Steel Pipe Application: Drill Casing
A drill casing, also known as a setting pipe, is a large diameter steel pipe that’s inserted into the drilled section of a borehole to protect and support the wellstream.
Once a well has been drilled, it must undergo completion if it’s to become a production well. Drilling a well cuts through the rock formations and allows drilling engineers to reach the reservoir below, but the raw sides of the well cannot support themselves. For this reason, casings made of steel pipe are set inside the drilled well to prevent the walls from collapsing and to protect the wellstream.
Steel Pipe Drill Casing Uses and Benefits
In addition to providing stabilization and preventing the sides of the well from caving in, drill casings protect the wellstream from outside contaminants, prevent unstable upper formations from caving in, and provide a strong upper foundation to allow high density drilling fluid to be used (which allows for deeper drilling). Similarly, steel pipe drill casings can isolate various zones in the drilled formations, which may have different pressures or fluids and therefore must be kept separate.
Steel Pipe Drill Casing Process
Casing a well involves running steel pipe down the inside of a recently drilled well. The small space between the steel pipe casing and the untreated sides of the well is filled with cement to permanently set the casing in place. The lower portion of a steel pipe casing is often held in place with poured cement, though deeper casings are usually not cemented all the way to the surface, meaning the weight of the steel pipe must also be supported by a casing hanger in the wellhead.
When planning a new well, drilling engineers and geologists will work together to pick depths at which the well will need to be cased in order to reach the desired drilling depth. Usually, these decisions are based on factors like the integrity of the well, the pressure of surrounding formations, and a cost objectives.
Once a desired drilling depth is agreed upon, steel pipe casings are created in sections that are usually about 40 feet long. The sections are screwed together to form a single length of casing. Each end of the separate casing joints has male threads that are protected by a cap (called a thread protector) until the casings are ready to be combined. A collar made of steel pipe with female threads is used to connect two male joint ends together. In this way, the thread compound is used to ensure a tight seal for the casing.
Steel pipe drill casings are connected one joint at a time onto the previous casing string that’s been installed inside the well. After the full steel pipe casing is assembled, but before cementing the well, a drill bit is inserted into the well and drilling fluid is circulated to remove any extra cuttings from the well. Finally, cement is pumped into the well and allowed to harden to fix the casing in place. Once the cement is fully hardened, the bottom of the well is drill out and the process is complete.
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