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3production Casing
3production Casing
The production casing must be adequately sized for the planned completion. It
will obviously affect the size of the other required casing strings, the bit selection,
the capacity of the rig, and the overall well costs. The production casing must be
designed for the loads that may be imposed during the producing life of the field.
It is similar to tubing design in several ways.
Burst
In many cases it may be necessary to design the casing for loads imposed during
stimulation and pressure testing. Conversely, the casing capacity must be
checked when designing a fracturing treatment. This is particularly important in
wells where no packer is used.
Collapse
Severe collapse loads may occur in situations in which thermal expansion of the
annular fluid between the production and intermediate strings cannot be bled off
(e.g., in some subsea wells).
Increased loading should be assumed if live annuli are a feature of the area.
Reduced loadings may be assumed if the wells will not be pumped off, gas lifted,
or severely depleted.
Severe collapse loads may exist in the pay section during high drawdown,
underbalanced perforating and testing, and squeeze either or both cementation
and fracturing ( Figure 1 , Collapse loads in the pay). It is highly advisable to
maintain some set casing/tubing annulus pressure during such service operations.
Figure 1
Tension/Compression
In high rate production areas and thermal wells, expansion of the production
tubing may impose additional tension on the casing strings, via the packer.
Couplings
In high pressure (>5000 psi; 34 MPa), high temperature (>300° F; 422 K) and/or
severely sour conditions, premium casing couplings are recommended.
Material Selection