A Review on Upcoming Casing Drilling Technologies and Well Bore Strengthening

Aman Sharma, Deval Diwakar

School of Petroleum Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum Technology, Gandhinagar, 38007, India

ABSTRACT

Casing drilling refers to the method of drilling where, the traditional drill stem of transferring torsion and drill pressure to
downhole is directly replaced by casing; running casing is proceeded while drilling; after drilling is finished. Casing drilling
technology can end the drilling and running casing in one operation procedure, while not mistreatment the traditional tripping
technique. In casing drilling method, downhole tools are often retrieved through the casing on wireline, that means tools
recovery or replacement of tools will take simply minutes versus hours took in the conventional methods. This method
employs wireline retrievable tools and a permitting bit, drill lock assembly and BHA changes, electrical logging, coring and
even directional or horizontal drilling. Once the casing purpose or total depth(TD) is reached [5], the casing is cemented in
situ while not tripping pipe. In CwD, the plastering effect insulates the well bore wall. If the ‘Casing diameter: Hole size' ratio is
kept approximately 0.8 then it can provide optimal angular pressure and casing side load necessary for plastering effect.
Casing contact repairs the imperfections in well bore and mud cake while plastering the custom designed filter cakes into the
fractures, sealing them off and strengthening the well bore. This reduces the loss of drilling by sealing the fracture.

KEYWORDS: Casing while Drilling, Drilling, Well bore strengthening, Fractures.

1. INTRODUCTION

The term drilling indicates the whole complex of operations necessary to construct wells of circular section applying
excavation techniques. Conventional drilling methods have been tormented with huge operational and financial challenges,
such as expenses of purchasing, inspecting, transporting, handling the drill equipment.

Casing Drilling encompasses the process of simultaneously drilling and casing the well, using the casing which is active and
thus optimizing the production. This paper presents a review of new and upcoming technologies in casing while drilling
method (CwD), its practical usage in drilling wells and the benefits of plastering and smear effect in well bore strengthening.
The comparison of conventional drilling method and casing while drilling is also presented. The CwD method achieves
remarkably better results than conventional or regular drilling method.

The early steps in developing this new method were made in the 1890s, when engineers applied new approach, established
on the basis of rotary drilling process for drilling the well with casing and later retrieving the hydraulically expandable bit. Few
decades later, precisely in 1926, a new patent, which included casing bits which were retrievable and re-runnable. Although it
still has not been accepted very well, this patent had plenty of advantages. Some of those advantages were: removal of drill
pipe, moderation in overall drilling time, stuck pipe, crew and cost of drilling; application of few casing string, reductions in
accident occurrence on the rig and the ability to drill each and every foot in the well. In 1960s, Brown Tools Company
developed a casing drive system, which comprised down hole and surface tools which were used to drill with the casing
and retrievable bits, and applied it on drilling wells [3]. This casing drive system is appreciated as the ancestor of present
day’s top drive system.
2. CASING WHILE DRILLING

Casing drilling, otherwise called drilling with casing (DwC) or casing while drilling (CwD) is an alternate drilling technique to
the traditional drilling technique. Casing drilling involves the coincidental drilling and casing of well with a (active-standard)
casing string. It is obligatory to notice that casing is that the same grade and weight as in standard drilling operation. With that
in mind, there's no further price for casing string.

The casing string replaces the drill pipe and alternative drill string elements employed in standard well drilling, providing
hydraulic and energy to the bit (shoe). This reduction in pipe handling improves wellsite safety and allows drillers to use
standard size rigs or smaller rigs built specifically to drill with casing. The casing is usually put into rotary motion and
cemented in the well at the total depth (TD), but nowadays there are many efficiently developed models to drill with casing.
As shown in Figure 1, these models can be divided into these categories:

1. CwD with non-retrievable system

2. CwD with retrievable system

FIGURE 1: CONVENTIONAL DRILLING AND CASING DRILLING BHAs

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2.1 UPCOMING CASING DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES

New Casing drilling systems and technologies aims to minimize costs, improve efficiency of drilling, and minimize hole
problems by casing the well while it is drilled. The technology uses unique rig and downhole equipment that functions as an
integrated drilling system where standard oil field casing is used to transmit mechanical and hydraulic energy to the drill bit. A
wire line drilling assembly which is retrievable is fastened into the casing eliminates the need for tripping with a conventional
drillstring. New casing with drilling and liner-drilling technology delivers a high-quality wellbore by casing and separating or
keeping out the formation while drilling. Each and every foot of borehole is drilled and cased off simultaneously, eliminating
the requirements for separate casing or liner runs. When Total depth (TD) is reached, the process of cementing the borehole
begins. As compared with the performance of conventional drilling systems, technology developed has recorded equal or
better on-bottom ROPs and has reduced the time spent on drilling and casing operations by more than 30%.

