This application is the U.S. national phase of International Application No. PCT/EP2016/059587 filed 29 Apr. 2016, which designated the U.S. and claims priority to EP Patent Application No. 15166050.3 filed 30 Apr. 2015, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to an annular barrier to be expanded in an annulus between a well tubular structure and a wall of a borehole downhole for providing zone isolation between a first zone having a first pressure and a second zone. Furthermore, the invention relates to a downhole system.
When completing a well, production zones are provided by submerging a casing string having annular barriers into a borehole or a casing of the well. When the casing string is in the right position in the borehole or in another casing in the borehole, the annular barriers are expanded or inflated. The annular barriers are in some completions expanded by pressurised fluid, which requires a certain amount of additional energy. In other completions, a compound inside the annular barrier is heated, so that the compound becomes gaseous, hence increasing its volume and thus expanding the expandable sleeve.
In order to seal off a zone between a well tubular structure and the borehole or an inner tubular structure and an outer tubular structure, a second annular barrier is used. The first annular barrier is expanded on one side of the zone to be sealed off, and the second annular barrier is expanded on the other side of that zone, and in this way, the zone is sealed off.
After being expanded, annular barriers may be subjected to a continuous pressure or a periodically high pressure from the outside, either in the form of hydraulic pressure within the well environment or in the form of formation pressure. In some circumstances, such pressures may cause the annular barrier to collapse, which may have severe consequences for the zone which is to be sealed off by the annular barrier, as the sealing properties are then lost due to the collapse. A similar problem may arise when the expandable sleeve is expanded by an expansion means, e.g. pressurised fluid. If the fluid leaks from the sleeve, the back pressure may fade, and the sleeve itself may thereby collapse.
The ability of the expanded sleeve of an annular barrier to withstand the collapse pressure is thus affected by many variables, such as strength of material, wall thickness, surface area exposed to the collapse pressure, temperature, well fluids, etc.
A collapse rating currently achievable for the expanded sleeve within certain well environments is insufficient for all well applications. Thus, it is desirable to increase the collapse rating to enable annular barriers to be used in all wells, specifically in wells with a high drawdown pressure during production and depletion. The collapse rating may be increased by increasing the wall thickness or the strength of the material; however, this would increase the expansion pressure, which, as already mentioned, is not desirable.
It is an object of the present invention to wholly or partly overcome the above disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. More specifically, it is an object to provide an improved simple annular barrier which is easy to expand and does not collapse, without having a complex anti-collapse system.
The above objects, together with numerous other objects, advantages and features, which will become evident from the below description, are accomplished by a solution in accordance with the present invention by an annular barrier to be expanded in an annulus between a well tubular structure and a wall of a borehole downhole for providing zone isolation between a first zone having a first pressure and a second zone, the annular barrier comprising:
The expansion unit may comprise a collection part fluidly connected to the first expansion opening and the second expansion opening.
Said collection part may be arranged outside the tubular metal part.
Moreover, the collection part may comprise a collection sleeve arranged outside the tubular metal part and connected to the tubular metal part, forming an annular chamber between the tubular metal part and the collection sleeve.
Further, the first expansion opening and the second expansion opening may be fluidly connected to the annular chamber, and the first inlet may be fluidly connected to the annular chamber.
Also, one or more groove(s) may be arranged in the collection sleeve and/or the tubular metal part facing the annular chamber.
Furthermore, the collection sleeve may have an outer sleeve face in which one or more circumferential groove(s) may be arranged.
The outer sleeve face may have one or more longitudinal groove(s) along the axial extension.
Moreover, the one or more longitudinal groove(s) may be in fluid communication with the second inlet.
Further, a filtering element, such as a slotted or perforated plate, may be arranged between the tubular metal part and the collection sleeve and configured to filtrate the fluid from inside the tubular metal part.
Additionally, the expansion unit may comprise a shuttle valve and the element of the expansion unit may be comprised in the shuttle valve.
Also, the element of the expansion unit may move in the axial extension or radially perpendicular to the axial extension.
Furthermore, the expansion unit may comprise a plurality of first inlets.
In addition, the expansion unit may comprise a plurality of second inlets.
The present invention also relates to an annular barrier to be expanded in an annulus between a well tubular structure and a wall of a borehole downhole for providing zone isolation between a first zone having a first pressure and a second zone, the annular barrier comprising:
The expansion unit may be arranged on the outer face of the tubular metal part or on an outer face of the well tubular structure.
Moreover, the expansion unit may be arranged adjacent to or in abutment with the expandable sleeve.
One or both of the ends of the expandable sleeve may be connected with the tubular metal part by means of connection parts, and the expansion unit may be arranged outside the annular space adjacent to or in the connection part.
Further, the outlet of the expansion unit may be fluidly connected to the annular space through a fluid channel.
Furthermore, the expansion unit may be arranged in the first or the second zone being a production zone.
Also, the element may be a piston movable in a piston housing between the first position and the second position, the piston housing comprising a spring being compressed when the piston moves in a first direction.
Additionally, the element may be a ball movable between a first seat when the element is in the first position and a second seat when the element is in the second position.
The outlet may be arranged between the first seat and the second seat.
