The present disclosure relates generally to techniques for performing well site operations. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to techniques for detecting well site equipment.
Oilfield operations may be performed to locate and gather valuable subsurface fluids. Oil rigs are positioned at well sites, and downhole tools, such as drilling tools, are deployed into the ground to reach subsurface reservoirs. Once the drilling tools form a wellbore to reach a desired reservoir, casings may be cemented into place within the wellbore, and the wellbore completed to initiate production of fluids from the reservoir.
Tubular devices, such as pipes, certain downhole tools, casings, drill pipe, drill collars, tool joints, liner, coiled tubing, production tubing, wireline, slickline, and/or other tubular members and/or tools (referred to as ‘tubulars’ or ‘tubular strings’) may be deployed from the surface to enable the passage of subsurface fluids to the surface. Various deployable tools, such as logging tools, wireline tools, drill stem testers, and the like (referred to as “subsurface tools”), may also be deployed from the surface to perform various downhole operations, such as performing tests and/or measuring well site parameters. Tubulars may be measured for use in well site operations. Examples of tubulars and related techniques are provided in U.S. Patent/Application Nos. 2012/0160309 and/or 62/064,966, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Well site equipment, such as blow out preventers (BOPs), may be positioned about the wellbore to form a seal about a tubular therein to prevent leakage of fluid as it is brought to the surface. BOPs may be annular or ram BOPs with a mechanism, such as rams or fingers, with seals to seal a tubular in a wellbore. Examples of BOPs are provided in U.S. Patent/Application Nos. 2012/0227987; 2011/0226475; 2011/0000670; 2010/0243926; U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,814,979; 7,367,396; 6,012,744; 4,674,171; and PCT Application No. 2005/001795, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
In at least one aspect, the disclosure relates to a detection system for a wellsite. The wellsite has a surface rig and a surface unit. The surface rig is positioned about a formation and a surface unit. The detection system includes a wellsite component deployable from the surface rig via a conveyance, well site equipment positioned about the wellsite and having a bore to receive the wellsite component therethrough, and base units. The base units include scanners positioned radially about the bore of the wellsite equipment. The scanners detect an outer surface of the wellsite component and generate combinable images of the wellsite component whereby the wellsite equipment is imaged.
The scanners may include magnetic resonance and/or acoustic sensors. The base units may be positioned in a circular or an irregular pattern about the bore in the wellsite equipment. The detection system may also include equipment units positionable about the wellsite component.
The equipment units are coupled to the surface unit by a communication link. Each of the equipment units include an identifier disposed about the wellsite component. The scanners may include ID sensors capable of detecting the identifiers. The identifiers may include RFIDs. The equipment units may also include a sensor package to detect wellsite parameters. Each of the base units also include a communicator. The communicator may be in communication with the equipment units and/or the surface unit. Each of the equipment units and each of the base units may also include a power supply, a processor, and a memory.
The wellsite component may be a drill collar, drill pipe, casing, tool joint, liner, coiled tubing, production tubing, wireline, slickline, logging tool, wireline tool, and/or drill stem tester. The wellsite equipment may be a blowout preventer, a low marine riser package, and/or a remote operated vehicle. The wellsite component may include a deployable tool and the wellsite equipment comprises a blowout preventer. The deployable tool may be detectable by the scanners to determine a position for severing by the blowout preventer. The wellsite component may have a narrowed portion. The wellsite component may be positionable about the narrowed portion of the wellsite equipment.
In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a method of detecting a wellsite component at a wellsite. The wellsite may have a surface rig and a surface unit. The surface rig may be positioned about a formation and a surface unit. The method involves providing well site equipment with base units. Each of the base units may include a scanner positioned about a bore in the wellsite equipment. The method may also involve deploying the wellsite component through the bore in the wellsite equipment, detecting an outer surface of the wellsite component with the scanners, generating images of the wellsite component from each of the scanners, and imaging the wellsite component by combining the images from the scanners.
The method may also involve providing the wellsite component with equipment units. Each of the equipment units may include an identifier. The method may also involve detecting the identifiers with the scanners and/or engaging the wellsite equipment with the wellsite component. The engaging may involve sealing about the deployable tool. The wellsite component may include a deployable tool and the wellsite equipment comprises a blowout preventer, and the engaging may involve severing the deployable tool based on the imaging. The method may also involve adjusting a position of the wellsite component based on the imaging. The adjusting may involve positioning a narrowed portion of the wellsite component about the wellsite equipment and the engaging may involve engaging the narrowed portion of the wellsite component with the wellsite equipment.
