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 rotary drilling series

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Unit I: The Rig and Its Maintenance

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esson 1:
L The Rotary Rig and Its Components
Lesson 2: The Bit
Lesson 3: Drill String and Drill Collars

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Lesson 4: Rotary, Kelly, Swivel, Tongs, and Top Drive
Lesson 5: The Blocks and Drilling Line

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Lesson 6: The Drawworks and the Compound

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Lesson 7: Drilling Fluids, Mud Pumps, and Conditioning Equipment
Lesson 8: Diesel Engines and Electric Power

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Lesson 9: The Auxiliaries
Lesson 10: Safety on the Rig

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Unit II: Normal Drilling Operations

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esson 1:
L Making Hole
Lesson 2:
L esson 3:
Drilling Fluid
Drilling a Straight Hole rs
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Lesson 4: Casing and Cementing
Lesson 5: Testing and Completing
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Unit III: Nonroutine Operations

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Lesson 1: Controlled Directional Drilling

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esson 2: Open-Hole Fishing

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Lesson 3: Blowout Prevention
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Unit IV: Man Management and Rig Management

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Unit V: Offshore Technology

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esson 1:
L Wind, Waves, and Weather
Lesson 2: Spread Mooring Systems
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L esson 3: Buoyancy, Stability, and Trim

Lesson 4: Jacking Systems and Rig Moving Procedures
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Lesson 5: Diving and Equipment

Lesson 6: Vessel Maintenance and Inspection
Lesson 7: Helicopter Safety
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Lesson 8: Orientation for Offshore Crane Operations

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Lesson 9: Life Offshore

Lesson 10: Marine Riser Systems and Subsea Blowout Preventers
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 rotary drilling series

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Casing and

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Cementing

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Unit II, Lesson 4
Third Edition
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by William E. Jackson
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Published by
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PETROLEUM EXTENSION SERVICE

The University of Texas at Austin
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Division of Continuing & Innovative Education

Austin, Texas
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Originally produced by
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INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
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OF DRILLING CONTRACTORS
Houston, Texas
2001

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Feder, Judy, 1950— rs

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Casing and cementing / by Judy Feder. — 3rd ed.
p. cm. — (Rotary drilling series ; unit 2, lesson 4)
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ISBN 0-88698-191-3 (alk. paper)

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1. Oil well casing. 2. Oil well cementing. I. Title. II. Series.

TN871.22.F44 2001
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622'.3381—dc21 2001000765
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CIP
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©2001 by The University of Texas at Austin

All rights reserved
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First Edition published 1968. Second Edition 1982.

Third Edition 2001. Third Impression 2011
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Printed in the United States of America

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This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form with­out
permission of Petroleum Extension Service, The University of Texas at
Austin.
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Brand names, company names, trademarks, or other identifying symbols

appearing in illustrations and/or text are used for educational purposes only
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and do not constitute an endorsement by the author or the publisher.

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Catalog no. 2.20430

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ISBN 0-88698-191-3
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No state tax funds were used to publish this book.

The University of Texas at Austin is an equal opportunity ­employer.
ii
ii
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 Figures
Tables
v
viii contents
Foreword vii ▼
Acknowledgments ix

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Units of Measurement x ▼

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Introduction 1

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Casing 3
Casing Strings 4

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Types of Casing 5

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Conductor Pipe 6

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Surface Casing 7
Intermediate Casing 7

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Liner String 8
Production Casing 10
To Summarize 11

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String Design 12

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Design Criteria: Primary Forces 12
Design Criteria: Secondary Forces 15
Design Criteria: Downhole Environment rs 15
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To Summarize 16
Setting the Casing 17
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Preparation 17
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Running the Casing 22

Stabbing, Making Up, and Lowering 27
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Landing 32
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API Standards 36
To Summarize 41
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Casing Threads and Couplings 42

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Proprietary or Premium Connections 45

To Summarize 48
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Changing Technology 49
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Cementing 51
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Primary Cementing Basics 52

To Summarize 54
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Oilwell Cements and Additives 55

Additives 57
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Special Cements 62
To Summarize 64
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Mixing 66
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Water Quality
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66
Water Quantity 66
Types of Mixers 67

iii
 Pumping 70
Displacing the Drilling Mud 70
Pumping the Cement 71
Casing Accessories 73
To Summarize

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79
Cement Volume Requirements

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81
Calculating Open-Hole Capacity 82

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To Summarize 83
Considerations After Cementing 84

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Waiting on Cement 84
Checking the Cement Top 85

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Pressure Testing 87

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To Summarize 87

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Glossary 89
Review Questions 101

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Answers 109

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 Acknowledgments

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T he author expresses a sincere appreciation to the numerous

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people who have helped with the preparation of this edition
of Casing and Cementing. In particular, special thanks go to Rick

