OTC 16564

Casing Drilling with Retrievable Drilling Assemblies

Tommy Warren/Tesco Corp., Robert Tessari/Tesco Corp., Bruce Houtchens/Tesco Corp.

Copyright 2004, Offshore Technology Conference

and offshore applications where only the first hole section or
This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in two have been drilled with casing.
Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 3–6 May 2004.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC Program Committee following review of Portions of vertical wells may be drilled with casing
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to using a special bit attached to the casing that can be drilled out
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Offshore Technology Conference or its officers. Electronic reproduction, to run subsequent casing strings. In other instances, a
distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written
consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print
conventional bit may be run on the casing and left in the hole.
is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The There are situations where both of these techniques provide
abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was
presented. the best solution, but when there is a need to drill with a motor
without rotating the casing or the section cannot confidently
be drilled with a single bit, then a retrievable drilling assembly
Abstract
that can be recovered and re-run is required.
Retrievable Casing Drilling* tools have been used to drill more
than 600,000 ft of hole in over 120 wells encompassing six
The fully retrievable and re-runnable Tesco Casing
casing sizes ranging from 4-1/2” to 13-3/8” and reaching
Drilling system has been used in over 120 commercial wells to
inclinations of 90o. This drilling system is composed of
drill approximately 620,000 ft with casing since it was
downhole and surface components that provide the ability to
introduced in 1999. These applications range from drilling
use normal oil field casing as the drill string so that the well is
only shallow surface holes to drilling as deep as 9,400 ft.
simultaneously drilled and cased. The casing is rotated from
They include both vertical and directional wells and wells with
the surface for all operations except slide drilling with a motor
up to three string of casing with sizes ranging from 4-1/2” to
and bent housing assembly for oriented directional work.
13-3/8”. About 250,000 ft has also been drilled with Tesco
non-retrievable tools, to give a total of more than 270 strings
A retrievable drilling assembly is attached to the casing
of casing that have been drilled with both systems.
inside a proprietary profile nipple located near the casing shoe.
The drilling assembly extending below the casing usually
Most of this activity has been focused on drilling vertical
includes an underreamer and a PDC or roller cone pilot bit.
intervals, but interest in using the Casing Drilling system in
Other conventional drill-string components may be included
directional wells is increasing as the processes for drilling
so that almost any normal drilling activity can be conducted.
straight holes become proven, the benefits of the Casing
These assemblies are retrieved with a wireline at the casing
Drilling system are demonstrated, and more versatile tools
point or at any point in the drilling process when there is a
become available.
need to change drilling tools.
Use of a retrievable system is the only practical choice
Introduction
for directional wells because of the need to recover the
Tesco’s Casing Drilling system combines the drilling and
expensive directional drilling and guidance tools, the need to
casing processes into a single operation to provide a more
have the capability to replace failed equipment before
efficient well construction method. While other service
reaching casing point, and the need for quick and cost
providers offer casing while drilling (CwD) systems directed
effective access to the formations below the casing shoe.
at drilling individual sections of wells, Tesco provides the first
commercial system for drilling the entire well using the casing
Benefits of Casing Drilling
as the drill string.
There are a number of reasons for the interest in casing while
drilling. The simplest reason is that it eliminates at least one
Casing while drilling is gaining increasing acceptance as
trip (at casing point). This reason alone may be sufficient
a practical method of reducing drilling costs and solving
incentive to consider CwD for expensive rig operations.
drilling problems.1,2,3,4,5,6 This activity includes both onshore
applications where entire wells have been drilled with casing
A more important reason for considering the Casing
Drilling system is that it significantly reduces downhole
trouble time, while at the same time eliminating certain
*
Casing Drilling is a trademark of Tesco Corp. practices used for trouble avoidance when drilling
2 OTC 16564
conventionally.7 Lost circulation and well control incidents
have been almost eliminated in the wells drilled with the
Casing Drilling system. This is particularly important for
wells that encounter a weak zone before drilling into a higher
pressure zone. Often in this situation it is difficult to balance
the lost circulation potential in the upper zone with well
influxes in the lower zone, particularly when tripping out to
run casing.
Engineers plan and budget drilling operations to account
for all activities that routinely occur. Sometimes routine
