pipe

During drilling operations, a pipe is considered stuck if it cannot be freed and pulled out of the hole without damaging the pipe and without exceeding the drilling rig's maximum allowed hook load. Differential pressure pipe sticking and mechanical pipe sticking are addressed in this section. Differential-pressure pipe sticking occurs when a portion of the drillstring becomes embedded in a mudcake (an impermeable film of fine solids) that forms on the wall of a permeable formation during drilling. If the mud pressure, pm, which acts on the outside wall of the pipe, is greater than the formation-fluid pressure, pff, which generally is the case (with the exception of underbalanced drilling), then the pipe is said to be differentially stuck (see Figure 1.1). The pull force, Fp, required to free the stuck pipe is a function of the differential pressure, Δp; the coefficient of friction, f; and the area of contact, Ac, between the pipe and mudcake surfaces.

The first design task in preparing the well plan is selecting depths that the casing will be run and cemented. The program results should allow the well to be drilled safely without the necessity of building "a steel monument" of casing strings. Unfortunately, many well plans give significant considerations to the actual pipe design, yet give only cursory attention to the pipe setting depth. The importance of selecting proper depths for setting casing cannot be overemphasized. Many wells have been engineering or economic failures because the casing program specified setting depths too shallow or deep. Applying a few basic drilling principles combined with a basic knowledge of the geological conditions in an area can help determine where casing strings should be set to ensure that drilling can proceed with minimum difficulty. Drilling environments often require several casing strings to reach the total desired depth. Figure 1 shows the relationship of some of these strings.

The causes of mechanical pipe sticking are inadequate removal of drilled cuttings from the annulus; borehole instabilities, such as hole caving, sloughing, or collapse; plastic shale or salt sections squeezing (creeping); and key seating. Excessive drilled-cuttings accumulation in the annular space caused by improper cleaning of the hole can cause mechanical pipe sticking, particularly in directional-well drilling. The settling of a large amount of suspended cuttings to the bottom when the pump is shut down, or the downward sliding of a stationary-formed cuttings bed on the low side of a directional well can pack a bottomhole assembly (BHA), which causes pipe sticking. In directional-well drilling, a stationary cuttings bed may form on the low side of the borehole (see Figure 1). If this condition exists while tripping out, it is very likely that pipe sticking will occur.

Spacers and flushes are effective displacement aids, because they separate incompatible fluids such as cement and drilling fluid. A spacer is a fluid used to separate drilling fluids and cementing slurries. A spacer can be designed for use with either water-based or oil-based drilling fluids, and prepares both pipe and formation for the cementing operation. For example, a spacer is a volume of fluid injected ahead of the cement, but behind the drilling fluid. It can also enhance the removal of gelled drilling fluid, allowing a better cement bond.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has numerous manufacturing requirements for tubing. Many API standards have also been adopted by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The tubing purchaser and designer should be aware of API requirements and testing procedures (see API Spec. All tubing should meet API minimum requirements. In critical wells, the purchaser may want to receive and review the manufacturer's test results.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) has numerous manufacturing requirements for tubing. Many API standards have also been adopted by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The tubing purchaser and designer should be aware of API requirements and testing procedures (see API Spec. All tubing should meet API minimum requirements. In critical wells, the purchaser may want to receive and review the manufacturer's test results.

The predominant cause of cementing failure appears to be channels of gelled drilling fluid remaining in the annulus after the cement is in place. If drilling-fluid channels are eliminated, any number of cementing compositions will provide an effective seal. Proper hole preparation is the key to success. In evaluating factors that affect the displacement of drilling fluid, it is necessary to consider the flow pattern in an eccentric annulus (i.e., where the pipe is closer to one side of the hole than the other). Flow velocity in an eccentric annulus is not uniform, and the highest velocity occurs in the side of the hole with the largest clearance.

As installed, casing usually hangs straight down in vertical wells or lays on the low side of the hole in deviated wells. Thermal or pressure loads might produce compressive loads, and if these loads are sufficiently high, the initial configuration will become unstable. However, because the tubing is confined within open hole or casing, the tubing can deform into another stable configuration, usually a helical or coil shape in a vertical wellbore or a lateral S-shaped configuration in a deviated hole. These new equilibrium configurations are what we mean when we talk about buckling in casing design. In contrast, conventional mechanical engineering design considers buckling in terms of stability (i.e., the prediction of the critical load at which the original configuration becomes unstable).

To evaluate a given casing design, a set of loads is necessary. Casing loads result from running the casing, cementing the casing, subsequent drilling operations, production and well workover operations. Mechanical loads are associated with casing hanging weight, shock loads during running, packer loads during production and workovers, and hanger loads. In tubing and over the free length of the casing above top-of-cement (TOC), changes in temperatures and pressures will have the largest effect on the ballooning and temperature load components. The incremental forces, because of these effects, are given here.