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Covington of Halliburton Energy Services, and Ed Banker of
Marubeni Tubulars, Inc. Their time and patience reviewing the

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manuscript and updating information was invaluable.
Thanks also go to Monte Montague, Betsy Mott, and Dave

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Rees of Halliburton, as well as Anjali Prasad and John Greenip

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of Hydril, for locating and providing illustrations and photo-
graphs for use in the manual. John Greenip was most helpful
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in providing assistance in reviewing the text.
All who have contributed time, thought, and effort into
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this book have worked to make this new edition a success in

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providing the most complete information about casing and

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cementing.
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 in
Units of Measurement

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T hroughout the world, two systems of measurement dominate:

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the English system and the met­ric system. To­day, the United
States is almost the only country that employs the En­glish sys­tem.

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The English system uses the pound as the unit of weight, the
foot as the unit of length, and the gallon as the unit of capacity.

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In the En­glish system, for example, 1 foot equals 12 inches, 1
yard equals 36 inches, and 1 mile equals 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
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The metric system uses the gram as the unit of weight, the
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metre as the unit of length, and the litre as the unit of capacity.
In the metric system, for example, 1 me­tre equals 10 decimetres,
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100 centimetres, or 1,000 milli­metres. A kilometre equals 1,000

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me­tres. The metric system, un­like the English system, uses a

base of 10; thus, it is easy to convert from one unit to another.
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To convert from one unit to an­other in the English system, you

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must memorize or look up the val­ues.

In the late 1970s, the Eleventh General Conference on
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Weights and Measures de­scribed and adopted the Système

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International (SI) d’U­nités. Conference participants based the

SI system on the metric system and de­signed it as an interna­
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tional stan­dard of measurement.

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The Rotary Drilling Series gives both English and SI units.

And because the SI sys­tem employs the British spelling of many
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of the terms, the book follows those spelling rules as well. The
unit of length, for ex­ample, is metre, not me­ter. (Note, however,
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that the unit of weight is gram, not gramme.)

To aid U.S. readers in making and understanding the
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conversion to the SI system, we in­clude the following table.

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 English-Units-to-SI-Units Conversion Factors
Quantity Multiply To Obtain
or Property English Units English Units By These SI Units
Length, inches (in.) 25.4 millimetres (mm)
depth, 2.54 centimetres (cm)

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or height feet (ft) 0.3048 metres (m)
yards (yd) 0.9144 metres (m)

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miles (mi) 1609.344 metres (m)
1.61 kilometres (km)

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Hole and pipe di­ame­ters, bit size inches (in.) 25.4 millimetres (mm)
Drilling rate feet per hour (ft/h) 0.3048 metres per hour (m/h)

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Weight on bit pounds (lb) 0.445 decanewtons (dN)
Nozzle size 32nds of an inch 0.8 millimetres (mm)

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barrels (bbl) 0.159 cubic metres (m3)

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159 litres (L)
gallons per stroke (gal/stroke) 0.00379 cubic metres per stroke (m3/stroke)
ounces (oz) 29.57 millilitres (mL)

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Volume cubic inches (in.3) 16.387 cubic centimetres (cm3)
cubic feet (ft3) 28.3169 litres (L)
0.0283 cubic metres (m3)
quarts (qt) 0.9464 litres (L)

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gallons (gal) 3.7854 litres (L)
gallons (gal) 0.00379 cubic metres (m3)

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pounds per barrel (lb/bbl) 2.895 kilograms per cubic metre (kg/m3)
barrels per ton (bbl/tn) 0.175 cubic metres per tonne (m3/t)

Pump output
gallons per minute (gpm)
gallons per hour (gph) rs 0.00379
0.00379
cubic metres per minute (m3/min)
cubic metres per hour (m3/h)
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and flow rate barrels per stroke (bbl/stroke) 0.159 cubic metres per stroke (m3/stroke)
barrels per minute (bbl/min) 0.159 cubic metres per minute (m3/min)
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Pressure pounds per square inch (psi) 6.895 kilopascals (kPa)

0.006895 megapascals (MPa)
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°F - 32
Temperature degrees Fahrenheit (°F) degrees Celsius (°C)
1.8
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Thermal gradient 1°F per 60 feet –– 1°C per 33 metres

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ounces (oz) 28.35 grams (g)

Mass (weight) pounds (lb) 453.59 grams (g)
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0.4536 kilograms (kg)

tons (tn) 0.9072 tonnes (t)
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pounds per foot (lb/ft) 1.488 kilograms per metre (kg/m)

Mud weight pounds per gallon (ppg) 119.82 kilograms per cubic me­tre (kg/m3)
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pounds per cubic foot (lb/ft3) 16.0 kilograms per cubic me­tre (kg/m3)
Pressure gradient pounds per square inch
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per foot (psi/ft) 22.621 kilopascals per metre (kPa/m)