operations are really activities that could be eliminated with a
different drilling system. In other words, time for preventing
and recovering from trouble is anticipated so that it may not
show up as an “unscheduled event”, but rather as a part of the
normal course of drilling a well. For example, making a short
trip or a conditioning trip while drilling and/or before running
casing has developed into a “prudent” practice, but is
primarily a trouble avoidance measure. A certain amount of
time may be budgeted for dealing with lost circulation for
wells in which it routinely occurs. It is important to carefully
identify these hidden costs that may be reduced or eliminated
with the Casing Drilling system when considering its use.
The third category of benefits that may be provided by
Casing Drilling is one of enabling operations where the risk-
weighted economics are unattractive for a well when drilled
conventionally. For example, it may be known that drilling
though a particular zone often requires a liner to be set. By
using the Casing Drilling system, the liner may not be required
to successfully drill the zone. This cost-savings may enable a
well to be economical that would not be authorized when
considering the risk of drilling and casing it conventionally.
Similarly, Casign Drilling may adequately reduce the risk of
loosing excess fluid to a low-pressure pay section and
damaging production so that an uneconomical conventional
prospect becomes viable.
Finally, incorporating the Casing Drilling system into a
purpose built rig may further improve the efficiency of the
overall drilling process. The average age of the US land and
shallow water rig fleet is more than 20 years. Many of these
rigs have been kept in operation by cannibalizing other
inactive rigs. When this is considered in light of the
increasing demand for natural gas and the decline in the
supply, it is apparent that at some point in the relatively near
future a significant number of new rigs will be required.8 An
opportunity exists to replace these rigs with lighter, faster
moving, more energy efficient, and more mechanized rigs that
are designed around the Casing Drilling system.
Three such rigs are currently in operation and prove that
the Casing Drilling system can be used successfully as a
complete drilling process.9 The Casing Drilling system
eliminates the need to purchase, maintain, and haul around
drillpipe and drill collars. The rig mast and sub-structure can
be smaller because it is not needed to trip and stand back
many thousand feet of pipe. The power system, hoisting
system and pumping systems can be made significantly
smaller because there is little parasitic fluid pressure loss
compared to pumping down small diameter drill pipe and
there is no requirement for high horsepower to rapidly hoist
heavy loads while tripping. Thus fuel economy is improved,
with a 40% fuel reduction compared to conventional rigs
drilling similar wells being demonstrated. Safety is improved
by eliminating most pipe tripping, automating the pipe
handling process, and eliminating many of the hazards
associated with the normal “casing running” process. While
these rigs have been introduced onshore first, they are also
well suited for use on smaller offshore platforms.
Casing Drilling Process
The Casing Drilling system is composed of downhole and
surface components that provide the ability to use normal oil
field casing as the drill string so that the well is simultaneously
drilled and cased.10 A retrievable drilling assembly is
suspended in a profile nipple located near the bottom of the
casing. The casing is rotated from the surface with a top drive
for all operations except when there is a normal operational
need to drill without drill string rotation. The drilling fluid is
circulated down the casing ID and up the annulus between the
casing and well bore.
The casing used with the Casing Drilling system is
generally the same size, weight, and grade that would
normally be used in the well. The casing connections may
require a change from the conventional well design because
they must provide adequate torsional strength, fatigue
resistance, and flow clearance. This typically might require
that an 8-round connection be replaced with a buttress
connection and include a torque ring for additional torque
capacity. Both integral and coupled connections have been
used successfully.
The retrievable Casing Drilling BHA normally consists
of a pilot bit with an underreamer located above it to open the
hole to the final wellbore diameter. The pilot bit is sized to
pass through the casing and the underreamer opens the hole to
the size that is normally drilled to run casing. For example, an
8-1/2” pilot bit and 12-1/4” underreamer may be used while
drilling with 9-5/8” 36 ppf casing.
Other downhole tools in addition to the bit and
underreamer are used as appropriate. For vertical drilling,
stabilization would normally be included on the assembly and
for directional drilling a steerable motor, MWD, and non-
magnetic collar would be included in the BHA.
The retrievable drilling assembly is attached to the
bottom of the casing with a special tool, shown in Fig. 1 and
referred to as the Drill-Lock-Assembly (DLA). The DLA
provides the ability to connect conventional drilling tools with
rotary-shouldered connections to the casing and facilitates
running these tools in and out of the casing. It has a relatively
large, full open bore to minimize pressure losses and to
facilitate any wireline operations that might be needed for the
drilling BHA suspended below the DLA.
OTC 16564 3

