Casing Design

Chapter 1
WELL DESIGN AND COMPLETION
PCB 3043
 LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able
to:
State the functions of casing
Define the terms: conductor, surface,
intermediate, production casing and Liner
Describe Classification of Casing
Design of Wellhead in the well

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 Introduction

 Casing Definition
 Casing Types and Function
 Casing Classification
 Wellhead
 Casing Design

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 Introduction
What is Casing?
Large-diameter steel pipe lowered into a
borehole and cemented in place

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 Introduction
What is Casing?

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 Introduction
• Why run casing?
1. To prevent contamination of fresh water sands
2. To enhance the probability of drilling to total depth (TD)
o To seal-off weak, fractured and unconsolidated
formations
o To control pressures during drilling
3. To meet production requirements
o To confine production to the wellbore
o To prevent water migration to producing formation
o To provide an acceptable environment for subsurface
equipment in producing wells

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 Introduction
• Question?
• You need 14.7 ppg mud to control a lower
zone, but an upper zone will fracture with the
mud. What do you do?

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 Introduction
Casing Types

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Introduction

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Introduction

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 Introduction
• Drive Pipe:
In offshore wells, a drive pipe, usually 26 to 42’’ in OD, is
driven into the seabed.
• Functions of Drive Pipe:
o to prevent washouts of near-surface unconsolidated
formations;
o to ensure stability of the ground surface upon which
the rig is seated;
o It also serves as a flow conduit for drilling fluid to
surface.
o It usually does not carry any load.

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 Introduction
Conductor Pipe:

o The first string run in the well is usually a conductor pipe.

o In soft-rock areas or most offshore environments, the pipe is

generally driven into the ground with a large diesel hammer;

o Hard-rock areas require that a large-diameter, shallow hole

be drilled and running and cementing the pipe.

o Length from 40 to 500 ft on shore and up to 1000 ft offshore;

Diameter from 16’’ in shallow wells to 20’’ in deep wells.

o Offshore wells, conductor pipe is usually 20’’ in diameter and is

cemented across its entire length.

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 Introduction
• Functions of conductor pipe:
o To provide a fluid conduit to raise the circulating high
enough to return to the pit;
o To prevent wash out of shallow formations (base of the
rig);
o To control some type of lost circulation in shallow
formations;

o To minimize hole-caving problems;

o To protect subsequent casing strings from corrosion;
o To support some of the wellhead load.

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 Introduction
• Surface casing
o Surface casing is usually set from 300 to 5000 ft,
depending on local conditions encountered;
o Sizes of the surface casing vary from 7’’ to 16’’ in
diameter, with 10¾’’ and 13⅜’’ being the most
common sizes.
o Surface casing is usually cemented to the
surface.

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 Introduction
Functions of Surface Casing

o Prevent fresh-water sands from being contaminated with drilling

mud, gas, oil or salt water;
o State and federal regulations for the protection of underground
fresh-water reservoirs are usually quite specific about the setting
depth of surface casing;
o Maintain hole integrity by preventing cave-in and washout of
loose formations;
o Minimize lost circulation into shallow, permeable zones;
o Cover weak zones that are incompetent to control kick –imposed
pressures.
o Provide a means for attaching the BOPs.

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 Introduction
• Functions of Intermediate casing:
• o The primary application of intermediate casing is to case off the
• troublesome formations that prevent the well from being drilled to
• the target depth, such as shallower weak zones (rupture, lost
• circulation or stuck pipe);
• o Intermediate casing is sometimes set through high-pressure zones
• so that lighter drilling fluid can be employed for drilling deeper.
• o Sometimes, older producing zones are sealed off by the use of
• intermediate casing before drilling for deeper targets;
• o Occasionally, intermediate casing is used to isolate salt or
• anhydrite formations, which may cause drilling fluid contamination,
• or perhaps leak out to such an extent as to cause pipe sticking.

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 Introduction
• Functions of Production casing:
• o This string may be set at a depth slightly above,
midway through,
• or below the pay zone;
• o Isolate the producing zone from other
formations;
• o Provide a work shaft of a known diameter to
the pay zone;
• o Protect the tubing and other equipment used in
the well.

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 Introduction
• Liner:
• o A liner is an abbreviated string of casing used to case
• open hole below existing casing;
• o It extends from the setting depth up into another
• string with an overlap between the two strings of
• about 200 to 400 ft;
• o Liners are nearly always suspended from the upper
• string by means of a hanger device;
• o Liners are often cemented in place, but production
• liners are sometimes suspended in the well without
• cementing.

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 Introduction
• Types of Liner:
• Basic liners include: drilling liner, production liner, tie-back liner,
• scab liner and scab tie-back liner.
• Drilling liner
• o Drilling liner is a section of casing that is suspended from
• the existing casing (surface or intermediate casing);
• o In most cases, it extends downward from into the open
• hole and overlaps the existing casing by 200 to 400 ft.
• o It is used to isolate abnormal formation pressure, lost
• circulation zones, heaving shale and salt sections, and to
• permit drilling below these zones without having well
• problems

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 Introduction
• Production liner
• o Production liner is run instead of full casing
• to provide isolation across the production or
• injection zones.
• o In this case, intermediate casing or drilling
• liner becomes part of the completion string.
• Tie-back string
• o The drilling liner is often used as part of the
• production casing rather running an additional
• full string of pipe from the surface to the
• producing zone;
• o The liner is tied-back or connected to the
• 17
• surface by running the additional pipe required
• to connect to the liner top.

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 Introduction
• Scab liner
• o Scab liner is a section of casing used to
• repair existing damaged casing.
• o It may be cemented or sealed with
• packers at the top and bottom .
• Scab tie-back liner
• o This is a section of casing extending
• upwards from the existing liner, but which
• does not reach the surface and normally
• cemented in place.
• o Scab tie-back liners are commonly used
• with cemented heavy-wall casing to isolate
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• salt sections in deeper portions of the well.

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 Introduction
• Pros/Cons of Liner:
• o Cost-effective: only a short string of pipe is
needed.
• o Sometime troublesome due to leakage;
• o Occasionally, disengagement from the run-in
string may be
• difficult or impossible;
• o Poor primary cement job due to smaller
clearance.

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 Introduction
• Classification of Casing:
• 1. Outside diameter of pipe (e.g. 9 5/8”)
• 2. Grade of material (e.g. N-80)
• 3. Nominal weight (e.g. 47 lb/ft)
• 4. Wall thickness (e.g. 1/2”)
• 5. Type to threads and couplings (e.g. API
LCSG)
• 6. Length of each joint (RANGE) (e.g. Range 3)

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 Introduction
• Classification of Casing:

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 Introduction
• Length of Casing
• RANGE 1 16-25 ft
• RANGE 2 25-34 ft
• RANGE 3 > 34 ft.
• Casing Threads and Couplings
• API round threads - short { CSG }
• API round threads - long { LCSG }
• Buttress { BCSG }
• Extreme line { XCSG }
• Other …

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 Introduction
• Wellhead

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 Introduction
• Wellhead

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• wellhead

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 Introduction
Design of Casing Program
o Selection of setting depths, casing sizes and grades of steel
that will allow for safe drilling and completion of a well to
the desired producing configuration.
o Selection of these design parameters is controlled by a
number of factors, such as geological conditions, hole
problems, number and sizes of production tubing, types of
artificial lift equipment that may eventually be placed in the
well, company policy and, in many cases, government
regulations.

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