In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a detection system for a wellsite. The wellsite has a surface rig positioned about a formation. The detection system includes a surface unit, a wellsite component deployable into from the surface rig via a conveyance, wellsite equipment positioned about the wellsite, equipment units, and at least one base unit. The equipment units are positionable about the wellsite component, and are coupled to the surface unit by a communication link. Each of the equipment units includes an identifier disposed about the wellsite component. The base unit(s) are positionable about the wellsite equipment, and include a scanner to detect the identifiers of the equipment units as it comes within proximity thereto whereby the wellsite equipment may be selectively activated to engage a desired portion of the wellsite component.
The identifiers include radio frequency identifiers. The equipment units may also include a sensor package to detect wellsite parameters. The equipment units may include a communicator. Each of the base units may include a sensor package to detect wellsite parameters. Each of the base units may include a communicator. The communicator may be in communication with the equipment units and/or the surface unit. Each of the equipment units and each of the base units may include a power supply, a processor, and a memory. The wellsite component may include a drill collar, drill pipe, casing, tool joint, liner, coiled tubing, production tubing, wireline, slickline, logging tool, wireline tool, and/or drill stem tester. The wellsite equipment may be a blowout preventer, a low marine riser package, and/or a remote operated vehicle.
The equipment units may be positionable in a recess extending into an outer surface of the wellsite component. The equipment units may have a shield disposed thereabout. The equipment units may have a connector engageable with the wellsite equipment. The equipment units may be raised about and recessed within the wellsite component. The equipment units may be disposed radially about the wellsite component. The equipment units may be disposed vertically about the wellsite component. The base units may be disposed radially about the well site equipment. The base units may be disposed vertically about the wellsite equipment.
The wellsite component may include a deployable tool and the wellsite equipment may include a blowout preventer. The identifiers may be detectable by the scanners to determine a position for severing by the blowout preventer. The wellsite component may have a narrowed portion, and the wellsite component may be positionable about the narrowed portion of the well site equipment. The base units may be positioned in a circular or an irregular pattern about a passage in the wellsite equipment, and the wellsite component may be deployable through the passage.
In another aspect, the disclosure relates to a method of detecting a wellsite component. The method involves providing the wellsite component with equipment units and providing well site equipment with at least one base units. Each of the equipment units includes an identifier and each of the base units includes a scanner. The method further involves deploying the wellsite component about the wellsite equipment via a conveyance, detecting the identifiers of the equipment units with the scanner as it comes within proximity thereto, determining a position of the wellsite component based on the detecting, and engaging the wellsite component with the wellsite equipment based on the determining.
The method may also involve adjusting a position of the wellsite equipment based on the determining. The adjusting may involve positioning a narrowed portion of the wellsite component about the wellsite equipment and wherein the engaging comprises engaging the narrowed portion of the wellsite component with the wellsite equipment. The wellsite component may include a deployable tool and the wellsite equipment may include a blowout preventer. The engaging may involve severing the deployable tool based on the determining.
Finally, in another aspect, the disclosure relates to a method of detecting a wellsite component. The method involves deploying the wellsite component about the wellsite and providing a detection system comprising equipment units and base units. The equipment units may be positionable about the wellsite component. Each of the equipment units may include an identifier. The base units may be positionable about the wellsite location. The base units may include a scanner. The method may involve determining a position of the wellsite component relative to a wellsite location by detecting the equipment units with the base units, positioning the wellsite component in a desired position relative to the wellsite location based on the determining, and activating the wellsite component based on the positioning.
The method may also involve adjusting the positioning based on the determining. The adjusting may involve comprises positioning a narrowed portion of the wellsite component about the wellsite equipment and the activating may involve severing the narrowed portion of the wellsite component with the wellsite equipment. The wellsite component may include a deployable tool and the wellsite equipment may include a blowout preventer. The activating may include severing the deployable tool based on the determining.
A more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to the embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate example embodiments and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features, and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic in the interest of clarity and conciseness.
The description that follows includes exemplary apparatus, methods, techniques, and/or instruction sequences that embody techniques of the present subject matter. However, it is understood that the described embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.
A wellsite detection system may be provided about a wellsite for detecting (e.g., sensing, locating, identifying, measuring, etc.) various wellsite components. The detection system may include an equipment unit and a base unit. The equipment unit may be positioned about the wellsite components, such as deployable tools including tubulars and/or other equipment. The base unit may be positioned about the wellsite (e.g., in wellsite equipment) to detect the equipment units as they pass thereby.
