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Basic Understanding of Oil Well Casing and

Tubing
By DrillingFormulas.Com | May 2, 2014 - 3:03 pm | Casing Design

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Oil well construction requires several casing string to reach a planned depth of a well therefore we will
discuss about the basic of each casing string used in the oil wells.
In this article, we will cover the following strings;

Conductor Casing
Surface Casing (Structural Casing)
Intermediate Casing
Casing Liner
Production Casing
Production Tubing

The illustrations below (Figure 1 and Figure 2) are schematics of oil well in general. We will go into
details of each casing/tubing based on these two images.

Figure 1 – Casing and Tubing Schematic without Liner

 Figure 2 – Casing and Tubing Schematic with liner

Conductor Casing

The conductor casing is the first string run in the well and its depth range is 40 to 300 ft. In soft formation
areas or offshore environment, the conductor pipe is hammered down by a large pipe hammer. In hard
rock areas, driving the casing is not doable therefore a larger hole must be drilled to landing depth
before running and cement this casing.
 Figure 3 – Conductor Casing

Functions of conductor casing are as follows;

Protect formation washout at the shallow depth

Minimize loss circulation in shallow zones
Provide a fluid conduit from the bit to the surface
Minimize hole-caving issues. Unconsolidated formations (gravel) will fall into the well resulted in
drilling issues.

Surface Casing (Structural Casing)

In some drilling areas, it may require an additional casing string between conductor casing and surface
casing. This casing is called “Surface Casing (Structural Casing)” and it is typically run from 500 ft to
1,000 ft. This casing cannot be driven into the well so it requires drilling a hole before running it.

Figure 4 – Surface Casing (Structural Casing)

Functions of surface casing are as follows;

Minimize lost circulation in a shallow depth

Provide a fluid conduit
Provide wellbore integrity to prevent hole-caving
Cover weak formations when there is a well control situation
 Support blow out preventer (BOP) for well control
Cover shallow fresh water zones from contamination

Intermediate Casing

The intermediate casing is run after surface casing and there can be several intermediate casing in one
well. Drilling intermediate section most of the time requires higher mud weight than normal pressure
gradient therefore the primary function of this casing is related to control high mud weight and formation
pressure.
 Figure 5 – Intermediate Casing

Functions of intermediate casing are listed below;

Protect weak zones at shallower depth while drilling with higher mud weight
Provide wellbore integrity for well control
Isolate some formations which can cause drilling issues as lost circulations, shale sloughing, etc.
Support weight of well control equipment
Provide a fluid conduit

Casing Liner

Casing liner is widely used in the industry because it is a cost-effective way to run a casing string across
open hole length without running all string to the surface. The casing liner can be utilized as
intermediate casing or production casing. The casing liner is run into the shallower casing string and the
overlap between two strings is typically around 300 – 500 ft.

Figure 6 – Casing Liner

Production Casing/Liner
This casing string/liner can be set at a depth above, midway or below the pay zone depending on
completion strategies. Primary cement job is very critical for this string because it affects production from
the well.

Figure 7 – Production Casing

 Figure 8 – Production Liner

Functions of production casing are listed below;

Isolate production zone(s) from other formations

Protect completion equipment
Provide a conduit for reservoir fluids
Provide annular passage for gas lift injection
Contain formation pressure in case of tubing leak

Production Tubing

The production tubing is run into the well after the production casing is in-place and all the completion
equipment is run with this string downhole. The tubing must be strong enough to support production
load and it should be able to workover in the future.

Figure 9 – Production Tubing

Functions of production tubing are listed below;

 Provide the conduit for oil, gas, water from formation(s)
Protect the production casing from corrosion, wear and deposition from the reservoir fluids

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One Response to Basic Understanding of Oil Well Casing and

Tubing

M.Nasir Qidwai. NOVEMBER 5, 2016 AT 6:45 PM

Very helpfull side for students … Casing program is explained excellently …

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