American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017 - 69

tended-reach horizontals, including rotating
casing strings while cementing in highly
deviated and long laterals, as well as application such as drilling/reaming with
casing, he goes on.
"The driver is torque," states Santeler.
"With long laterals, the pipe rests on the
bottom of the open hole, so rotation requires
higher torque from the rig to move the
pipe. The casing also has to resist high internal pressures for fracturing, which can
crack standard API connections."
Santeler notes that the connection's high
torque capacity goes hand-in-glove with
the trend to larger 51⁄2-inch diameter casing
run from the intermediate casing down the
length of the lateral. He notes that operators
are setting 135⁄8-inch conductor pipe, then
running a 95⁄8-inch intermediate string, followed by 51⁄2-inch casing through the
curve/build section all the way to the toe.
"Moving to a constant diameter of
51⁄2-inch casing produces less waste, reduces cost and provides a higher frac
pressure than using a 71⁄2-inch casing
string followed by a 41⁄2-inch inch string
for the lateral," Santeler says, noting that
operators in the Eagle Ford are using
primarily 23-pound, 51⁄2-inch casing, while
Marcellus operators prefer 20-pound, 51⁄2inch casing. "The grade of casing is a
little different for each play, but the trend
toward the 51⁄2-inch high-strength casing
size is occurring across all shale plays."
Variable width dovetail thread connections come in standard (VAM HTTC),
semi-flush (VAM EDGE SF) and flush
(VAM HTF-NR) designs with "simple,
reliable and easy running similar to standard premium connections," Santeler goes
on. The connections are tested to the
latest ISO and API standards for well assurance, as well as additional testing that
mimics downhole bending, compression,
tension, fatigue and fracture conditions
to assure gas tightness. "The bending capacity is up to 42 degrees/100 feet and
the full tolerance range of the product is
tested," he concludes.

Extra Torque Capacity
Tenaris has expanded its TenarisHydril
Wedge™ series by developing a new
threaded and coupled connection for extreme
torque performance in horizontal wells in
resource plays, announces Bruno Giacomel,
U.S. technical sales director at Tenaris.
"Our customers are focused on gaining
efficiencies in their operations and we
are responding to this with new products.
The Wedge XP™ connection delivers
the torque strength customers need to
reach the longer laterals they are drilling
today," Giacomel remarks. "The connection provides the exceptional overtorque
performance needed in many production

turn chart, which in turn improves the speed
of installation," Giacomel explains.
With 100 percent tension and compression efficiency, Giacomel reports that
Tenaris has conducted field tests of the
Wedge XP connection in shale plays in
both the United States and Argentina, including in pad drilling applications with
long laterals, severe doglegs and casing
rotation while cementing.
"The results of these field applications
reinforce the connection's maximum overtorque capacity to manage longer laterals,
smooth runnability and compression efficiency," he states.

The new TenarisHydril Wedge XP™
threaded and coupled connection is engineered to provide exceptional torque
capabilities and fast running times for
long-lateral horizontal wells. The high
torque capacity is achieved through the
combination of a robust thread design
and a pin-to-pin backup mechanism.

strings used in horizontal shale wells."
The high torque capacity is achieved
through the combination of a robust
Wedge thread design that simultaneously
engages opposing flanks generated by
the dovetail thread, and a pin-to-pin
backup mechanism to provide extra capacity to handle rotation and incremented
torque loads, according to Giacomel.
"The Wedge XP maximizes value for
oil and gas operators by reducing running
times with lower threads per inch of the
profile and a rugged coarse thread design
with deep stabbing that significantly decreases rejects and re-makeups," he says,
adding that the connection integrates a
locator stripe in the pin that serves as a
makeup indicator.
"The make up indicator allows for visual
confirmation of an acceptable make up position, eliminating the need for a torque-

Toughest Conditions
voestalpine Tubular Corp's VAsuperior® and VAxplorer® connections are
both engineered for critical high-pressure
applications. Robert Scott, president of
voestalpine Tubular Corp., explains that
the VAsuperior connection is designed
to meet the ISO 13679, CAL IV specification, and features a proprietary threading
system and metal-to-metal sealing, while
the VAxplorer is a CAL IV casing connection with high torque capability that
meets API RP 5C5 standards.
"Both connections are being used in
the Marcellus and Eagle Ford plays, including sour service applications," Scott
reports. "They are intended to meet the
demanding requirements seen in the toughest conditions."
The high contact pressure in the VAsuperior connection's seal area is reinforced by the internal shoulder, and the
distance from the pin face provides improved protection against transport, handling and installation damage, Scott explains. "The internal flush profile minimizes turbulences, and the thread design
allows easy and fast makeup in the most
severe conditions," he says. "The tensile
and compression efficiency of the connection is 100 percent, and thereby equal
to the pipe body."
VAxplorer was designed for the extreme torque encountered in extendedreach wells and casing rotation operations.
"Its key advantages include a thread
design for high-yield torque, 100 percent
compression and tension efficiency, and
gas sealability," Scott explains.
Metal-To-Metal Alloy
Bill Nielsen, vice president and general
manager, alloy products, at Materion, reports a steady growth in the number of oil
and gas companies using sucker rod couplings made from the company's ToughMet® 3 high-performance alloy to overcome
wear issues during production operations.
"The environment in which sucker
rods operate is very dynamic, in constant
SEPTEMBER 2017 69
American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2017

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