Seals

Axial Lock

Axial Locator
Torque Lock
Rotary
Connection

Figure 1: Drill lock Assembly (DLA).

Each joint of casing is picked up with a Casing Drive
System (CDS) located below the top drive. This tool supports
the full weight of the casing string, applies torque for both
drilling and make-up, and facilitates circulation without
making a threaded connection to the top of the casing.

The CDS, shown in Fig. 2, includes a slip assembly to

grip the interior of large casing or the exterior of small casing
and an internal spear assembly to provide a fluid seal to the
pipe. This allows the casing to be placed into the drill string
without screwing into the top casing coupling. The use of the
CDS speeds up the casing handling operation and prevents
damage to the threads by eliminating one make/break cycle.
Connections are made in a similar way to drill pipe
connections - either in the mouse hole or over the rotary table,
depending on the particular equipment that is available. The
CDS includes hydraulically activated single joint elevators to
pick up casing out of the V-door to facilitate connections.
Picking up and running casing is often an inefficient
process, but using the Casing Drilling surface equipment
makes it both more efficient and safer. Using the CDS and
power slips allows casing connections to be made as fast as
drill pipe connections, minimizes floor activity while making a
connection, and increases rig floor safety.
Vertical drilling with casing. Vertical sections in soft
formations may be drilled with casing simply by providing a
means of circulating through the casing and rotating it with a
cutting structure on its bottom end. Deviation control is
generally not a concern in very soft rock and no particular
measures are needed to prevent it. Cementing centralizers
may be the only accessories needed on the casing.
When vertical wells are drilled with the casing in
somewhat harder rock, there are more issues that must be
considered.11 Wear protection for the casing, the need to
replace the cutting structure before reaching casing point, and
deviation control must be considered in many situations.
Figure 2: Top Drive and Internal Casing Drive System.
The Casing Drilling system with the retrievable BHA
offers the flexibility to address these issues. The drilling
assembly can be changed as often as required to match the
cutting structure to the rock being drilled. Deviation control is
managed by using a retrievable stabilized drilling assembly
that extends below the casing shoe. Stabilization in the pilot
hole provides a smooth vertical hole that is opened (by an
underreamer positioned above the stabilizers) to the required
diameter for the casing to follow.
Directional drilling with casing. In many ways the
directional drilling process with casing is similar to that with
drillpipe. The same type of BHA is used as would be used for
conventional drilling. The main difference is that the
components must be sized to pass through the casing being
used as the drill string, rather than through the previous string
of casing that has already been cemented. Both steerable
motors and rotary steerable tools can be used with the Casing
Drilling system.
Successful directional Casing Drilling operations require
more than simply having directional tools available that can be
run below the casing. 12 BHA response may be quite different
when drilling with casing as compared to drilling with
conventional systems. Torque and drag must be managed
through selecting the casing connections, stabilization, and
operational practices at the well site. But these issues are
4 OTC 16564
routinely worked out to provide an efficient directional
drilling capability.
The build rates that can be achieved while directionally
drilling with casing depend on the size of casing being used,
but cover a rather wide range. Table 1 shows the upper limit
of build rates that can be used with various sizes of casing
based on fatigue limitations. These values have been easily
achieved when drilling with the Casing Drilling system.
Casing Casing Casing Maximum
Size Weight Grade Curvature
5.5 17 P110 13
7 23 L 80 8 many instances, a perceived small market inhibited the
9.625 36 J55 4.5
13.375 54.5 J55 3 conventional service providers.
Table 1: Curvature for drilling with casing.
Retrievable Downhole Tools
The Casing Drilling tools are designed for tripping with a
wireline so that tripping is faster than for conventional tools
that are tripped by pulling the drill pipe. The wireline tripping
procedures allow the BHA to be tripped under any normal
well condition while maintaining the ability to circulate and
reciprocate the casing. The fact that the BHA is tripped
through the casing rather than through the open hole
eliminates borehole damage due to tripping and provides a
safer tripping process. The most common wireline unit used
for tripping the tools can pull 17,500 lb, but higher capacity
units are available when needed.
The retrievable BHA is attached to the casing with the
DLA which axially and torsionally locks and un-locks to the
casing, seals in the casing to direct the drilling fluid through
the bit, locates the DLA in the profile without relying on
precise wireline measurements, and bypasses fluid around the
tools for running and retrieving. The BHA can be run and
retrieved in deviated wells with inclinations higher than 90o
and the DLA can be released with a pump down dart before
running the wireline.
A releasing and pulling tool is run on wireline to release
the DLA and pull the BHA out of the casing in a single trip for
vertical and low angle wells. The wireline retrieval system
can be used with 13-3/8” and smaller tools, while a drill pipe
running/retrieval option is also available for all of the tools for
use in special situations. In the unlikely event that the BHA
cannot be pulled on the first attempt, the releasing tool can be
disconnected from the DLA so that remedial measures can be
taken.
In some directional wells it is desirable to release the
DLA with a pump down dart before running the wireline to
pull the BHA. This has the advantage of allowing the casing
to be slid down (about 80 to 120 ft) over the directional BHA
to protect it while the wireline is being run. For high angle
wells, the retrieving tool can also be pumped down and
functions as a locomotive to pull the wireline into the well.
Pump pressure is used to generate the axial force required to
release the DLA for both the direct pulling method and the
