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Casing Hangers
Casing Hangers
All subsea casing hangers are mandrel type, as shown in Fig. 5. The casing hanger provides a metal-to-metal
sealing area for a seal assembly to seal off the annulus between the casing hanger and the wellhead. The
casing weight is transferred into the wellhead by means of the casing hanger/wellhead landing shoulder. Each
casing hanger stacks on top of another, and all casing loads are transferred through each hanger to the landing
shoulder at the bottom of the subsea wellhead. Each casing hanger incorporates flow-by slots to facilitate the
passage of fluid while running through the drilling riser and BOP stack, and during the cementing operation.
Fig. 5Illustrations of the subsea casing hangers. Notice features to accommodate casing, a seal assembly,
and a running tool.
Fig. 6Photo of the 18-in. seal assembly (left), and illustration of the metal-to-metal seal that seals off the
annulus between the casing hanger and the wellhead.
Once the high-pressure wellhead housing and the BOP stack are installed, all drilling operations will take place
through the wellhead housing. The risk of mechanical damage during drilling operations is relatively high, and
the critical landing and sealing areas in the wellhead system need to be protected with a removable bore
protector and wear bushings, as shown in Fig. 7.
Fig. 7Photos of the nominal bore protector, 13 /8-in. wear bushing, and 9 /8-in. wear bushing. These
wellhead components are run on a multipurpose tool.
Fig. 8Illustration of the SS-15 Subsea Wellhead System running tool family.
The casing-hanger seal-assembly running tool runs the casing, casing hanger, and seal assembly in one trip. It
also allows testing of the seal assembly (after installation) and the BOP stack, and it has the additional benefit
of bringing back the seal assembly, if debris is in the way and the seal assembly cannot be installed.
pipe), and has a large minimum ID bore to pass 18-in. casing. The wellhead system incorporates a rigid
lockdown mechanism to preload the connection between the high-pressure wellhead and the conductor
wellhead. A supplemental hanger adapter is installed in the 22-in. casing to provide a landing shoulder and seal
area for the 18-in. and 16-in. supplemental hangers and their testable, retrievable seal assemblies.
Fig. 9Illustration of the Big Bore Subsea Wellhead System with the 18-in. and 16-in. supplementalcasinghanger systems.
Fig. 10Deepwater subsea wellhead, designed specifically to meet the requirements of higher-strength and
pressurized shallow-zone water flows associated with ultradeepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Optional 28-in., 26-in., and 24-in. supplemental casing-hanger systems can be incorporated into the design to:
1. Accommodate a secondary conductor string.
2. Increase the overall bending capacity of the upper section of the well.
3. Provide an additional barrier for a water-flow zone.
All casing hangers and seal assemblies are run, set, and tested on drillpipe in a single trip. These subsea
wellhead systems can easily accommodate alternative casing programs, and can be configured to address any
deepwater (and shallow-water) drilling application.
References
See also
PEH:Introduction_to_Wellhead_Systems
Wellhead systems
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