Fishing Technology

& Practices
K K Verma
 Fishing Operation
Fishing is any operation or
procedure:
• To release, remove or
recover.
• Tubulars or other
material in the hole
• That adversely affects
drilling, casing or
completion operations.
 Fishing Operation
• Most of the times fishing
jobs are:
• Unpredictable.
• Unwanted.
• Very costly affair.
• Oil and gas well fishing is
not a typical practice for
drilling, work-over and
completion operations
except some.
• Roughly one in every five
wells experience the need
for fishing operation
 Fishing Operation
• The origin of term fishing are attributed to the early days
of cable tool drilling.
• In cable tool drilling a cable attached to a spring pole
repeatedly lifted and dropped a bit that chiseled away
the rock at the bottom.
• When the cable parted, drillers attempted to retrieve the
cable and bit from the bottom of the hole using an
improvised hook – fishing out the cable and bit.
• Over the years fishing has become highly sought after job
and the art of fishing has grown up as specialized job
within the oil well services industry.
• The trial-and-error methods of industry’s early days built
the foundation for many of the catch tool used currently.
 Cable Tool Drilling Setup
• The cable tool drilling is done
by raising and dropping a
string of tools on the end of a
cable.
• The up and down motion is
imparted by the walking
beam.
• The tools are pulled from or
lowered into the hole by
winding or unwinding the
drilling cable on the bull
wheel.
• Casing is raised or lowered by
the casing line or calf wheel.
• The cuttings are removed
from the hole by the bailer,
which is raised and lowered by
the sand line and wheel.
 Fishing Operation
• Fishing can be thought of as a Risk Management
strategy. When used successfully, it can save a well.
• Fishing is basically more of an applied skill supported by
experience than an exact science, there may be more
than one possible solution for a given problem.
• A clear understanding of the problem, the equipment
used to solve the problem, and the best fitting solution
will lead to a successful operation.
• Although no fishing job technique can be guaranteed,
the combination of experienced personnel and
continuing advances in fishing tool technology offers an
option with good probability of success.
 Why Fishing??
• When any junk or any hardware blocks the path to
continued operations, these items must be
removed from the hole as quickly as possible.
• The longer the fish or junk remains in a borehole,
the more difficult these parts will be to retrieve.
• If the fish or junk is in an open hole section of the
well, it may create serious borehole stability
issues.
• Often it is very important to consider tradeoff
between well cost and the cost of fishing
operations.
 Need of Fishing Operation
Fishing Operations may be needed at any point during the life
cycle of a well – from drilling through abandonment.

• During drilling phase, most fishing jobs are unexpected

and are often caused by mechanical failure or by sticking
of the drill string.
• Sticking may also occur during wire line logging or testing
operations.
• During the completion phase, operations may be
obstructed by a variety of problems like stuck perforating
guns, prematurely set packers or failed down hole tools.
 Need of Fishing Operation
• After a well has been put into production, fishing
operations may be scheduled as part of overall process of
maintaining, replacing or recovering down hole tools and
tubular during work-over and abandonment process.
• In many fields the work-over process entails cleanout or
retrieval of tubing that has sanded up after years of
production, thus a need of fishing job at the outset of
operations.
• During abandonment, operators often try to salvage down
hole tubulars, pumps and completion equipment before
plugging the well.
• Sometimes the fishing tool may become stuck,
necessitating revision of the original fishing strategy.
 Reasons For Fishing
• Drilling of highly deviated or high angle wells.
• Unfriendly formations viz. caving prone, stressed
and swelling formations.
• Faults and high angle dip angle in formations.
• Failure of equipment.
• Human failure or accidents.
• Use of under rated equipment.
• Wrong practices.
• Well activity.
• Planned fishing operation as for work-over wells.
 Fishing Jobs: Classification
Fishing jobs can be classified in following ways:
• Open hole fishing: When there is no casing in the
area of the fish it is known as open hole fishing.
• Cased hole fishing: When the fish is inside the
casing it is known as cased hole fishing.
• Wire line tool fishing: When the wire line tool
either logging tool or simple wire line tool gets
stuck in well bore either open hole or cased hole.
• Planned fishing jobs: Work-over wells where well
starts with subduing of well and the retrieval of old
tubing string often by planned fishing.
 Fishing Jobs: Classification
1 Open Hole Fishing