dart release method.
Casing Drilling Accessories
The infrastructure to support drilling with drillpipe has been
developed quite extensively over the past 100 years. Support
services and accessories are available for almost any situation
that may be encountered. The opposite condition existed for
Casing Drilling when it was first introduced. The lack of
certain support items limited the operations that could be
undertaken with casing and an entire suite of auxiliary
equipment needed for Casing Drilling had to be developed. In
development of Casing Drilling support accessories by
Underreamers. The Casing Drilling system requires that a
hole-enlarging tool be run below the casing to drill a hole
large enough to provide normal circulation around the casing.
Hole enlargement tools are available for conventional drilling,
particularly for assistance in drilling the intervals where close
tolerance liners are set. Both bi-center tools and expandable
reaming tools have recently been developed for this
application. Unfortunately most of these tools can open the
hole only about 20-25% whereas the Casing Drilling system
requires a tool that can open the hole about 50%.
Conventional underreamers satisfy the requirement to
provide 50% opening capability, but they often cannot take the
rugged drilling environment that may be encountered while
drilling with casing. Additionally they did not collapse
reliably enough to be pulled with a wireline.
For this reason, underreamers were developed
specifically for use with the Casing Drilling system. These
underreamers (Fig. 3) include features to assure smooth
rotation, minimize the possibility of leaving parts in the hole,
and assure that they close when being retrieved.
Connections. Drillpipe has evolved into a robust component
with tool joints designed to have high axial and torsional load
carrying capacity, to be fatigue resistant, and to be very
tolerant of making and breaking many times with crude
equipment in a relatively dirty environment. Because it is a
durable item, it can be rather expensive and still be affordable.
Casing is not as rugged as drill pipe, nor is it as straight
as drill pipe. The tube and connections are mass-produced to
be economical, yet for Casing Drilling applications they need
similar load carrying capacity as drillpipe. Many connections
have an adequate axial load rating, but few non-premium
connections have adequate torque carrying capacity. This was
initially addressed by developing a “multi-lobe torque ring”
that could be inserted in a buttress box to provide a torque
shoulder for increased (typically doubling) torque capacity.
Buttress connections have proven to be a rugged and
reliable casing connection for over 50 years. The addition of
OTC 16564
Figure 3: Casing Drilling Underreamer.
the torque ring increased torque capacity sufficiently to
provide an economical solution that was quickly adapted to
field inventories. Fatigue testing and drilling experience
proved the buttress thread form to have sufficient fatigue
tolerance for use while drilling with casing.
Casing Drilling connections do not require the robustness
of multiple make and break cycles as drillpipe, but they do
need to be reasonably tolerant of rig operations. The
development of the CDS for handling the casing reduced the
risk of damaging the connections while handling the casing
and provided an efficient method to make up the connections
to the proper torque.
As the Casing Drilling process attracted larger projects,
connection companies began to develop lower cost premium
connections specifically for use with it and one operator began
ordering casing directly from the mill dressed for Casing
Drilling application. 13
Wear Bands. The casing must be in good condition when
drilling is completed because at that point it becomes the
casing for completing the well. The condition of the casing
after drilling with it was evaluated in early field trials when
the casing was tripped out many times and inspected. No
wear or damage was seen on the pipe body, nor was any
detected by wall thickness inspections, but it was not unusual
for some of the couplings in the lower portion of the casing to
be worn, often on only one side.5,14
The casing coupling wear appears to be caused by
angular misalignment of joints of casing at the couplings. The
misalignment results from the combined tolerances in the four
machining operations involved (two pin threads and two box
threads), and the fact that the casing itself is not completely
straight.
5
Casing
Hard Coupling
Facing Crimped
Wear Band area
Figure 4: Wear bands installed below couplings.
Wear protection that is economical and relatively easy to
install was developed to resolve this concern. A “wear band”
is installed on the casing immediately downhole of the
couplings (Fig. 4). These bands are installed in the field with
a portable hydraulic crimping tool. The lower end of the wear
bands includes about 1” of tungsten carbide hard facing
material similar to that used for wear protection on drill pipe.
Stabilization/Centralization. Rigid centralizers may be
needed for directional performance, wear management, key-
seat control, and centralization for cementing. No
conventional cementing centralizers were found that could
take the abuse of drilling and still remain on the casing after
more than a few hours of drilling. The main criteria for a
Casing Drilling centralizer is that it is economical, rugged
enough to withstand drilling forces, and that it can be attached
to the casing without altering the casing performance.
A centralizer with blades hydro-formed directly on a
tubular body was developed as an effective means of
centralizing the casing while drilling with it. This patented
process shapes the blades by cold metal flow similar to the
process used for downhole casing expansion. These
stabilizers (Fig. 5) provide a smooth transition between stiff
blade and flexible tube material.
Both the hydro-formed stabilizers and wear bands are
installed with the same crimping process. The base material is
chosen with the appropriate properties so that it can be
plastically compressed onto the casing with a hydraulic
installation tool. When the installation tool force is removed,
the elastic energy in the casing provides a very high friction
contact between the stabilizer and the underlying tube.
Cementing equipment. Once the retrievable drilling
assembly is removed from the casing at the casing point, there
6 OTC 16564