Funnel viscosity seconds per quart (s/qt) 1.057 seconds per litre (s/L)
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Yield point pounds per 100 square feet (lb/100 ft2) 0.48 pascals (Pa)
Gel strength pounds per 100 square feet (lb/100 ft2) 0.48 pascals (Pa)
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Filter cake thickness 32nds of an inch 0.8 millimetres (mm)

Power horsepower (hp) 0.75 kilowatts (kW)
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square inches (in.2) 6.45 square centimetres (cm2)

square feet (ft2) 0.0929 square metres (m2)
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Area square yards (yd2) 0.8361 square metres (m2)

square miles (mi2) 2.59 square kilometres (km2)
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acre (ac) 0.40 hectare (ha)

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Drilling line wear ton-miles (tn•mi) 14.317 megajoules (MJ)

1.459 tonne-kilometres (t•km)
Torque foot-pounds (ft•lb) 1.3558 newton metres (N•m)
 Introduction

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C asing and cementing are essential to drilling oil and gas wells.

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Lining a hole with casing keeps it from caving in after it is
drilled, sealing the wellbore from encroaching fluids and gasses.

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Cementing the casing in place attaches it firmly to the wellbore wall
and stabilizes the hole. Casing and cement both serve additional,

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important functions in the well. These functions will be addressed
later in this manual.

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Casing and cementing procedures have grown more sophis-
ticated in recent years as the search for new hydrocarbon-bearing
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reservoirs takes wells deeper and into more hostile environments
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(i.e., deep water, high pressures and temperatures, and sour gases).
Engineers and metallurgists work continually to refine casing or
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cementing designs and procedures to handle the challenges as-

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sociated with offshore and remote locations, extreme depths, and

severe conditions.
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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
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drilling came better quality muds with greater ability to control

well pressures. As a result, much more open hole could be drilled.
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Casing is now generally set to serve a specific purpose and is neither

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arbitrary nor compulsory for any hole conditions.

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 Casing

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C asing and tubing account for 15 to 20 percent of the com-

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pleted cost of a well—often the greatest single item of expense
on the well. Failure of casing or tubing results in expensive rework

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and may lead to loss of the well, or worse, loss of life. Selecting
casing sizes, weights, grades, and types of threaded connections

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for a given situation presents an engineering and economic chal-
lenge of considerable importance.

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Casing is strong steel pipe used in an oil or gas well to ensure a
pressure‑tight connection from the sur­face to the oil or gas reservoir.
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Casing serves at least seven important func­tions in the well (fig. 1):
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1. It prevents the hole from caving in or washing out.
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2. It protects freshwater sands from contamination by

fluids from lower zones.
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3. It keeps water out of the producing for­mation.

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4. It confines production to the wellbore.

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5. It contains formation pressures and prevents fracturing

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Figure 1. These joints of casing are ready to be run into the well,
where they will serve at least seven important functions.

3
 CASING AND CEMENTING

of upper and weaker zones.

6. It provides an anchor for surface and artificial lift equip­

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ment.

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7. It provides a flow path for produced fluids.

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In offshore operations, casing also provides a conduit from the
seafloor to a bottom-supported drilling unit, such as a jackup, on

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the surface of the water.

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Casing Strings Casing is manufactured in joints that range in length from 16 to
48 feet (ft) or 4.9 to 14.6 metres (m). It ranges in diameter from 4.5

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to 48 inches (in.) or 114 to 122 millimetres (mm) or more. Joints of
casing are either screwed or (occasionally) welded together as they

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are lowered into the hole. Several joints of casing, when joined,
constitute a casing string.

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Casing strings are run concentrically, from the surface through
the lowest interval with hydrocarbon-bearing potential. The bit
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drills the hole to a certain depth, then casing is run in to line it and,
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in most cases, cement is pumped in to bind the casing firmly to the
walls of the hole. (Note, however, that there are instances when
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casing is intentionally left uncemented.) Drilling continues to the

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next specified depth, and casing is once again run and cemented.
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This process is repeated until the rig reaches total depth.

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 CASING

Because casing serves several different functions, it is usually neces- Types of Casing
sary to install more than one string of casing. Typically, a well will

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require at least three concentric strings of casing: conductor pipe,

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surface casing, and production casing (fig. 2). Depending on the

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formations encountered, it may also require intermediate casing.
In some cases a liner string may be set and tied back to the surface
to form a production string. Each type of casing serves a specific

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purpose important to the com­pletion of the well.

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CONDUCTOR
CASING

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SURFACE
CASING
INTERMEDIATE
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CASING
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PRODUCTION
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CASING
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CEMENT
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Figure 2. Most wells require several strings of casing, each of which

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serves a specific purpose important to the completion of the well.