FISHING When there is no casing in the area

of the fish

2 Cased Hole Fishing

When the fish is inside casing

3 Through tubing Fishing

When it is necessary to fish through the restriction of

a smaller pipe size
 Open Hole Fishing
Following categories of Downhole problems require fishing
operations:
• Drill String Stuck.
• Formation related.
• Drilling Operations related.
• Failures of equipment.
• Bit cones.
• Drill pipe rupture.
• Packer failure.
• Objects lost.
• Logging tool lost.
• Tools fallen into hole.
 Cased Hole Fishing
• Cased hole fishing is quite different in term of operation,
tools and techniques with respect to open hole fishing.
• Many of the tools and techniques common in open hole
fishing cannot be used in cased hole fishing operations due
to restrictive nature of the casing.
• Sidetracking for example, an easy option in open hole is not
widely used in case hole situations.
• Unlike tool shoes used in open hole, the cased hole tool
shoes have sloth exteriors to prevent damage to the casing.
• Cased hole fishing operations are mostly required in
workover wells to retrieve various production down hole
tools like packers, damaged tubing and failed gravel pack
screens etc.
 Through Tubing Fishing
• The increased use of coiled tubing in the last few decades has led
to many technological advancements in thru-tubing workover
applications.
• These include cleanouts, acid stimulation, milling, under
reaming, cutting, and coiled-tubing conveyed thru-tubing fishing
systems.
• The ability to perform these operations without having to pull
the production string has provided the operator with a cost-
effective alternative to conventional rig workover operations.
• Coiled tubing conveyance also allows remedial operations to be
completed without having to kill the well, which eliminates
possible formation damage from heavier kill fluids in the well.
• Operations using coiled tubing are usually completed in a much
shorter time than conventional rig workover, which reduces the
shut-in time of the well, resulting in less loss of production.
 Through Tubing Fishing
• Early thru-tubing fishing systems were composed of tools
designed for wire-line conveyance and these tools did not allow
circulation through them.
• Also, these tools did not have the tensile strength required to
handle the impact loads of the jarring systems.
• Thru-tubing fishing systems that run on coiled tubing are used to
retrieve many different types of fish.
• These include coiled tubing conveyed bottom-hole assemblies
(BHAs) that have been disconnected, stuck flow-control devices
in landing nipples that cannot be retrieved with wire-line,
inflatable bridge plugs, wire-line lost in the hole, and coiled tubing
itself.
• If wire-line fishing is unsuccessful, coiled tubing conveyed fishing
gives the operator another alternative before a conventional rig
workover is required.
 Basic Steps of Fishing
• Identify the fish and obtain all the information for the
fish like size, dimensions and ‘latch on’ characteristics
of the fish.
• Design or select an appropriate fishing tool.
• Use tool selected to locate, latch and retrieve the
fish.
• Finally, as with fishing operation, be patient – Trial
and Error method and further improvement is
necessary for any successful fishing operation.
Options for Handling a Fish
 Factors Affecting Fishing Job
• Is the fish in open or cased hole?
• What is the hole condition at the site of fish?
• Is the fish top smooth, or is it twisted or burred so that
milling will be required before it can be retrieved?
• Is the fish stuck or free?
• Is the fish centered in the well bore, or is it off-center?
• Is the fish large or small?
• Is it metallic?
• Is it a single unit or broken into many pieces?
• What are the OD and Id of the fish?
• Is the inside diameter of the fish open or plugged?
 Key to Successful Fishing
• Evaluate the hole stability.
• Never put anything in the hole you don’t think you
will get back.
• Can you get off if you get on.
• Know the limitations of the tool.
• Record the OD. ID and length of the fishing string and
make drawings.
• Careful evaluations and measurements.
• Use of right fishing tools.
• Never use questionable fishing tools or equipment.
• Patience.
Cardinal Rules of Fishing