by sizing the power system, drawworks, and pumps

appropriately for use with the Casing Drilling process with no
Crimping area sacrifice in operational performance.

The 250-ton Genesis Casing Drilling rigs (Fig. 6) are

designed on standard oilfield skids so that the entire rig can be
moved in 12 loads. This compares to a modern conventional
rig drilling the same type wells that requires about 33
truckloads to move, with move time averaging about 2.2 days.
The new rigs can be moved with standard oilfield winch
trucks without the use of a crane and are designed for a rig
move time of less than one day from release to spud.

Cavity from The main objectives in providing the new rig are to
Hydro-forming reduce moving time and cost, increase depth rating, provide a
redundant power source, accommodate a larger BOP stack,
TC hardfacing provide greater automation of the pipe handling process, and
provide better compatibility with hot weather operations than
the initial Casing Drilling rig that was used to introduce the
Figure 5: Hydro formed crimp-on stabilizer. Casing Drilling process to South Texas.

is no float equipment in place to prevent back flow of the The new rigs include a semi-automated pipe handling
cement when the cement job is completed. In some cases this system designed specifically for Casing Drilling. The pipe is
has been handled by holding pressure on the casing after the picked up off the pipe racks and delivered to the V-door with
cement is pumped until it begins to set up. In other cases, a an automated power catwalk system. A second generation
relatively expensive composite cement retainer is run and set Casing Drive System attached to the top drive uses single joint
with wireline. Neither of these solutions is ideal and better elevators to pick the casing up from the V-door and stab it into
suited cementing accessories are being developed. the stump in the rotary table. The casing is then made up to
the previous joint using the CDS.
Non-drillable pump down float equipment that lands in
the profile nipple is available for some sizes of casing for use
in cementing the production casing. Pump down composite
float equipment for other intermediate casing is in the late
stages of testing. This is just another example of gaps in
technology that hinders the introduction of a disruptive
technology, but will be filled soon after the technology begins
to gain acceptance in the market place.

Integrated Rig
Tesco has built several rigs specifically designed for Casing
Drilling applications.15 While the Casing Drilling process can
be used on a conventional rig, special features on the custom
designed rigs allow the entire Casing Drilling process to be
implemented more effectively. The rigs are designed with
hydraulically powered mud pumps, drawworks, top drive, and
wireline unit to reduce the equipment weight and to take
advantage of Tesco’s top drive technology. This equipment is
operated under computer control through PLC interfaces to
minimize the potential for human operator error, optimize
equipment performance, reduce manpower requirements, and
facilitate data acquisition.