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 Cementing

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O ilwell cementing is the process of mixing and placing a

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cement slurry in the annular space be­tween a string of casing
and the open hole. The cement sets, bonding the casing to the wall

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of the wellbore for additional stability.
The practice of cementing began around 1903 in California.

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Early methods of mixing cement and placing it in the hole were
quite crude. Modern cementing practices debuted in 1920, when

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Erle Halliburton cemented a well in Oklahoma’s Hewitt Field for
W.G. Skelly (fig. 23). Today, the Halliburton jet mixer remains a
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basic device for rapid mixing of drilling mud, although it is seldom
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used for mixing cement slurry.
In 1903 there was only one type of cement and no additives.
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Today there are eight classes of cement and more than 40 different
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addi­tives. Bulk‑cement handling is stan­dard practice, and blends

are tailored to specific jobs. Waiting‑on‑cement time has been
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reduced from 10 days to less than 24 hours.

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Figure 23. Halliburton cementing equipment from the 1920s (Courtesy of Halliburton)

51
 CASING AND CEMENTING

There are three types of oilwell cementing. Primary cement-

ing is performed immediately after the casing has been run into

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the hole, to seal and separate each zone, and to protect the pipe.

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Secondary cementing is performed after the primary cement job,

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usually as part of a well servicing or workover operation. Plug‑
ging back to another producing zone, plugging a dry hole, and
formation squeeze cementing are examples of secondary cement‑

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ing procedures. Squeeze cementing involves forcing cement to the

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bottom of the casing and up the annular space between the cas‑

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ing and the wall of the borehole to seal off a formation or plug
a leak in the casing. Squeeze cementing was introduced in the

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1930s and is now a common procedure for plugging perforations
or shutting off water. The discussion in this book is limited to

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primary cementing.

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Primary Cementing rs
Although several methods of primary cementing exist, single-stage
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Basics and multistage cementing are the most commonly used. Single-
stage cementing, the most common cementing procedure, consists
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of pumping a calculated volume of slurry into casing, after pipe

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has been landed at the desired depth, and displacing the slurry
around the shoe and into the annulus in a circulating mode with
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another fluid (i.e., water, mud, or completion fluid) (fig. 24). Mul-
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tistage cementing consists of pumping cement into the well in two

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or more separate stages, or batches, behind a casing string. This

procedure is used in wells that have critical fracture gradients or
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that require good cement jobs on long casing strings.

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Several functions of primary cementing are:

1. to structurally support and restrain casing;
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2. to seal the annulus between pipe and formation against

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fluid movement from one zone to another and to restrict

fluid movement between forma­tions and the surface;
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3. to provide well control by weight and rapid curing after

protective mud is displaced;
4. to prevent pollution of freshwater forma­tions;
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5. to protect the casing’s exterior from corrosion; and

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6. to protect intermediate casing and liner pipe from torque

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and shock loads when drilling deeper.

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 in
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Figure 24. Primary

cementing is performed
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immediately after the casing

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has been run in the hole,

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to seal and separate each

zone, and to protect the pipe.
(Courtesy of Halliburton)
 CASING AND CEMENTING

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To summarize—

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Cement
• supports and restrains casing

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• seals the annulus to restrict fluid movement
• provides well control

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• prevents pollution of freshwater formations

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• protects the casing from corrosion

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• protects previously run casing strings from torque and
shock loading when drilling deeper

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Five factors are important to a good cementing job

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• cleaning the annulus without gouging, enhancing cement
bonding to the wellbore;

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• centering the casing in the hole in order to form a uniform
sheath of cement around the casing and minimize the
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chances of a channeling effect on the cement job;
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• strengthening the cement in the annular space to allow
for proper perforation in the producing zone;
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• bonding the cement to the casing surface to eliminate the

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possibility of a microannulus; and

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• providing the necessary pipe movement, either rotation

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or reciprocation, to increase turbulence, improve circula‑

tion, and pro­vide complete displacement of the drilling
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fluid with cement.

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54
 To obtain additional training materials, contact:

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PETEX

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The University of Texas at Austin
Petroleum Extension Service

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10100 Burnet Road, Bldg. 2
Austin, TX 78758

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Telephone: 512-471-5940
or 800-687-4132

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FAX: 512-471-9410

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or 800-687-7839
E-mail: petex@www.utexas.edu

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or visit our Web site: www.utexas.edu/ce/petex

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To obtain information about training courses, contact:

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PETEX
Learning and assessment center
The University of Texas rs
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4702 N. Sam Houston Parkway West, Suite 800
Houston, TX 77086
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Telephone: 281-397-2440
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or 800-687-7052
FAX: 281-397-2441
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E-mail: plach@www.utexas.edu
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or visit our Web site: www.utexas.edu/ce/petex

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