Item
2
 Evaluate and Communicate
• What is the reason for fishing operation?
• Operation which lead to fishing.
• Economics of the fishing operation.
• Whether the proper tools are available or the tools are
to be designed according to the fish?
• Careful evaluations and measurements.
• When to quit the fishing operation?
• Formulate the fishing plan in agreement with all
concerned.
• Since each fishing job is different from earlier ones,
communicate all details to all concerned.
 Cardinal Rules of Fishing
In Fishing job, regardless of the type of job, there are
some basic rules of fishing which apply to all jobs.
Rule-1 Obtain the important details:

• What is the hole size and depth?

• What is the size, weight and depth of all casing and
liners?
• What are the connections on the work string and drill
collars?
• Availability of jars in the hole and their condition.
• BHA schematic with OD and ID of all components.
 Cardinal Rules of Fishing
Rule-2 Know all the Do’s and Don’t’s:
• Don’t ever rotate the fish out of the hole.
• Don’t assume that a fast trip time is always the best.
• Don’t ever run anything into the hole that is not OD
fishable. It refers to bit sub, drill collars, jars, mud motors,
stabilizers, spears or any other tools.
• Do familiarize yourself with the fish. Make use of composite
catalog, technical manuals, and manufacturers drawings to
learn critical points of recovering , burning over or milling
up the fish.
• Do have an exact replica of the fish available at location. It
gives a better idea about fish than drawings, specification
sheets or photos.
 Cardinal Rules of Fishing
Rule-3 Determine the dimensions: It is critically important
to determine all possible dimensions of the fish. It can be
done by obtaining a complete well profile. Following are
the information that should be included in well profile:
• OD, ID and length of the fish.
• OD, ID and length of the fishing tool assembly.
• OD, ID and length of the work string.
• Location of the top of the fish.
• Tensile and torsional strengths of every component that is
in the hole. Pull strength is 80% of the tensile strength.
Strength of the fish must be noted in readily accessible
location.
 Cardinal Rules of Fishing
Rule-4 Maintain an accurate top of fish location: One of
the most important point for fishing job failure is keeping
accurate figures and always knowing where the fish top is.
• Once the depth of the top of fish is verified correctly NEVER
deviate from that base number.
• If some of fish is recovered or the fish falls, the depth
obviously must be adjusted, but the base number MUST
NEVER CHANGE.
• Verify the top of the fish on the first trip out of hole and
continue to use this figure. Verify the pipe count and ask
the driller to notify if they pick up or lay down any pipe.
• An accurate count of the pipe tally in the well bore should
be maintained strictly.
 Cardinal Rules of Fishing
Rule-5 Kelly Bushing Measurements:

• The standard oilfield measurement to any depth down-hole

is recorded from ground level, plus the distance to the Kelly
bushing (KB) on the rig that drilled the well. This is called
the original elevation and is recorded in the well file.
• If a different rig is later deployed for any work-over or any
other job, the difference in the rigs elevation from the
original one must be accounted for.
• The difference in the elevation is added to or subtracted
from the current pipe tally in order to correlate with the
original well elevation.
 A Simpler Approach for Fishing
• The simpler approach for fishing is to use the following
guidelines:
• Most fishing tool supervisors will follow the guidelines
listed next automatically without thinking, and the
approach could be incorporated to narrow down the
overall guide to a fishing situation.
A Simpler Approach for Fishing
• Can the fish be caught easily on the outer
diameter of the fish?
• This is always the preferential catch to use
for majority of the recovery operations.