The equipment and/or base units may collect and/or pass stored and/or real time information about the equipment. Such information may be used, for example, to sense, identity, locate, and/or measure the wellsite component, to collect wellsite data, and/or to provide information about operating conditions. The equipment and/or the base units may be, for example, in communication with communication units positioned about downhole tools, subsea, subsurface, surface, downhole, offsite and/or other locations. Power, communication, and/or command signals may be passed about portions of the well site and/or offsite locations via the detection system.
The subsurface system 104 includes a conduit 112 extending from the platform 108 to a sea floor 114. The subsurface system 104 further includes a wellhead 116 with a tubular 118 extending into a wellbore 120, a low marine riser package (LMRP) 121 with a BOP 122, and a subsea unit 124. The BOP 122 has a BOP assembly 125 with sealing devices 126 for shearing and/or sealing the wellbore 120.
A wellsite component 127 is deployed through the conduit 112 and to the BOP 122. In the example shown, the wellsite component 127 is a deployable tool including a series of tubulars 118 threaded together to form a drill string. A detection system 130 is provided for detecting the wellsite component 127. The detection system 130 includes equipment units 131 positioned about the wellsite component 127 and base units 133 positioned about the wellsite 100.
In the example shown, the equipment units 131 are provided at various locations about the wellsite component 127. The base units 133 are provided at various locations about the rig 106, the surface unit 110, BOP 122, and tubulars 118. As also shown, the base unit 133 may be carried by other devices, such as a remote operated vehicle (ROV) 135 deployed from the platform 108. The various base units 133 may form a wired or wireless connection with one or more of the equipment units 131.
The surface system 102 and subsurface system 104 may be provided with one or more communication units, such as the surface unit 110 and/or the subsea unit 124, located at various locations to work with the surface system 102 and/or the subsurface systems 104. Communication links 128 may be provided for communication of power, control, and/or data signals between the equipment and base units and various wellsite locations 100 and/or offsite locations 138. The communication links 128 may be wired or wireless connections capable of passing communications between the various units. As shown, communications may also be conveyed by a satellite 134 or other means.
While an example configuration is depicted, it will be appreciated that one or more equipment units, base units, wellsite components, communication units, communication links, and/or other options may be provided for detecting the well site equipment about various parts of the well site.
The sealing means 226a-c are activated by actuators 234, which may be one or more hydraulic, electrical or other actuators capable of selectively activating the sealing means to sever and/or seal about the tubular 118. One or more sealing means, actuators and/or other devices may be provided about the BOP. Examples of sealing means that may be present are provided in US Patent Nos. 2012/0227987; 2011/0226475; 2011/0000670; 2010/0243926; U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,814,979; and 7,367,396, previously incorporated by reference herein.
The tubular 118 extends through a passage 236 in the housing 225. The sealing means 226a,b are positionable in the passage 236 of the housing 225 and selectively movable into engagement with the tubular 118 for sealing and/or severing the tubular 118. The actuators 234 may be selectively activated by units (e.g., 110, 124 of
The tubular 118 may have one or more of the equipment units 131 thereabout. The BOP 122 may have one or more base units 133 positionable thereabout. The equipment units 131 are detectable by the base units 133. Individual base units 133 may detect the equipment units 131 and communicate therewith as the equipment units 131 pass thereby. The equipment and base units 131,133 may pass data, power, communication, and/or other signals therebetween.
The equipment and base units 131, 133 may exchange information, such as equipment information, measurement data, and/or other information. The base units 133 may collect, store, and/or process the information received from the equipment units 131. The base units 133 may also contain and/or collect information about the wellsite, wellsite operations, equipment, and/or other information.
While
As shown in
The downhole tool 318c is depicted as a wireline tool having a housing 348 deployable from the surface by a wireline 350. The downhole tool 318c may be any deployable device provided with various downhole components, such as resistivity, telemetry, logging, surveying, sampling, testing, measurements while drilling, and/or other components, for performing downhole operations. The wireline 350 may be provided with smart capabilities for passing signals between the downhole tool 318c and the surface (e.g., 110 of
As demonstrated by the examples shown in
In the recessed position of
A shield 452 is disposed over the equipment unit 131 about an opening of the pocket 450. The shield 452 may enclose the equipment unit 131 in the wellsite component 318a. The shield 452 may be, for example, an epoxy and/or other material to protect the equipment unit 131 while allowing communication therethrough.
