for the following:

• center the casing in the wellbore.
• permit equal hydrostatic pressure in the annulus, thereby preventing differential pressure sticking.
• prevent casing from key seating.
• assist in wall cake removal and breaking up cement channeling.

6. Scratcher
A scratcher is a mechanical wall cleaning device. Its purpose is to remove all wall cake from the wellbore
in an area before and during the cementing operation. This allows good bonding of the cement to the
formation and prevents contamination and channeling during placement.
 Cement
After the casing string is run, the next task is cementing the case in the place. An oil well cementing
service company is usually called-in for this job, although, as when casing is run, the rig crew is available
to lend assistance.
- Special (cement) pumps pick up the spacer and cement slurry and send it up to a valve called a
cementing head (also called a plug container) mounted on the topmost joint of casing that is hanging in
the mast or derrick a little above the rig floor.
Just before the cement slurry arrives a rubber plug (called the bottom plug) is released from the
cementing head and precedes the slurry down the inside of the casing. A precalculated volume of
cement that is equal to the annular volume between casing pipe and hole is then pumped-in
- A top plug is released from the circulation head and soon mud is pumped behind the top plug –usually
with the rig pump to drive the cement to the annulus; This process is called “Cement Displacement”.
- The bottom plug stops or “seats” in the float collar, but continued pressure of pumps ruptures a
passageway through the bottom plug, thus the cement slurry passes through it and continues on down
the casing. The slurry then flows out through the opening in the guide shoe and starts up the annular
space between the outside of the casing and walls of the hole.
By the time the top plug seals on or “bumps” the bottom plug in the float collar; pump pressure
increased sharply which signals the pump operator to shut-off the pumps, the cement is only in the
casing below the float collar and in the annular space and the rest of the casing is full of displacing mud.
- After the cement is run, a waiting time is allowed to allow the slurry to harden. This period of time is
referred to as Waiting On Cement or simply “WOC”.

Cement Evaluation Tool

Cement Bond Log (CBL)
Cement bond logs are used to evaluate the quality of the cement-to-casing bond around cemented
casing and cannot be used to quantify the amount of cement present.
 Cement Additives
Accelerators
An accelerator is a chemical additive used to speed up the normal rate of reaction between cement and
water which shortens the thickening time of the cement, increase the early strength of cement, and
saves time on the drilling rig.
Common accelerators are sodium metasilicate, sodium chloride, sea water, anhydrous calcium chloride,
potassium chloride and gypsum

Retarders
A retarder is an additive used to increase the thickening time of cements. Besides extending the
pumping time of cements, most retarders affect the viscosity to some degree. The governing factors for
the use of retarders are temperature and depth.
Common retarders are lignosulfonates, modified cellulose, organic acids, organic materials and borax.

Extenders
Extended cement slurries are used to reduce the hydrostatic pressure on weak formations and to
decrease the cost of slurries.
Extenders work by allowing the addition of more water to the slurry to lighten the mixture and to keep
the solids from separating. These additives change the thickening times, compressive strengths and
water loss.
Common extenders are fly ash, bentonite, and diatomaceous earth.

Cement Nomenclature
 Well Head

This is the casing attachment to the B.O.P. or production (Christmas) tree. It is a permanent fixture,
bolted or welded to the conductor pipe or surface casing

This is the casing attachment to the B.O.P. or production (Christmas) tree. It is a permanent fixture,
bolted or welded to the conductor pipe or surface casing. Wellheads installed on land rigs are located in
the cellar, on the spider deck on jack-ups and fixed platforms, and on the seabed when used with barges,
semi-submersibles and drillships.
The wellhead is the starting point for most blowout-preventer assemblies, and the vital link between the
casing and B.O.P. stack. The conductor pipe is not usually provided with a pressure connection to
connect the two. The surface casing is nearly always welded to the wellhead, and subsequent casing
strings are inserted inside the wellhead housing and supported in a casing hanger