• If the outer diameter is not available easily,

is the inner diameter of the fish available
without difficulty?
• This is critical in casing recovery
operations.
A Simpler Approach for Fishing
• Will the catch area have to be modified to
access the outer or inner diameter?
• If so, how can this be best accomplished?
• Always keep in mind before making in
modification that the goal is to access either
the outer diameter or the inner diameter.

• Is it necessary to cut the top of the fish, or

even the complete fish, into little pieces (by
milling or cutting in shorter sections) to
access a fishing neck or remove the
obstruction completely?
A Simpler Approach for Fishing
• Cement back.
• There are times when it is necessary to
recognize that the reward is not worth the
risk of fishing.
• In these cases it is best to isolate and leave
the upper well bore secure for alternative
methods, such as side-tracking or abandon it
altogether.
 Tally Book
The Tally book should be kept in such a manner that the
reliever shift driller could on the job with information
contained in the book. A complete description of the fish and
all well data should be recorded. The tally book must be:

• Accurate, legible and current.

• Include the time, data, trip/job details.
• Have a brief description for each trip.
• Have a record of any accidents.
• Maintained as if it is to be passes on to the reliever shift
and the information could count on the information.
• Be kept for future reference.
 Keep Track of Pipe Tallies
• Always be aware of the pipe count on a fishing job if it is
necessary to lay down pipe.
• Avoid mixing pipe or drill collars used for fishing with extra
pipe on location. A joint count should always be tallied and
recorded.
• Some experienced fishing-tool operators call this process
out-and-in fishing. Always measure and total all items laid
down and measure and total all items picked up.
• The difference in the totals will equal the amount necessary
to pick up or lay down to tag the top of the fish.
• This serves as a double check if there is difficulty locating
the top of a fish.
 Do Not Rotate The Fishing String
• To speed up a trip with a drilling
string or work string, the pipe in the
hole is frequently rotated to
unscrew the connection.
• During fishing operations, however,
this practice is unacceptable NO ROTATION
because the fish may be lost.
• Spinning a fishing tool such as an
overshot, spear, magnet, junk
basket, or wash-over pipe
frequently causes the fish to be
released back into the hole.
 The Economics of Fishing
• The most economical fishing job is the one which is not performed.
• However, even though drilling or workover plans can be carefully
formulated to anticipate problems that could result in fishing,
unpredictable factors can and do come into play. Human error,
unknown hole conditions, metal fatigue in tubulars, junk in the
hole, and faulty equipment are only a few of these.
• Fishing is the term for procedures used to retrieve or remove from
the wellbore stuck pipe, drill collars, parted tubulars, stuck packers,
parted or stuck wireline, and other lost or failed equipment.
• When these conditions develop, drilling, workover, and completion
operations cease, and fishing must be completed before normal
operations can resume.
• The scope and duration of the problem and the efficiency of the
solution both have an economic impact on the project.
 The Economics of Fishing
• Fishing should be an economical solution to a problem in the well.
A shallow hole with little rig time and equipment investment can
justify only the cheapest fishing operation.
• Before starting an extensive fishing job, you need to consult with
all parties involved, such as geologists, reservoir engineers, and
others responsible for a well.
• This may determine whether fishing is warranted and provide
guidance concerning the appropriate course of action.
• For example, the geological information found in the well may
indicate that reserves above the fish may be sufficient to justify
completion without fishing.
• You may also find after discussion that doing an open-hole side
track or a cased-hole casing exit would be more cost-effective
then tackling a complicated fishing job.
 The Economics of Fishing
• There are several papers, studies, formulas, and models that help
in making the economic decision to fish or not to fish, and if so,
for how long.
• All have merit, and most major operating companies have their
own formulas with which to choose among them.
• However, so many factors affect the decision that creating a
standard checklist applicable to all situations would be impossible.
Fortunately, advances in the technology and methods of fishing,
milling, and side tracking, along with a large database of
information on fishing operations, have made making these
decisions easier for operating companies.
• Probability factors are useful in determining the time to be spent
fishing. No two fishing jobs are exactly alike, but probability
percentages can be derived from similar situations.
 The Economics of Fishing
• Decision trees with associated
costs should be established for
drilling and workover programs
in which there are multiple wells
and similar situations.
• Experience, good judgment, a
careful analysis of the problem,
and effective communication
among all parties will lead to a
return to normal drilling,
completion, or workover
operations with the least amount
of lost time and money.
 The Economics of Fishing
Decision to Fish…
Cost = C*p
Is Fishing to
Yes Fishing Cost
be attempted? C* = C*p + C*1-p
Yes Will Fishing be Cost = Fishing
successful? cost, Lost tool Expected Cost
cost, cement of Fishing
cost, sidetrack
No & Re-Drill cost
No