In the raised position of
A shield 452′ is disposed over the wellsite component 318a. The shield 452′ may be the same as the shield 452, except that it is shaped to permit the equipment unit 131′ to extend beyond the outer surface of the wellsite component. The equipment unit 131′ may be press fit in place and secured with the shield 452′.
As shown by
One or more of the communication links 128 may be provided between one or more of the equipment units 131, the base units 133, surface units 110, and/or an offsite locations 138. One or two way communication may be provided by the communication links 128. The communicators 460 may be antennas, transceivers or other devices capable of communication via the communication links 128 in wellsite conditions. The communicators 460 may communicate with the surface unit 110 directly or via subsurface equipment, such as electrical cabling (e.g., mux cables along the riser) extending to the surface.
The equipment and base units 131, 133 may be provided with identifiers 454, such as radio frequency identifiers (RFIDs), capable of storing information. For example, as shown, the RFID 454 may be used to store information about the wellsite component, the wellsite, the well site operation, the client, and/or other information as desired. The RFID 454 may be readable by the scanner 466 via the communication link 128.
The equipment unit 131 and/or the base unit 133 may be provided with sensing capabilities for measuring wellsite parameters about the wellsite. The sensor package 456 may include one or more sensors (e.g., magnetometer, accelerometer, gyroscope, etc.), gauges (e.g., temperature, pressure, etc.), or other measurement devices. Data collected from the sensor package 456 and/or scanner 466 may be stored in memory 464 in the equipment and/or base units 131, 133.
The power supply 458 may be a battery, storage unit, or other power means capable of powering the equipment and/or base units 131, 133. In some cases, the power 458 may be passed via the communication links 128 between the equipment and base units 131, 133. The power may be carried internally within the equipment and/or base unit(s) 131, 133 and/or be external thereto. For example, the base unit 133 of the ROV 135 of
While specific electrical components are depicted, the equipment unit 131 and the base unit 133 may have various combinations of one or more electrical components to provide power, communication, data storage, data collection, processing, and/or other capabilities. The detection system 130 may be provided with other devices, such as switches, timers, connectors, and/or other features to facilitate communication. The processors and/or controllers may be provided to selectively activate the well site component and/or the well site equipment herein.
In this example, the equipment units 131a-c are used to locate and position the wellsite component 618. As shown by these figures, the equipment units 131a-c are detectable by the communication units 133a-c as they move thereby. The equipment units 131a-c may be detectable by the base units 133a-c, for example, by sending a signal readable by the base units 133a-c. The equipment units 131a-c may be provided with a range of detection capabilities such that they are detectable when positioned adjacent a base unit 133a-c and/or a distance therefrom.
In the sequence shown,
The information gathered by detection using the base units 133a-c in
Information from the equipment units 131a and/or about the wellsite component 618 may be used, for example, to place the wellsite component 618 in a desired position about the wellsite location 622. For example, in a case where the wellsite component is a tubular (e.g., 318a,b of
As shown in
The blades 626 and/or other equipment and/or components may be selectively activated by one or more controllers and/or processors of the surface unit, wellsite component, and/or well site equipment. While blades 626 are depicted for severing along a narrowed portion of the well site component 618, any portion of the wellsite component 618 may be positioned at a desired location about wellsite location 622.
As shown in
As demonstrated by this configuration, the base units 133a-d may act as distance sensors to determine a distance of the wellsite component 718 therefrom. Each base unit 133a-d may detect a distance d1-d4 to determine a radial position of the wellsite component 718 in the passage 736. One or more equipment and base units 131, 133a-d can be added as desired (e.g., to detect smaller diameter objects in the BOP).
The base units 133a-d may be provided with sensors or sensor packages (see, e.g., 456 of
As schematically shown in
One or more of the base units 133, 133a-e may be provided with scanning capabilities such that, as the wellsite component 718 moves through the passage 736, a picture (e.g., 3D image) may be generated by mapping the wellsite component 718 as it passes the base units 133, 133a-e. For example, the base units 133 may include the scanners 466 in the form of, for example, an array of magnetic resonance sensors mounted radially about the bore as shown in
Each of the magnetic resonance sensors 466 can detect the outer surface of the tubular and combine to generate an image based on data received from each individual sensor 466. The scanners 466 may collect and process the images using the memory and storage of the base unit 133 and images may be communicated to the surface unit 110 via communicator 460 (
The base units 133, 133a-e may also be used to measure parameters of the wellsite component 718, such as diameter, distance, dimension, and/or other parameters. Examples of other scans and/or measurements that may be performed are available in US 2012/0160309 and/or 62/064,966, previously incorporated by reference herein.
