Experimental Design to Investigate the Casing Smearing Effect

Research output: ThesisMaster's Thesis

Abstract

One of the main reasons why Casing while Drilling (CwD) was growing more and more interest in the oil and gas industry is the so called “smearing effect”. Due to the eccentric motion of the casing string crushing of the cuttings takes place along the string. It is assumed that the casing string smears the mixture of fine-sized cuttings and mud onto the wellbore wall. The result in most of the cases is a low permeability layer, which is assumed to stabilize the wellbore wall and consequently increases the overall drilling margin. This is in contrast to the ordinary methods of fluid loss prevention. Normally a filter cake develops due to the difference in formation and mud pressure. No mechanical action is involved in the creation of the cake. In this case, it is not desirable if the drillstring makes contact with the wellbore wall. Furthermore, the cuttings remain at its original size because no crushing action takes place. Therefore, the influence of the cuttings on the filter cake quality is negligible. The main goal for both methods is the same but the underlying mechanism is different. The thesis analyses the underlying mechanisms in theory and defines the most influential parameters for both methods. Furthermore, the geomechanical impact on the area surrounding the wellbore regarding CwD is analysed. Finally, an experimental design is proposed which, if implemented, enables the user to directly compare filter cakes created by one of the two methods.

Details

Translated title of the contributionExperimentelles Design zur Untersuchung des Schmiereffekts beim Bohren mit Verrohrung
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDipl.-Ing.
Supervisors/Advisors
Award date7 Apr 2017
Publication statusPublished - 2017