Cost = Lost
tool cost,
cement cost,
sidetrack & Cost of Not
Re-Drill cost Fishing CK
 The Economics of Fishing
• The lower branch leads to certain costs if fishing is not attempted. Those
Costs corresponds to CK .
• The upper branch leads to expected costs if fishing is attempted.
• This cost is the expected cost C*, the sum of two expected costs :
• Expected cost associated with a successful fishing operation (C*p )
• Expected cost associated with an unsuccessful fishing operation (C*1-p )
• Therefore, C* = C*p + C*1-p
• Let the probability of successful fishing operation be p and that of an
unsuccessful fishing operation be 1-p .
• p is to be estimated based on historical data
 The Economics of Fishing
• If the decision is made not to fish, the costs (B) that will be incurred
will include the cost of the lost fish, the cost of cementing it in, the
cost of side-track and re-drilling back to the previous depth, plus rig
time.

• A is the cost if fish is recovered. It depends on fishing charges and rig

time per day & remedial operation time. Let this be represented as
cost per day. A= Cr x t

• The worst case (C) occurs when the fishing operation is abandoned
without retrieving the fish, thereby incurring fishing costs per day
(A) and the cost associated with not fishing (B). C= A + B

• C* = C*p + C*1-p = pA + (1-p)C = pA + (1-p)(A+B) = (Cr x t) + (1-p)B

• C* = (Cr x t) + (1-p)B
 The Economics of Fishing
Illustrated example: In a particular drilling field, on the basis of
historic data , 10 out of 23 times the fish was recovered within
100 hours.

• Therefore p = 10/23 = 0.435

• Case I: Given Cost of Not Fishing CK = Rs 200,000 and Day rate

Cr = Rs 1000/hr

• Therefore Cost of Fishing :

C* = (Cr x t) + (1-p)B = 1000 x 100 + (1-0.435) x 200000
= Rs. 213000

• This means somewhat less than 100 hours may be spent on the
fishing job before expected costs exceeds potential return.
 The Economics of Fishing
• Case II: Given Cost of Not Fishing CK = Rs 150,000 and Day
rate Cr = Rs 1000/hr

• Therefore Cost of Fishing :

C* = (Cr x t) + (1-p)B = 1000 x 65 + (1-0.435) x 150000
= Rs. 150,000

• This means approximate 65 hours may be spent on the fishing

job before expected costs exceeds potential return.
 The Economics of Fishing
• If the fishing historical data for a field is not known, then worst
scenario case is considered for which p=0 i.e probability of
success of fishing is zero.

• In such a case , maximum no of days to continue fishing (so

that the value of fish lost and rig day cost used up in fishing is
equal to value of side track and re-drill.) :
 The Economics of Fishing
V Fd

• Value of fish (BIT, RSS,

• Fishing daily cost
MOTOR, LWD+++)
D
(Maximum
Fishing days)
Cs Rd

• Cost of side track (Cement Job, • Rig daily cost

Bridge Plug, Whipstock)

Sidetracking includes:
• Cost of Whip stock and services
• Cost of cementing and rig time while WOC
• Cost of directional drilling services and rig time to re-drill hole back to current
depth.
 The Economics of Fishing
• Suppose a fish worth $150,000 is stuck in a well being drilled at a
cost of $5,000 per day.