Conventional rigs are designed to trip heavy strings of

pipe and collars quickly. This requires much greater
drawworks horsepower than for the Casing Drilling process.
It also increases the size of the mast and sub-structure. A
similar situation exists with the mud pumps where higher
horsepower is required to pump down the small ID drillpipe Figure 6: Photograph of Genesis rig Alpha.
compared to pumping down the casing. A considerable
weight, mobility, and capital cost reduction can be achieved
OTC 16564
Casing Drilling Case Histories
The Casing Drilling system has been employed sufficiently to
demonstrate its advantages, define cost effective applications
for it, and better understand its limitations. Overall it has been
used in over 120 commercial wells to drill about 620,000 ft
with the retrievable system and 250,000 ft with a non-
retrievable assembly. This is in addition to 29,000 ft drilled in
test wells. Recent applications of the Casing Drilling system
are described below to high light current experience with the
system.
South Texas gas wells. By far the largest Casing Drilling
field application has been in the Lobo field in South Texas
where ConocoPhillips introduced Casing Drilling in May,
2001. They had been engaged in a sustained, multi-rig,
development program in Lobo since the mid-1990’s.4,5
Drilling efficiency had improved to the point in 2001 where
additional gains were difficult to achieve, with an average
10,500 ft well taking about 19.2 days from spud to rig release.
But further cost reduction was dictated by the need to develop
smaller and smaller reservoirs if drilling in the area was to
continue.
Great strides had been made in increasing ROP, drilling
each hole section with a single bit, and in improving general
rig operation efficiency. (In fact ConocoPhillips was
recognized by an industry study as the most effective driller of
these wells in the Lobo area.) The most significant remaining
impediment to reducing days on each well was the time to
prevent and recover from downhole problems and the elapsed
time between reaching TD of one hole section and initiating
drilling of the next section.
Stuck pipe and lost circulation were the most consistent
contributors to the trouble events for Lobo wells. These two
items accounted for about 75% of the trouble time in 2000 and
2001, while well control and a failure to successfully run the
7” casing were also significant in 2001 and 2000, respectively.
Drilling with casing was identified in early 2001 as a
technology that could potentially solve these problems and
provide a step change in drilling performance in the mature
Lobo field. Tesco’s Casing Drilling system was selected to
evaluate the potential impact of drilling with casing on Lobo
drilling economics. The technology was introduced as a five
well pilot project, which was expanded to a one-rig drilling
contract, and ultimately expanded to a contract for three new
purpose built Casing Drilling rigs. 5
There were 22 wells drilled with the initial rig used to
introduce Casing Drilling to Lobo and subsequently more than
50 wells have been drilled with the three purpose built rigs
delivered to the field in late 2002 and early 2003. These
15,000 ft rigs, built specifically for ConocoPhillips, are
designed to optimize the Casing Drilling process. They have
an increased hook load rating, much better mobility for intra-
field moves, a reduced footprint, and a semi-automated casing
handling system.
7
The Casing Drilling process quickly demonstrated the
ability to significantly reduce the in-hole trouble time to less
than the low value that was already obtained at Lobo. Most
significantly, time lost due to lost circulation and stuck pipe
were almost totally eliminated. Even when well locations
were selected where the offsets required multiple cement jobs
and unscheduled liners to reach TD because of lost circulation
problems, the Casing Drilled wells experienced little lost
circulation problem. This has lead to the ability to effectively
drill wells in lost circulation areas that are uneconomical with
conventional drilling techniques.
Over the course of drilling the initial Lobo wells it
became clear that the Casing Drilling process provided a
wellbore that was less prone to lost circulation than a well
drilled conventionally in the same area. Fontenot describes
activities that were used to confirm that lost circulation was
inhibited by drilling with casing.9 These observations were
further confirmation of the phenomena first observed while
Casing Drilling for BP in Wyoming. 2
The reduction in lost circulation problems appears to be
due to the casing mechanically plastering mud solids and
drilled solids into the wellbore wall to effectively build a
mechanically enhanced filter cake. Confirmation of this
hypothesis has been obtained from sidewall cores taken from
wells drilled with casing compared to wells drilled
conventionally.16 The localized permeability reduction
reduces the tendency for gas to encroach into the wellbore as
well as for fluid to enter the formation.
The improved wellbore stability of Casing Drilled wells
has made a significant contribution to the reduction in Lobo
costs for trouble prone wells. In portions of the field where
Lobo wells can be drilled (conventionally) trouble free, the
Casing Drilling process brings much less advantage. But
because the wells with a higher probability of encountering
problems are geographically based in Lobo, the best rig can be
selected for each individual well. Using a combination of the
Casing Drilling and conventional rigs to drill the wells has
minimized the overall field drilling cost. Employing this
approach has allowed the overall field trouble cost to be more
then cut in half while allowing the field drilling cost to be
significantly reduced. At the same time, wells have become
economical to drill in areas where the probability of lost
circulation would require that a conventionally drilled well be
planned with four strings of casing which would make it
uneconomical.
For example in 2002 two attempts to conventionally drill
a particular Lobo well resulted in well control problems that
required the wellbore to be abandoned in both cases. In each
case the well was drilled to TD, but a combination of lost
circulation at the top of the open hole section and gas influx at
the bottom of the open hole section prevented the conventional
drillstring from being tripped out to run the production casing.
One of the wells also encountered lost circulation in the
intermediate hole section and required a liner to be set before
attempting to drill the production section.
8 OTC 16564

One of the Casing Drilling rigs was used to re-drill the 0

well in 2003 after the two failed attempts to drill the well W e ll 1 ( A p r il 2 0 0 2 )

conventionally in 2002. The well was drilled to TD with no W e ll 2 ( N o v 2 0 0 2 )