Moreover, the shuttle valve may have a housing having a first and a second seat made of metal, ceramics, an elastomeric material or a polymeric material.
The present invention also relates to a downhole system comprising:
The downhole system as described above may further comprise a second annular barrier which, when expanded, isolates a production zone together with the first annular barrier, the expansion units of the first annular barrier and the second annular barrier being arranged in a zone other than the production zone.
Finally, the present invention also relates to an expansion method for providing and maintaining zone isolation between a first zone having a first pressure and a second zone having a second pressure of the borehole, the method comprising the steps of mounting an annular barrier as described above as part of a well tubular structure, providing pressurised fluid in through the expansion opening(s), arranging the element in the first position, the first position being the expansion position, so that the pressurised fluid is allowed to flow into the annular space, expanding the expandable sleeve of the annular barrier to provide zone isolation between the first zone and the second zone of the borehole, and maintaining zone isolation between the first zone and the second zone when the first pressure of the first zone is higher than the space pressure by arranging the element in the second position, whereby the second inlet is in fluid communication with the outlet.
The invention and its many advantages will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, which for the purpose of illustration show some non-limiting embodiments and in which
All the figures are highly schematic and not necessarily to scale, and they show only those parts which are necessary in order to elucidate the invention, other parts being omitted or merely suggested.
The annular barrier 10 comprises a tubular metal part 7 for mounting as part of the well tubular structure 1 and an expandable sleeve 8 surrounding the tubular metal part 7. The tubular metal part 7 has a tubular pressure Tp and a first expansion opening 3. The expandable sleeve 8 has an inner face 9 facing the tubular metal part 7 and an outer face 16 facing the inside wall 5 of the borehole 6. A first end 12 and a second end 13 of the expandable sleeve 8 are connected with the tubular metal part 7 defining an annular space 15 between the expandable sleeve 8 and the tubular metal part 7. The annular space 15 has a space pressure Ps. The annular barrier 10 further comprises an expansion unit 11.
As shown in
The annular barrier 10 may be expanded by means of pressurised fluid from within the well tubular structure 1. When expanding the expandable sleeve 8 of the annular barrier 10, the pressurised fluid in the well tubular structure 1 enters the annular space 15 through the first inlet 17 of the expansion unit 11. If the element 20 is not positioned in expansion mode and thus in the first position, the pressurised fluid presses the element 20 to move, providing access to the outlet 19 fluidly connected with the annular space 15.
After expanding the expandable sleeve 8 of the annular barrier 10, the second pressure P2 in the second zone 102 being the production zone may increase, e.g. during fracturing or production. During fracturing or production, the pressure inside the tubular metal part 7 increases just as during expansion, forcing the pressure inside the tubular metal part 7 to increase, and forcing the space pressure Ps to increase accordingly, so that the pressure inside the tubular metal part 7 and the pressure inside the annular space is substantially the same, thus avoiding collapse of the expandable sleeve 8. During fracturing, the well tubular structure 1 is pressurised and fluid is let out through a production opening 51 in the well tubular structure 1, as indicated by arrows in
If the first pressure P1 of the first zone 101 subsequently becomes higher than the second pressure P2 in the production zone 102 (shown in
In
As shown in
In
The collection part 21, shown in
As shown in
The expansion unit 11 is in
As shown in
In another embodiment, the element 20 is a piston movable in a piston housing between the first position and the second position, the piston housing comprising a spring being compressed when the piston moves in a first direction.
The invention further relates to a downhole system 100 comprising the well tubular structure 1, and the first annular barrier described above having an expansion unit as shown in
The present invention also relates to an expansion method for providing and maintaining zone isolation between a first zone 101 having a first pressure P1 and a second zone 102 having a second pressure of the borehole 6. The method comprises the steps of mounting an annular barrier 10 as described above as part of a well tubular structure, providing pressurised fluid in through the expansion opening(s), arranging the element in the first position, the first position being the expansion position, so that the pressurised fluid is allowed to flow into the annular space, expanding the expandable sleeve 8 of the annular barrier to provide zone isolation between the first zone and the second zone of the borehole, and maintaining zone isolation between the first zone and the second zone, when the first pressure of the first zone is higher than the space pressure, by arranging the element 20 in the second position, whereby the second inlet is in fluid communication with the outlet.
Even though not shown, the annular barrier 10 may also be arranged in a casing and may also be used as an anchor of the well tubular structure 1.
By fluid or well fluid is meant any kind of fluid that may be present in oil or gas wells downhole, such as natural gas, oil, oil mud, crude oil, water, etc. By gas is meant any kind of gas composition present in a well, completion, or open hole, and by oil is meant any kind of oil composition, such as crude oil, an oil-containing fluid, etc. Gas, oil, and water fluids may thus all comprise other elements or substances than gas, oil, and/or water, respectively.
By a casing is meant any kind of pipe, tubing, tubular, liner, string etc. used downhole in relation to oil or natural gas production.
Although the invention has been described in the above in connection with preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be evident for a person skilled in the art that several modifications are conceivable without departing from the invention as defined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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15166050 | Apr 2015 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2016/059587 | 4/29/2016 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2016/174191 | 11/3/2016 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20180128075 A1 | May 2018 | US |