Casing Drilling:
An Emerging Technology
Casing drilling, a process for simulta-
neously drilling and casing a well, is
emerging as viable technology. The
concept builds upon experience
gained drilling liners to bottom in
troublesome holes. With the advent of
dependable top-drive systems, wire-
line-retrievable bottomhole assem-
blies (BHAs), polycrystalline diamond
compact (PDC) bits, and high-torque
connections, it is possible to simulta-
neously drill and case a complete well
by use of casing as the drillstring.
System Overview
The casing-drilling system simultane-
ously drills and cases a well by use of
normal oilfield casing as the drill-
string. The active casing provides
hydraulic and mechanical energy to a
wireline-retrievable drilling assembly
suspended from a profile nipple near
the bottom of the casing. The top
component of the drilling assembly is
a drill lock assembly (DLA) that pro-
vides mechanical coupling to the cas-
ing as well as hydraulic seals and a
mechanism to facilitate insertion and
retrieval. The drilling assembly termi-
nates in a pilot bit but may include
other conventional drillstring compo-
nents such as an underreamer, mud
motor, or directional assembly. In
most casing-drilling applications, an
underreamer is used above the pilot
bit. The pilot bit must be sized to pass
through the active casing, and the
underreamer opens the hole to the
size that would normally be drilled to
run the active casing. For example, a
61/4-in. pilot bit and an 81/2-in.
underreamer would be used while
drilling with 7-in. 23-lbm/ft casing.
The casing-drilling system uses a
top drive to rotate the casing. Single
joints of casing are picked up off the
This article is a synopsis of paper SPE
67731, Casing Drilling: An Emerging
Technology, by S.F. Shepard, SPE,
and R.H. Reiley, SPE, BP plc, and T.M.
Warren, SPE, Tesco Corp., originally
presented at the 2001 SPE/IADC
Drilling Conference, Amsterdam,
27 February1 March.
MAY 2001
pipe rack and set in the mousehole.
The top drive is connected to the top
of the joint that is stabbed into the top
of the casing string in the rotary table
and drilled down in a conventional
manner. The casing string is rotated
for all operations except slide drilling.
Field Environment
The Wamsutter area is in the greater
Green River basin in south central
Wyoming. Gas production in the area
has been actively developed since the
early 1970s and recently has seen a
resurgence of infield development
drilling. The productive formation is
the Almond sand at depths ranging
from 8,000 to 10,000 ft. Overlying for-
mations are mostly sands and shales
with interbedded coals and bentonite
stringers. The conventional drilling
program is to set 40 ft of 16-in. con-
ductor, drill 11-in. hole and set 85/8-in.
casing at 1,150 ft, and then drill
77/8-in. hole to 400 ft below the top
of the Almond where 31/2-in. tubing
is set as the production string.
The upper several thousand feet
drills very fast with fresh water as the
drilling fluid. Water flows may be
encountered from 2,000 to 4,000 ft.
Lost circulation may occur in a deplet-
ed zone betwen 4,500 and 5,000 ft and
in a fractured zone above the Almond.
Bit balling is common when drilling
some of the upper shales and lower
bentonite beds. The drilling fluid is
converted to a lightly treated gel mud
a few hundred feet above the pay zone.
An intensive effort to reduce drilling
cost has seen mud motors and PDC
bits reduce drilling time of a typical
10,000-ft vertical well to approximate-
ly 9 days. A single PDC bit is run from
the surface casing depth to the top of
the Almond. An insert bit is then used
to rotary drill the pay interval.
Casing Drilling
Surface Hole. The surface hole in each
well was drilled to approximately
1,200 ft with the casing-drilling sys-
tem. An underreamer was used in each
well. A roller-cone bit was used in Well
1 and Well 2 while a PDC bit was used
in Well 3. In each case the BHA was
installed at the surface and retrieved
with wireline when the casing point
was reached. The first casing-drilled
well required 16.5 hours drilling time,
and total time from spud to completing
the cement job was 21 hours. On the
second well the weight-on-bit (WOB)
and rotary speed were increased to
reduce drilling time to 15 hours.
Difficulties in retrieving the BHA, flow-
line plugging problems caused by
gumbo, and a seal failure in the casing
clamp increased overall time to
26 hours. On the third well, rotating
time was reduced to 8 hours and the
overall time was reduced to 12.5 hours.