2000 C a s in g D r illin g ( S e p t 2 0 0 3 )
lost circulation in either the intermediate section or production

M e a s u re d D e p t
section and successfully cased with no difficulty. As shown in
4000
Fig. 7, the drilling was not as fast as the conventionally drilled L o s t C ir c u la tio n
wells, but a successful wellbore was delivered to the 7” C sg P t
producing department while no wellbore was delivered in the 6000
5 - 1 / 2 ” L in e r
first two attempts. The Casing Drilling process was use to re-
drill other wells under similar conditions where they had been 8000

lost during the conventional drilling process. No Lobo wells

have been lost that were drilled with the Casing Drilling rigs. 10000

Figure 8 shows the pore and fracture pressure profiles 12000

for a typical Lobo well that can be used to help understand 0 10 20 30 40
why the Casing Drilling process significantly reduces the risk D r i llin g D a y s
of lost circulation. The conventional well design requires an
adequate trip margin to be considered for both lost circulation
Figure 7: Casing Drilling successfully replaces two wells
and kick control. This determines that a mud weight of about
lost while drilling conventionally.
15 ppg is needed at TD and this in turn fixes the intermediate
casing seat at 8,000 ft. Again a trip margin is needed to trip
0
out to run the intermediate casing and this mud weight Fracture Gradient
intersects the fracture line of the weak Queen City zone at FG Trip Margin
2000 Pore Pressure
about 4,000 ft. This scenario forces the intermediate casing Measured Depth, ft
PP Trip Margin
shoe to be extremely critical and even when selected Weak Queen City
optimally, both the intermediate and production zones are at a 4000
high risk for lost circulation and/or gas influx. Casing Drilling MW Schedule

6000
When the same well is Casing Drilled, there is no trip Conventional Drilling MW Schedule

margin needed because there is no drillstring tripping. This

allows the intermediate casing shoe depth to be much less 8000
critical and in fact allows it to be set deeper. The Casing
Drilling process also provides an effectively stronger wellbore 10000
by reducing the permeability and reducing fluid losses, thus 8 10 12 14 16 18
the Queen City is not as likely to become a loss zone. The Eq. Mud Wt., ppg
combination of not needing a trip margin and the permeability Figure 8: Typical Lobo pore and fracture pressures.
reduction effectively moves the actual pressure line away from
critical zones in both the intermediate and production zones.
6000
7” Csg

The fluid loss inhibition provided by the Casing Drilling

6500
process can also be seen in another Lobo example. The top
production sand in parts of the field was very prolific and was 7000
chosen as the initial production zone when the field was first
being developed. Over the years the pressure of this zone has 7500
Measured Depth, ft

been reduced to about 2.5 ppg, but the less permeable lower
8000
zones are still at virgin reservoir pressure. Typically
4-1/2” Csg

conventionally drilling wells in this area requires that a liner 8500

be set through the depleted zone in order to manage the higher Depleted sand
pressure of the overlaying shales and deeper production sands. 9000