• Sidetracking would take an estimated 5 days, and therefore would

cost $25,000 plus $20,000 for equipment and cement for a total of
$45,000.

• Fishing tool rental and services cost $2,500 per day.

• The number of days allowed for fishing by this method would be

calculated as follows:
$150,000 + ($5,000*5) + $20,000 = $195,000

$195,000/ $7,500 = 26 Days

 The Economics of Fishing
• These methods help in the economic decision of “for how long to
fish?”

• The methods have merits, but so many factors affect the decision
that converting them into a standard formula or pattern is almost
impossible.

• The methods described is not a replacement for years of

experience but as an additional aid in decision making.

• These methods should be integrated with operational experience

and careful assessment of the particular situation.

• Fishing jobs are heterogeneous and present different

characteristics from one to another.
 The Economics of Fishing
The decision to continue or to terminate the fishing is
determined by:
•Budget & Time.
•Progress Of Fishing.
•Location Of Fish With respect to Zone Of Interest.

The unsuccessful Fishing jobs are indicated by:

•Small Recoveries At Wide Intervals.
•Recovery Slows Down With Depth & Time.
•Fish On Top Of Fish.
 The Economics of Fishing
Alternatives To Fishing: After deciding not to fish or after
an unsuccessful fishing job following are the alternatives
to fishing:
• Plug Back & Side Track.

• Plug Back, Run Casing & then Side Track below the shoe.

• Plug Back, Abandon the Hole and Re-drill from nearby location.

• PlugBack & Permanently Abandon the Hole without Re-drilling

a substitute well.
 Fishing Causes
• There are many causes that contributes to a
fishing job on both drilling and workover jobs.
• Most people in the industry feel that the majority
of fishing jobs are man made due to human
judgmental error during regular operations.
• There are some basic rules which should be
followed strictly for a trouble free drilling and
workover operations.
• Bypassing the basic rules in drilling operations,
most of the time may hamper the smooth
operations, leading to fishing job.
 Fishing Causes
Following categories of Downhole problems require fishing
operations:
• Drill String Stuck.
• Formation related causes of sticking.
• Drilling operations related causes of sticking.
• Parted Drill String.
• Junk in Hole
• Logging Tool Sticking.
• Cable and Wire line tools.
• Casing repair.
• Objects lost and Miscellaneous reasons.
 Stuck Pipe
The Drill string can become stuck in the hole due to
number of different reasons. The three basic mechanism
of stuck pipe are as follows:

• Differential Sticking.
• Hole Pack-off / Bridging.
• Stuck up due to well bore geometry.
 Parted Drill String
• Sometimes the Drill string gets parted while drilling and
other operations due to many causes.
• Usually the drill string parting is caused by metal fatigue
failure.
• Drill string fatigue failure is the most common and costly
type of failure in oil and gas drilling operations.
• There are several types of fatigue failure and they may
occur simultaneously.

