Patent Application
20250172054
The present disclosure relates to a downhole casing milling guidance device in reference to an in-situ casing.
During the life cycle of an oil well, an operator may need to gain hydraulic access to an existing cased wellbore when the wellbore is not accessible by typical re-entry procedures. For example, during the creation of the wellbore, if the wellbore penetrates a zone with pressure higher than the hydrostatic mud weight in the wellbore and pressure control systems fail, a blowout may occur that may result in the release of oil and/or natural gas. One method to control such a blowout is to drill a relief well to intercept the blowout wellbore.
As another example, at the end of a well's life cycle, a well is plugged and abandoned. Occasionally, the plugged and abandoned (P&A) well is improperly abandoned and may leak. Such a situation may require the drilling of an intercept well to fix and properly abandon the well.
In another example, during the drilling or completion phase of the well, a tubular “fish” or damaged tubular section may have been left in the well. An intercept well may be drilled to re-enter the wellbore to secure continued use of the wellbore and/or set abandonment plugs.
To gain hydraulic access to the existing cased wellbore, an operator may need to drill the intercept wellbore. Once the operator has drilled the intercept wellbore sufficiently close to the existing wellbore, a casing entry tool may be used to penetrate the existing tubular and gain hydraulic access thereto.
A method of intercepting and cementing an existing well is disclosed. The method includes supplying an alignable guidance device, the alignable guidance device including a tube section and a casing milling shoe within the tube section. The alignable guidance device also includes a pre-contoured tube within the casing milling shoe that terminates in an exit point in the tube section and guidance sensors within the tube section. The method also includes running the alignable guidance device into a wellbore and aligning the alignable guidance device relative to a casing using information from the sensors based on alignment of alignable guidance device. In addition, the method includes after aligning the alignable guidance device, holding in place or anchoring the alignable guidance device and inserting a casing milling tool having a microturbine attached to coiled tubing into the pre-contoured tube. The method may also include cutting a hole in the in-situ casing with the microturbine and releasing the microturbine from the coiled tubing. Also, the method may include cementing through the coiled tubing.
The present disclosure is best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying figures. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.
It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the present disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. In addition, the present disclosure may repeat reference numerals and/or letters in the various examples. This repetition is for the purpose of simplicity and clarity and does not in itself dictate a relationship between the various embodiments and/or configurations discussed.
The present disclosure includes embodiments of alignable guidance device 100 for guiding a casing milling tool to in-situ casing 20. As shown in
In one non-limiting example, pre-contoured tube 135 is in the shape of a slim curved bore inside tube section 140. Pre-contoured tube 135 exits tube section 140 radially at an exit angle of between 0° and 45°, or between 10° and 30°. In the non-limiting example shown in
Casing milling shoe 120 may be manufactured in a casting mold process and be made of epoxy, cement, or steel, for example. In other embodiments, casing milling shoe 120 may be manufactured by mechanical milling, 3D printing, casting technique, or a welding process, such as a pre-contoured steel tube welded within tube section 140.
As further shown in
In some embodiments, alignable guidance device 100 may be run-in using casing, coiled tubing, or drill string.
Alignable guidance device 100 may then be aligned based on guidance sensors 190, for example, such that alignable guidance device 100 is centered on the centerline of in-situ casing 20. After alignment, alignable guidance device 100 may be held in place from the surface using a top drive, rotary table, or kelly drive, which holds the casing, tubing, or drill string in place. In other embodiments, alignable guidance device 100 may be anchored using clamps or cement. In some embodiments, no release mechanism exists to release alignable guidance device 100 once anchored.
In yet other embodiments, as shown in
Hydraulic release tool 300 is connected to run-in string 15 with connector latch portion 310 of hydraulic release tool 300. The combination of connector latch portion 310, movable latch portion 320, and collet 160 act to form latch 340. In certain embodiments, centralizer 210 holds retrievable EM tool 200 in place during the deployment phase and the alignment phase of the casing entry drilling method, described herein below.
When in the run-in position, such as during the deployment phase, male snap arm 312 of connector latch portion 310 is held in collet recess 332 of collet 160 by shoulder 322 of movable latch portion 320. Movable latch portion 320 further includes movable latch portion orifice 324, which is aligned with collet orifice 334 and both are adapted to pass fluid to open hole hydraulic set packer 180 positioned within packer inflation element cut out 336 of collet 160.
During the deployment phase and the alignment phase, retrievable EM tool 200 is positioned within run-in string 15. Retrievable EM tool 200 may be held in place with centralizer 210 positioned between retrievable EM tool and connector latch portion 310. Retrievable EM tool 200 may contain electronics 220. Retrievable EM tool 200 may be connected via wireline 240 to power and communication cable 250. Wireline 240 and power and communication cable 250 may be connected together with decoupling device 260. Decoupling device 260 may be any device capable of carrying communications and power, but able to decouple wireline 240 and power and communications cable 250 when retrievable EM tool 200 is removed from wellbore 10.
Power and communications cable 250 is connected to guidance sensor(s) 190 to provide power to the sensors and to transmit sensor information to retrievable EM tool 200. The guidance sensor(s) 190 in some embodiments may be disposed in an end plate 202 included as part of the tube section 140 of alignable guidance device 100. In certain embodiments, retrievable EM tool 200 may gather sensor information and determine the orientation of casing milling shoe 120. Retrievable EM tool 200 may then transmit the orientation of casing milling shoe 120 to the surface through a telemetry system. In other embodiments, retrievable EM tool 200 may transmit sensor information to the surface through a telemetry system for determination of the orientation of casing milling shoe 120 at the surface.
After the deployment phase, the alignment phase begins. During the alignment phase, power is delivered to guidance sensor(s) 190 and data from guidance sensor(s) 190 is sent to retrievable EM tool 200, wherein the orientation of casing milling shoe 120 is determined in retrievable EM tool 200 or at the surface. Power may be supplied from a battery, an MWD, or from the surface. If the orientation of casing milling shoe 120 is not facing centerline 25 of in-situ casing 20, casing milling shoe 120 may be rotated by rotating run-in string 15.
Once casing milling shoe 120 is facing centerline 25 of in-situ casing 20, retrievable EM tool 200 may be removed as shown in
Following the EM removal phase, tool set phase begins. Ball 400 is dropped into wellbore 10 and seats on seat 350 of connector latch portion 310, as shown in
In an alternate tool set phase, depicted in
The actions to release alignable guidance device 100 from run-in string 15 are shown in detail in
Run-in string 15 is removed, along with connector latch portion 310 and movable latch portion 320. As shown in
In other embodiments, after casing milling tool 600 has drilled through in-situ casing 20, the microturbine cutter may be released from coiled tubing operating string 610 within in-situ casing 20.
The foregoing outlines features of several embodiments so that a person of ordinary skill in the art may better understand the aspects of the present disclosure. Such features may be replaced by any one of numerous equivalent alternatives, only some of which are disclosed herein. One of ordinary skill in the art should appreciate that they may readily use the present disclosure as a basis for designing or modifying other processes and structures for carrying out the same purposes and/or achieving the same advantages of the embodiments introduced herein. One of ordinary skill in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure and that they may make various changes, substitutions, and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
This application is a continuation in part of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/518,033 filed Nov. 22, 2023, a nonprovisional application that claims priority from U.S. provisional application No. 63/434,987, filed Dec. 23, 2022, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63434987 | Dec 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18518033 | Nov 2023 | US |
| Child | 19031544 | US |
