New top drive casing running and drilling system removes personnel and equipment from the rig floor, gets through trouble zones and cuts time off casingjobs. Conventional casing jobs run up against two time-consuming issues: First, the hole must be cleaned (reamed and wiped) in order to obtain a good cement job. This costs rig time and exposes the well bore to damage. Second, lost circulation may cause the casing to become differentially stuck. In a survey of incidents in the Gulf of Mexico, these two problems accounted for 24% of all days lost. Weatherford's OverDrive top drive casing running and drilling system addresses both these problems by approaching casing running in a new way. Rather than simply lowering the casing into the hole, this top-drive system allows the casing to be circulated, rotated and even reciprocated during run-in. By putting a drill shoe on the casing, the operation can drill with casing or conventional methods and then clean the hole while running the casing. In essence, the junk can be removed from the hole while running in. This new technology replaces power tongs, elevator, fill-up and circulation tool and weight compensator, and it requires only a driller, a tool operator and one or two rig hands, all of which makes it a safer way to run casing.
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