Oil Well Drilling and the Use of Stop Collars
Today there are many companies that produce high quality cementing instruments for oil and gas industry. They are helpful to improve the efficiency and productivity of various drilling and production operations. Cement is used in the exploration and production of oil and gas in the deep water offshore wells that are dug in the depth of 10,000 feets (3048 meters). The process of cementing a well is of developing and pumping cement into the place of a wellbore. Cementing protects and seals a wellbore and most commonly this process is carried out to permanently shut off the water penetration into the well. The oil well cementing products can also be used to seal a lost circulation zone or an area where there is reduction or absence of within the well. Oil Well Drilling A typical oil well is of thousands meters deep, less than a meter wide and is built using metal casing. It is bordered with a special cement slurry mix that fills in the annulus between the outer face of the tubing and the tube formation of the hole. The well cement slurries are designed for number of purpose right for the establishment of well’s safety and structural integrity during the drilling process to the isolation of the zone of interest as well oil and gas on completion. Usually the casing is installed at different depths while drilling. This is held in place by cement which also provides zone isolation. The down hole equipment like Centralizers are used to obtain a satisfactory zone isolation. Other cementing equipments like float shoes and collars prevent any kind of backflow after the cementing has been done in the place. Casing is a huge diameter pipe which is assembled and inserted into a recently drilled section of a borehole which is held in place with the help of cement. The casing is cemented in place aids the drilling process and the oil well cementing products prevent the contamination of fresh water well zones. They prevent the unstable upper formations from caving in and sticking the drill string to form large caverns. It also provides a strong upper foundation. Stop Collars in the Cementing Process The stop collars are used to keep the centralizers and the casing attachments aligned on the casing during the cementing process. Today the stop collars are available in slip-on styles and hinged that can fit 23/8 to 30 in size pipe. The major one used during the drilling process are the Hinged Spiral Nail Stop Collar and Hinged Bolted Stop Collar. After proper amount of cement is pumped into the well the top plug is pumped into the casing that pushes the remaining slurry with the help of bottom plug. Therefore one can understand the importance of cementing products in an oil and well industry. Click here to know more about different kinds of cementing products which are used during the drilling process.