Safety of casing shoe test and casing shoe integrity after testing
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abstract
It is desirable to extend a fracture as far as possible during a casing shoe test to gather data for fracture gradient determination. However, this practice may result in a lost circulation occurrence or reduction of casing shoe strength due to induced fracture. Hence, the common field practice is to stop the casing shoe test prematurely just to ensure the casing shoe strength. This paper answers drilling engineering concerns regarding: (1) circumstances of a lost circulation event during a casing shoe test and how extensively a fracture propagates; (2) how much information can be obtained as a function of the amount of injected drilling fluid; and (3) expected casing shoe integrity following testing. Laboratory data and a numerical model are used to study the phenomena which occur during casing shoe tests. A guideline of safe casing shoe tests is suggested.