New Enhanced Casing while Drilling Installation ( ECI) systems are designed with even more higher efficiency. ECI is a
modular casing drilling system that is designed drill and case that well simultaneously, with added ability to measure and log
a well using standard logging tools. ECI CwD is a rotatory drilling process that drill and cases a well simultaneously. ECI
gives us the ability to drill more complicated wells through problematic formations where conventional drilling is not suitable.
An Enhanced Casing while Drilling Installation (ECI) system is shown in the Figure 2:

FIGURE 2: Enhanced Casing while Drilling Installation (ECI) system

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3. WELL BORE STRENGTHENING

The plastering effect is mainly provided in Casing while Drilling (CwD) process and it is an unique and inherent feature of
Casing while Drilling. This effect basically strengthens the wellbore, prevents lost circulation, mitigates the formation damage.
This effect provided by Casing while Drilling mainly augments the pressure containment of the well bore by smearing the drill
cuttings into the formation face, hence sealing the pore spaces. This continuous process creates a filter cake which has low
porosity, low permeability on the wellbore wall, reducing or preventing losses to the formation and effectively widening the
operating mud weight window. The Figure 3 shows comparison between the drill pipe and casing condition

FIGURE 3: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE CONVETIONAL DRILL PIPE AND THE CASING
CONDITIONS

Drilling with conventional drill pipe (left) allows a larger annulus, while Drilling with Casing allows us to minimise the annulus
size; rotating casing smears cuttings into the borehole wall, sealing the pores in the formation and reducing the fluid losses,
producing a stronger borehole for improved cementing. Figure 4 shows the comparison between conventional process and
CwD with respect to the filtration of mud or fluid in the reservoir.

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 FIGURE 4: COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FILTRATION CONDITIONS IN CONVENTIONAL
DRILLING AND CASING DRILLING

A advantageous casing “smear” effect has been witnessed in recent years during drilling-with-casing or casing while drilling
(CWD) operations, this effect basically prevents lost circulation when drilling highly depleted formations at high annular
circulating pressures. Casing smear mimics Work breakdown Structure (WBS) effects observed during conventional drilling
operations in its ability to constructively extend fracture gradients and shut out lost circulation, which is of great welfare to
drilling extreme wells with tight drilling margins such as ultra deep-water wells. In fact, when used appropriately, Work
breakdown Structure and casing smear together has many well construction benefits that are on par with those of dual
gradient drilling (DGD) and managed pressure drilling (MPD), at reduced equipment usage, complexity and cost. In inclusion
to increased drilling performance, CwD technology has also shown strong perspective for drilling in weak sections to reduce
lost circulation and wellbore instability problems and reduce Non productive time (NPT) in drilling operations, specifically in
deep offshore and narrow pore-fracture pressure sedimentary basins. It also has other benefits like hydraulic improvements
and the ability to plaster cuttings to the wall of wellbore, which can be useful in reconstructing the wellbore’s hoop stress by
wedging the created fractures and/or by increasing the fracture propagation pressure. Additionally, because of the larger
pipe-to-annulus size ratio of CwD compared to regular drilling, the rotation of casing forms a better mud cake.

FIGURE 5: PLASTERING EFFECT TO REDUCE THE HOOP STRESS AND PLUG NEAR THE
WELLBORE FRACTURES

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4. CONCLUSIONS

Casing while Drilling can minimize the overall cost of drilling to low prices in the future. Analysis of the casing-drilling test
wells suggests cost savings in the 10-15% range for trouble-free wells when casing drilling can be used across intervals.
According to a study for the onshore wells which are in relatively fast drilling areas, in addition to these savings with the
savings that may be realized from more-efficient rig moves and the elimination of hole problems related to tripping the drill
string could provide an overall savings of up to 30%.In offshore applications where the day rates are much higher, the most
effective and profitable applications may occur through time savings that accompany advantages of drilling larger strings of
casing into place. This technology may avoid hole stability problems that occur during tripping operations. Finally, the
possibility exists where an entire string(s) of casing may be eliminated. In this way the Casing while Drilling process is
beneficial and is way better then conventional drilling and is way more profitable for an organisation.

REFERENCES

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