One or more techniques may be used to detect a position of a wellsite component 718 about a wellsite, such as those described herein. Other techniques may also be used. For example, one or more of the equipment unit 131 of the wellsite component 718 may be an RFID tag that provides last inspection data to know the exact dimensions. Dimensions may be measured and/or stored for access during operations.
With known dimensions, a position of any wellsite component 718 that is deployed downhole may be estimated by counting the number of wellsite components 618 and calculating the overall length of the tool string. In another example, the BOP (e.g., annular 226a of
One or more of the techniques used to detect and/or locate the wellsite component may be compared to confirm a position. This information may be fed back to the operator to confirm/revise estimates, to validate, and/or to otherwise analyze well site operations. These various outputs may be visible to the operator by feedback to a display on or offsite.
The data gather from the base units 133, 133a-e and/or other data sources may be processed (e.g., by the processor 462 of
In another example, the method may involve positioning a tubular relative to sealing means of a BOP and engaging (e.g., severing and/or sealing) a narrow portion of the tubular with the sealing means. The method may also involve other activity, such as 866 activating the well site component based on the positioning, scanning the well site component with the equipment units, and/or collecting information from the equipment units. Activating may involve, for example, engaging a desired portion of the well site component based on the positioning. Various combinations of the methods may also be provided. The methods may be performed in any order, or repeated as desired.
In an example, the detection system is used to image a deployable tool and determine, for example, its position relative to a BOP. The deployable tool includes a drilling tool deployed from a surface location via a drill string comprising a series of metal drill pipe (see, e.g.,
The BOP has base units postioned about the bore (see, e.g.,
Each scanners generates images of the downhole tool from its individual perspective. The combined output from these scanners is stored in memory and communicated view communicator to the surface unit (see, e.g.,
The scanners also detect a distance to the downhole tool (see, e.g.,
The scanned data is fed back to the surface unit and the position of the deployable tool is adjusted to locate the narrowed portion adjacent a sealing component of the BOP. The BOP is then activated to engage (sever and seal) around this narrowed portion of the drill pipe.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the techniques disclosed herein can be implemented for automated/autonomous applications via software configured with algorithms to perform the desired functions. These aspects can be implemented by programming one or more suitable general-purpose computers having appropriate hardware. The programming may be accomplished through the use of one or more program storage devices readable by the processor(s) and encoding one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer for performing the operations described herein. The program storage device may take the form of, e.g., one or more floppy disks; a CD ROM or other optical disk; a read-only memory chip (ROM); and other forms of the kind well known in the art or subsequently developed. The program of instructions may be “object code,” i.e., in binary form that is executable more-or-less directly by the computer; in “source code” that requires compilation or interpretation before execution; or in some intermediate form such as partially compiled code. The precise forms of the program storage device and of the encoding of instructions are immaterial here. Aspects of the invention may also be configured to perform the described functions (via appropriate hardware/software) solely on site and/or remotely controlled via an extended communication (e.g., wireless, internet, satellite, etc.) network.
While the embodiments are described with reference to various implementations and exploitations, it will be understood that these embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the inventive subject matter is not limited to them. Many variations, modifications, additions and improvements are possible. For example, various combinations of one or more well site components, well site locations, equipment units, base units and/or other features may be used for storing, collecting, measuring, and/or communication data.
Plural instances may be provided for components, operations or structures described herein as a single instance. In general, structures and functionality presented as separate components in the exemplary configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the inventive subject matter.
Insofar as the description above and the accompanying drawings disclose any additional subject matter that is not within the scope of the claim(s) herein, the inventions are not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more applications to claim such additional invention is reserved. Although a very narrow claim may be presented herein, it should be recognized the scope of this invention is much broader than presented by the claim(s). Broader claims may be submitted in an application that claims the benefit of priority from this application.
This application is a 35 U.S.C. §371 national stage application of PCT/US2016/017849 filed Feb. 12, 2016, and entitled “A Detection System for a Wellsite and Method of Using Same,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/116,362, filed on Feb. 13, 2015, and entitled “Wellsite Detection System and Method of Using Same,” each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2016/017849 | 2/12/2016 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
62116362 | Feb 2015 | US |