Christmas Tree: The Conductor Casing

Christmas Tree
Introduction to Casing:
An oil and gas well is drilled in sections from the surface to the production zone. It is not possible to
drill the well in one section due to the difference in formations properties. Each section of formation,
after being drilled, has to be sealed off by running a steel pipe called casing. The annular space
between the casing and the borehole is filled with cement. Casing is the major structural component of
a well.
There are several loads which have to be considered when designing a casing string. Casing can be
exposed to different loads while installation, drilling next section and producing from the well. The
loads depend on many factors: formation pore pressure, formation fracture gradient, temperature
profile and also the fluid encountered while drilling through the production zone.
Casing is needed to:
 Maintain borehole stability

 Prevent contamination of water sands
 Isolate water from producing formations
 Control well pressures during drilling, production & workover operations
Casing provides installation of:
 Blowout preventers
 Wellhead equipment
 Production packers
 Production tubing
TYPES OF CASINGS:
The Conductor Casing
It is the first and largest casing to be run. It is generally set at 100 ft below the ground level. The main
function of setting the conductor pipe is sealing off the unconsolidated formations which are near the
surface. These formations can be easily washed out with continuous mud circulation; also they are
characterized with low fracture gradient which can be exceeded by the hydrostatic pressure generated
by the drilling fluids.
Surface Casing
The function of this type of casing is sealing off the fresh water zones and providing a support for the
blowout preventer (BOP). The setting depth of this casing has to be accurately designed in areas where
high pressure is expected. If the surface casing is set higher than planned or the setting depth is
underestimated, the formation at casing shoe cannot resist to the pressure exerted while circulating gas
influx which can occurs during drilling the next section.
Intermediate Casing
Many troublesome formations can be encountered during drilling operations till getting to the
production zone. These troublesome formations have to be isolated by what it is called intermediate
casing. The number of strings run as intermediate casing depends on the faced problems such as: lost
circulation zones, unstable shale, squeezing salts and abnormally pressured zones.
Production Casing
It can be set above the production zone or run through it. The main function is to isolate production zone
from the other formation such as water bearing sands. This type of casing is also used as a conduit for
production tubing.
Liners
Contrarily to the other types of casing strings which are hanged at the surface, the liners are suspended
inside the previous casing string by the liner hangers. The liner hangers consisted of slips which can be
activated hydraulically or mechanically. Slips grip inside the previous string in order to support the weight
of the liner.
Running a liner has many advantages:
 Significant cost reduction due to shorter strings

 Drill pipe is used to run the liner which leads to less rig time
 Liner can be rotated while cementing the hole which can improve the quality of cement.
In some cases, a casing of the same diameter can be run above the liner and connect it to the top of it
which lead to extend the liner to the surface. The additional casing string is called tie-back string. The
tie-back string is run to protect the previous casing from pressures which can occur when starting
production.
If the liner is used to isolate the troublesome zones is called drilling liner rather than intermediate
casing.
TUBING:
Tubing is the conduit through which oil and gas are brought from the producing formations to the field
surface facilities for processing. Tubing must be adequately strong to resist loads and deformations
associated with production and workovers. Further, tubing must be sized to support the expected rates
of production of oil and gas. Clearly, tubing that is too small restricts production and subsequent
economic performance of the well. Tubing that is too large, however, may have an economic impact
beyond the cost of the tubing string itself, because the tubing size will influence the overall casing design
of the well.
The down hole casing & tubing form a high pressure enclosure which prevents the well collapsing &
provides a flow route for the reservoir fluids. Each well is completed with 3 casing strings. Each casing is
fitted with a pressure gauge. These gauges penetrate the annulus of each casing via double manual
valves.
Below table shows sizes of the casings, production tubing and liners at different Bhit & Badhra well:
Well Head Casings Liners Production Tubing

2
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Badhra 2
BN-1
BN-2
Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree is an assembly consisting of:
 Manual isolation valve (LMV)

 Hydraulic Upper Master Valve (UMV)
 A manual Swab Valve
 Kill Valve
 Hydraulic Wing Valve (WV)
 Manual Wing Valve
A master valve is located above the tubing hanger and its function is to allow the well to flow or shut
the well in. Typically, there are two master valves. One is called a lower master valve and another is an
upper master valve. Two valves are often used because they provide redundancy. If one master valve
cannot function properly, another valve can perform the function.
Swab Valve
On a Christmas tree, a swab valve is the topmost valve providing vertical access to the well for well
intervention operations conducted by wireline, slackline, coiled tubing or a snubbing unit.
A wing valve is located on the side of a Christmas tree and it is used to control or isolate production
from the well into surface facilities. Depending on each design of a Christmas tree, it can be equipped
with one or two wing valves. Some operators require two production wing valves, one as a main
production and another one as a backup (Figure 5). In many cases, one wing valve is used for
production and another wing valve is used as a kill wing valve (Figure 6).
Corrosion Control & Monitoring

Christmas Tree: The Conductor Casing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Christmas Tree: The Conductor Casing

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Christmas Tree: The Conductor Casing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Christmas Tree

Casing is needed to:

 Maintain borehole stability

Casing provides installation of:

The Conductor Casing

Running a liner has many advantages:

 Significant cost reduction due to shorter strings

Well Head Casings Liners Production Tubing

The Christmas tree is an assembly consisting of:

 Manual isolation valve (LMV)

Corrosion Control & Monitoring

You might also like