After the first surface hole was com-
pleted it was apparent that the most
significant limitation to casing-
drilling performance was the low rate
Tu b u l a r U p d a t e
of penetration (ROP). To counteract
this problem and try to emulate con-
ventional drilling conditions, the fol-
lowing actions were taken.
Drilling fluid was changed to clear
water circulated directly from the
reserve pit.
Both pumps were run to increase
flow rate.
The roller-cone pilot bit was
replaced with a PDC bit.
WOB was limited to approximate-
ly one-half the casing weight.
These actions eliminated the low
ROP observed on the first and second
wells.
The BHA was retrieved successfully
on all three wells. Retrieval on the sec-
ond well required two wireline runs to
replace a failed jar. BHA recovery
required only 45 minutes on the third
well. The underreamer performed well
on all three wells. There were no diffi-
culties in closing the arms to retrieve
the tool. The same underreamer and
cutters were used for all three wells.
Production Hole Drilling. First Well.
Drilling the production hole section with
the casing-drilling process proved more
challenging than drilling the surface
hole. Lateral drilling vibrations resulted
in two casing connection fatigue failures
in the first well. At 7,728 ft a loss of pres-
29
 sure and hook load indicated that the
casing had parted. The casing was
tripped out and a fatigue failure was
found at a connection box approximate-
ly 625 ft above the shoe. The centralizers
were worn down approximately 3/8 in.
and some casing connectors had begun
to wear. The fish was not recovered and
the well was sidetracked and drilled to
total depth (TD) with conventional
drillpipe. Examination of drilling data
indicated that torque was normal to
5,700 ft but then increased. Because
lateral vibration (whirl) began where
well inclination was a maximum and
then began to decrease, it was conclud-
ed that hole geometry played a signifi-
cant role in causing the vibrations.
Second Well. The diameter of six cen-
tralizers immediately above the bit was
increased from 55/8 in. to 61/8 in. to pro-
vide additional stabilization to counter-
act the normal deviation of the forma-
tions so the hole would remain
straighter. Torque was to be monitored
to identify vibration onset and operating
parameters were to be altered to stop
vibrations as soon as they were ob-
served. Lateral vibrations were observed
Tu b u l a r U p d a t e
immediately after beginning to drill the
30
cement plug. Vibration could not be
stopped by use of any of the planned
techniques. The casing failed at the last
thread on the pin of the casing joint that
screwed into the profile nipple at
4,885 ft. The failure was detected imme-
diately and the BHA was retrieved with
wireline before tripping the casing out
of the hole. The profile nipple and shoe
were recovered and the well was com-
pleted with conventional drillpipe.
Third Well. Casing design for the
third well was changed to reduce the
probability of lateral vibrations, and
more fatigue-resistant couplings were
used. Twenty-four 5-in. 23.2-lbm/ft
casing joints were run on the bottom
to replace the 41/2-in. centralized cas-
ing used in the previous design. This
casing has sufficient weight so the
coupled 41/2-in. casing is not in com-
pression, has a smoother surface to
reduce friction, and has a thicker wall
to withstand wear on the casing body.
The casing connection was changed to
one specifically designed for casing
drilling. The 5-in. flush connections
provided both an internal and external
torque shoulder with an 18,000-ft-lbf
torque rating.
The third well was casing drilled suc-
cessfully from the surface casing shoe
to 7,692 ft where the casing was pulled
for inspection before drilling into the
pay zone. The casing was tripped back
into the well with the pumpdown DLA
in place and the well drilled to 8,312-ft
TD. The third well is the deepest well
completed with the casing-drilling sys-
tem where all segments of the well
were drilled with casing.
Conclusions
On the basis of knowledge gained to
date, the casing-drilling system is best
suited for drilling softer formations with
larger casing sizes. In these situations,
ROP can match conventional rates and
reduce tripping and drillstring handling.
As use of casing-drilling systems increas-
es, experience and equipment refine-
ments will allow the technology to have
broader applications and promises to
impact a greater variety of wells. JPT
Please read the full-length paper for
additional detail, illustrations, and ref-
erences. The paper from which the
synopsis has been taken has not been
peer reviewed.
MAY 2001