DRILLING ENGINEERING I

FORMATION INTEGRITY TEST (FIT)

FIT
The formation integrity test derivate in the following:
• Limit test: defined pressure
• Leak off test: pressure where formation leaks
• Fracture gradient test: pressure where formation leaks and fracture
expands
• Shoe bond test: verifies the streng of cement at casing shoe
All the tests are run during drilling operations, when a casing and
cement are set.
FIT PURPOSE
• To investigate the strengh of the cement around the casing shoe and
ensure that there is no communication with higher strata.
• To approximate the fracture gradient.
• To investigate the capavility of formation to withstand pressure
below the shoe.
• To colect information of formation strenght
• Elimate casing string
• Minimize the fluid losses
FRACTURE GRADIENT
• Can be determined during planning stage:
• from offset Wells
• Calculated by several published models
• The most use is Hubbert and Willis model

• While drilling
• Using FIT
The FIT pressure is use to determine the equivalent mud weight, which
determines the upper limit of primary well control od next hole
section.
It should be run at each new formation to determine where weak
formations are.
FRACTURE GRADIENT
• Fracture pressure depends on subsurface stresses. The formation
fractures when the pressure in the well is equal, or grater than
minimun principal stress.
• Fracture propagates along the paths of least resistance which is
perpendicular to the minimun principal stress.
• Fractures will be vertical if the minimun principal stress is horizontal
and horizontal in the minimun principal stress is vertical.
• All subsurface stresses are interrelated:
• Increasing overburden increases fracture gradient.
• Increasing pore pressure increases fracture gradient.
FIT EQUIPMENT AND
PREPARATION
• Large scale gauges to cover the expected pressure range
• Cement pumps
• Cement should be tested on the maximun surface pressure expected
when a kick is taken during drilling the next hole section.
• Casing pressure test should be carried aout at the same pump rate of
proposed FIT.
FIT PROCEDURE
• Drill 10-20 ft of new formation.
• Circulate to clean the wellbore.
• Close annular preventer or pipe rams
• Line up the cement pump and circulate.
• Pump equal increments of mud (usually 0.5 BLS) recording gauge pressure
at each increment. Hold pressure for few minutes to confirm pressure.
• Continue test to the precalculated surface pressure or until formation leak
off is reach.
• Continue until stabilised pressure is reach.
• If limit test is performed, then the pressure used for the test can be use as
kick tolerance or MAASP.
FIT
EXAMPLE
KICK TOLERANCE
• Maximum kick size that can be circulated without fracturing the
previous casing shoe, or maximum mud weight that can be tolerated
to drill the next section without fracturing the casing shoe.
• Kick tolerance elements are:
• Pore pressure for the TD
• Maximum mud weight to be used
• Fracture gradient at the current casing shoe
• Design influx volume that can be safely circulated out
• Type of well, exploration or development.
• It should be calculated after leak off test, when mud weight or drill
string change,
KICK TOLERANCE
 • It may be calculated in terms of :
• kick volume
• Additional mud weight over current mud weight.
• Maximum pore pressure that can be tolerated without the need
to exceed the maximum allowable mud weight.

Where is the formation pressure, pressure in the gas bubble=HG, H is

the height of the gas bubble at casing shoe, G is the gradient of gas
usually between 0.05 to 0.15 psi/ft, TD is the next hole total depth, CSD
is the casing setting depth, and is the mud density.
KICK TOLERANCE
 

At the bottom of the hole the effects of pressure and temperature should be
taken into account.
KICK TOLERANCE
Kick tolerance graph