9500
Figure 9 shows a well that was Casing Drilled through
the depleted sand with 14.6 ppg mud. The well was drilled 10000
and cased with no difficulty nor any noticeable flat spots on
10500
the drilling time curve and ultimately moved more wells into
0 5 10 15 20
the drilling inventory that would not be commercial without Drilling Days
Casing Drilling. Much of this benefit is provided by the fact
Pore Pressure, ppg
that no trip is needed in order to run casing once TD is
reached.
Figure 9: Drilling through depleted sand with no problem.
OTC 16564
Casing Drilling Improves Production. Another operator
in South Texas had leases that were uneconomical to develop
when drilled conventionally. Surface casing (9-5/8”) was set
at about 1,300 ft and 7” production casing was set at about
7,000 ft. The reservoir was a thick, low-pressure gas zone.
When drilled conventionally, massive amounts of drilling
fluid would be lost to the reservoir and cause enough
formation damage so that an economical production rate could
not be established. Additionally, the low pressure zone caused
problems in efficiently drilling the wells.
The wellbore plastering affect of the Casing Drilling
process offered the possibility to drill the low–pressure zones
with much less fluid invasion. A three well pilot program was
conducted in late 2003. Fluid loss was indeed reduced and all
three wells were put on production at economical production
rates. A reasonable learning curve was established while
drilling the three wells as shown in Fig. 10. The first well
drilled in this new area beat the field average drilling time
even though the whole emphasis of the project was to prove
that the wells could be drilled without damaging the reservoir
rather then trying to minimize drilling time.
After monitoring the production from the first three wells
for three months, a multi-well drilling program was begun in
2004. The first two wells of this program have been drilled
and are shown on Fig.10 as wells 4 & 5. There was a slight
regression in progress on the first well when the program was
re-started, but the fifth well matched the pacesetter curve that
was established by compiling the fastest individual operations
from the previously drilled conventional wells.
Field Average
14
Days, Spud to release
12
Pace Setter
10
8 accessories permits rotation of the casing to ream it to bottom
6 cementing of the casing. The driller, rig crew, and the CDS
4
2 Figure 11 shows a typical profile for an Alaska well where
0 best offset time for running 11,000 of 7-5/8” casing was 21.5
Well Well Well Well Well
1 2 3 4
Figure 10: Learning curve for new area.
Casing Running. The commercialization of Casing
Drilling technology has spawned the development of
specialized equipment and procedures aimed at efficiently
handling casing while it is being picked up and run as the
drillstring. Since each Casing Drilling job is really a
combination of drilling and casing running, the equipment and
procedures used to handle the casing must be safe, relatively
9
fast, and compatible with operation by the rig crew in order to
deliver a cost effective Casing Drilling service.
Once these casing handling procedures and equipment were
developed and proven, it was only natural that they be
employed for running casing on wells drilled conventionally.
Using the techniques developed for Casing Drilling provides a
casing running process with improved safety, provides
assurance that the casing can be run to the casing point on the
first attempt, offers the potential to ream casing to bottom, and
requires fewer additional people on the rig for casing running
operations. When required, specialized accessories, such as
MLT rings and reaming shoes, are available to extended the
performance of standard casing.
The conventional process for running casing involves rigging
up and using casing tongs on the floor, which often includes
providing scaffolding on the floor as a work platform. A
workman is positioned in the derrick to help align the casing
being picked up with the connection in the rotary table.
Utilizing the new casing running equipment eliminates the
need for having people working above the rig floor and
provides a much less cluttered floor area. The overall safety
of the casing running operation, which has historically been
associated with a high accident rate, is improved by
eliminating operations where workmen may be injured by
removing potentially hazardous operations from the casing
running process.
The new casing running service is based around the use of a
portable Casing Drive System (CDS) that hangs below the top
drive. The CDS provides the ability to pick up joints of casing
from the “V” door with single joint elevators, grip the top of
the casing so that the top drive can be used to make up the
connection and pick up the string to lower it, and to seal at the
top of the casing for filling and circulating while the casing
string is being lowered to pick up the next joint. The
combination of top drive, CDS, and specialized casing
for difficult wellbore situations as well as to improve
operator conduct this entire operation.
difficulty is sometimes experienced while running casing. The
hrs and it was not unusual for it to take much longer because
5
of difficulty in getting the casing down. Multi-lobe torque
0 5000
Vertical Section Plan View
True Vertical Depth, ft
1000 4000
3000
North, ft
2000
2000
3000
1000
4000
0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 -8000 -6000 -4000 -2000 0
Departure, ft West, ft
Figure 11: Difficult well profile for casing running.
10
rings were added to the buttress connections so the casing
could be rotated and the Tesco casing running process used to
run the casing in 16 hrs without any difficulty.
The new casing running system has been used on over 120
wells for seventeen operators in five countries to run over
850,000 ft of casing ranging in size from 4-1/2” to 13-3/8”
since being introduced in 2002. These wells range from
vertical holes to high angle extended reach wells and include
both onshore and offshore applications. Figure 12 shows the
rate of growth of the service as it is rapidly becoming
accepted.
350,000
Footage Run per Quarter
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0 Bruce “Casing Drilling Activity Expands in South Texas” SPE
Q1 02 Q2 02 Q3 02 Q4 02 Q1 03 Q2 03
Figure 12: Rapid growth of casing running service.
Summary
The Casing Drilling system has been used to drill over 120
wells in both onshore and offshore locations. These wells
demonstrate that the Casing Drilling system is practical and
can reduce drilling time. This result is affirmed by the
continuing expansion of commercial Casing Drilling
operations.
The Casing Drilling system has been used in formations
ranging from very soft to medium hard and for both vertical
and directional wells. It is particularly advantageous in
situations where excessive time is required to condition the
hole before running casing or where difficulty is encountered
running the casing after the hole is drilled.
One of the most significant findings from using the Casing
Drilling system is that it can significantly reduce lost
circulation problems. Wells drilled in areas that normally
require a liner because of lost circulation have routinely been
drilled with no difficulty from lost circulation. In some
situations this may make the difference between a well being
economical or not.
The retrievable BHA used with the Casing Drilling system
allows sufficient flexibility to perform almost any function
that would be available with conventional drilling. Wireline
retrievability provides an efficient method of changing the
BHA and provides a better well control situation then when
tripping the BHA conventionally.
The Casing Drilling system allows the drilling rig to be
redesigned to incorporate time, weight, power-saving and
safety advantages. Three such rigs are currently running in
South Texas in a competitive situation with relatively modern
land based rigs.
OTC 16564
Acknowledgement
We would like to express our appreciation to Tesco
management and to the operators that have used the Casing
Drilling system for allowing this paper to be published.
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Drilling: An Emerging Technology”, IADC/SPE 67731,
OTC 16564 11

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