• Twist off.
• Wash out.
• Cyclic stress failure.
 Twist Off
• Twist-Off occurs when applied torque exceeds a pipe body
or tool joint’s torsional strength limits.
• This failure usually causes a sudden loss of hook load, as
well as a sharp drop in pump pressure.
• It may also occur when trying to rotate stuck pipe.
 Washout
• Washout is when a hole is worn in the pipe, and becomes
increasingly larger due to circulating drilling fluid.
• This can eventually sever or twist off the pipe entirely.
• Washout usually occur at rotary connections, due to improper
make-up, cracks or defective materials.
• From the surface, a washout may be indicated by a gradual
decrease in pump pressure at constant pump rate.
 Cyclic Stress Failure
• Cyclic stresses are induced by dynamic loads caused by
drill string vibrations and bending load reversals in curved
sections of hole and doglegs caused by rotation.
• Drill pipe can experience cyclic stress if they wear out after
a great deal of continuous and rigorous use.
• Drill pipe corrosion occurs during the presence of O2, CO2,
chlorides, and/or H2S (H2S being severely corrosive to
steel pipe and very deadly to humans).
• Furthermore, mishandling of drill string on ground may
lead to fatigue failure.
• The string fatigue failure is still least understood even after
lot of research work in this area.
 Junk in Hole
• Junk can consist of all manner of things, from bit cones
and tong dies, to hard tools or other objects that have
been accidently dropped into the hole.
• Junk can cause irregular torque, or prevent drilling ahead
after a new bit is run.
• Sometimes it might nor even be necessary to recover junk,
if it is small enough or in the right location, or depending
on the formation hardness.
• In all such cases the junk could be ground with the bit, or
pushed to the side on a soft formation where it will not get
in the way of drilling operations.
 Logging Tool Sticking
• While performing open hole logging operations when the
logging cuts through mud cake, differential pressure
sticking may occur.
• This may occur due to significant difference in formation
pressure and the mud hydrostatic pressure, due to which
the cable will be pressed harshly into the formation, and
friction against the formation stops the cable from moving
any longer.
• Other reasons why sticking may occur include ledges,
particularly severe doglegs, borehole caving or the
borehole becoming corkscrewed.
• As the length of the tool increases, and there has been a
long amount of time since last conditioning trip, the
chances of sticking may go up.
 Cable and Wire Line Tools
• Logging cable and other wire line tools may become stuck in
the hole at any time.
• The recovery of parted wire line and the tool or instrument run
with it is one of the most challenging fishing jobs.
• Situations must be separated between those where the line is
still intact and situation where the line is parted.
• Parted wire line is very difficult to fish, as it has a natural
tendency to ball up, only relatively short sections of wire line
can be recovered per fish run.
• Differentiation shall also be made between slick line, electric or
conductor lines and sand lines.
• If a conductor line has not parted, good practice usually
dictates that we should not pull out of the rope socket, this
causes us to lose contact with the tool or instrument and it may
become permanently lost.
 Cable and Wire Line Tools
• If the instrument contains a radioactive source, the situation
becomes even more critical.
• Fishing in these situations can be attempted by either cut and
thread method (cable guide method) or side door overshot
method.
• Normally cut and thread method is attempted for deep hole
situations or when a radioactive source is stuck in the hole,
since it is the safest method and assures a very high success
ratio.
• The only disadvantages are that the cable must be cut and the
stripping over procedure is slow and time consuming.
 Casing Repair
• Casing failure can be caused by erosion, corrosion, a poor casing
program where high pressures are encountered.
• The most common indication of this type of problem is the
presence of sand or shale inside the well when the tubing is
pulled.
• Partial or complete collapse of casing causes dent marks on the
tubing. These marks ensure the exact determination of the depth
of the problem.
• A RTTS packer tool run on tubing can be used to locate the hole or
leakage point in the casing.
• If the packer is set at intervals and pressure is applied between
the tubing and casing, the packer will cause a pressure shut off as
long as it is above the hole.
• When the packer is set below the hole, the pressure in the
annulus will bleed off.
 Casing Repair
Casing can be repaired using the following methods:

• Squeeze cementation.
• Using a stressed steel liner patch.
• Replacing the upper part of the string if the casing can be
pulled with an external casing patch.
• Running a liner to cover the bad place in the casing string.
• Using a casing roller or swage.
• Mill out with a string mill and run the casing alignment
tool.
 Objects Lost
• Any tubular or any other tool which has been dropped in
the hole while drilling operations, while making or
breaking up the tool at the rig floor, that has been
accidently dropped into the hole.
• These types of fish certainly prevent further drilling
operations.
• The fish top of the tubulars or tool dropped in the hole can
either be in cased hole or in open hole.
• These types of fish dropped in the hole, can be fished out
either by the positive catch mechanism, or by the specific
fishing tools depending on the dimensions of the fish.
Happy Fishing