Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
This disclosure relates to the field of abandonment of subsurface wells. More specifically, the disclosure relates to cutting and removing sections of wellbore tubular elements, e.g., casing and tubing, during a procedure to plug and abandon a subsurface well.
Permanent wellbore abandonment includes so-called plug and abandonment (P&A) procedures. Such procedures are used for prevention of fluid leaks into the environment and subsequent contamination of other underground areas and are important for preventing future costly repairs, environmental remediation and damage to the business reputation of the well owner, among other characteristics. It is observed in the oil and gas industry that high importance is placed on setting and verifying in-well (“downhole”) fluid barriers, while lowering the cost of the abandonment by performing increasing amounts of abandonment work using small, light-weight and less costly wellbore intervention equipment rather than the use of larger footprint, costly to operate well drilling units.
Possible leaks outside and between wellbore conduit (“tubulars”) installed in a well must be prevented, and therefore existing barriers must be verified or new barriers need to be established and verified, prior to permanently leaving the tubulars in the ground at the time the well is to be abandoned. Typically, a production tubing string (a nested conduit inside a wellbore casing) is pulled out of the well to enable good placement and verification of barriers within or externally to the wellbore casing, that is, the conduit or tubular generally adjacent to the originally drilled wellbore. Such barriers may comprise cement placed in an annular space between the casing and the drilled borehole. Barrier verification may comprise making measurements such as acoustic cement bond verification. However, handling and disposal of used production tubing is typically a health, safety and environmental (HSE) challenge; the tubing can be costly to pull out of the well, transport, unload and dispose, etc. Therefore, being able to permanently seal in and leave production tubing in a well as part of abandonment has significant advantages with respect to HSE risk and cost. If a section of wellbore tubular can be removed even if only to provide access for barrier verification and establishment, that will be an advantage.
At present, there are no wellbore intervention technologies available that can provide reliable information about barrier condition through two nested tubular strings, e.g., a tubing within a casing. If the inner nested tubular (e.g., tubing) is removed, then the current intervention technologies can be deployed to perform measurement (logging) through the one remaining tubular (e.g., casing). However, as explained above, removing tubing can be difficult and expensive.
An apparatus for cutting sections of a wellbore tubular according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a housing shaped to enable movement along an interior of the wellbore tubular. The housing has an upper end arranged to connect to a conveyance and a lower end comprising a guide. Cutting materials are disposed in the housing and are arranged to cut the wellbore tubular in at least one circumferential cut and at least one longitudinal cut.
In some embodiments, the cutting materials comprise explosive cutters.
In some embodiments, the cutting materials comprise chemical cutters.
In some embodiments, the housing comprises at least one push-out module.
Some embodiments further comprise at least one of a push-out module and a push in module disposed between the upper end and the guide and is arranged to contact the tubular to at least one of radially expand the tubular and radially contract the tubular.
In some embodiments, the at least one push out module comprises a hydraulic ram/cylinder combination.
Some embodiments further comprise a plurality of longitudinally spaced apart push out modules.
In some embodiments, the cutting materials are arranged to cut the wellbore tubular along a plurality of longitudinal cuts extending between the circumferential cuts.
Some embodiments further comprise a push down module. The push down module comprises at least one radially extensible arm for engaging a longitudinal end of a wellbore tubular severed by the cutting materials.
In some embodiments, the at least one arm is urged radially outward from the housing by a biasing device.
In some embodiments, the biasing device comprises a spring.
In some embodiments, the cutting materials are arranged to cut the wellbore tubular in at least a second circumferential cut longitudinally spaced apart from the at least one circumferential cut by a distance corresponding to a length of the at least one longitudinal cut.
A method for cutting a wellbore tubular according to another aspect of the disclosure comprises positioning a tool in the wellbore tubular at a selected depth. The tool comprises a housing shaped to enable movement along an interior of the wellbore tubular. The housing has an upper end arranged to connect to a conveyance and a lower end comprising a guide. Cutting materials disposed in the housing are arranged to cut the wellbore tubular in two, longitudinally spaced apart circumferential cuts and at least one longitudinal cut extending between the circumferential cuts.
Some embodiments further comprise actuating the cutting materials to create a plurality of longitudinal cuts in the wellbore tubular.
Some embodiments further comprise at least one of a push-out module and a push in module is disposed between the upper end and the guide and arranged to contact the tubular to at least one of radially expand the tubular and radially contract the tubular.
Some embodiments further comprise actuating the push-out module to radially expand the wellbore tubular to enable dropping the cut section over the wellbore tubular below the lower circumferential cut.
Some embodiments further comprise conducting at least one well intervention operation through an opening created by cutting the wellbore tubular.
In some embodiments, the push-out module and a pull in module is operated with sufficient force to lift the tubular from a wall of a conduit in which the tubular is nested.
Some embodiments further comprise moving a push down module to a position above a position of a tubular severed by the actuating the cutting materials. The push down module comprises at least one radially extensible arm for engaging a longitudinal end of a wellbore tubular severed by the cutting materials.
In some embodiments, the at least one arm is urged radially outward from the housing by a biasing device.
In some embodiments, the biasing device comprises a spring.
Some embodiments further comprise actuating further cutting materials to make at least one additional longitudinal cut beginning at a longitudinal end of severed wellbore tubular and actuating the further cutting materials to make at least one additional circumferential cut proximate a longitudinal end of the at least one additional longitudinal cut.
Other aspects and possible advantages will be apparent from the description and claims that follow.
Chemical and explosive cutting of very short longitudinal sections, typically less than a meter both longitudinally and circumferentially, are commonly performed by a number of technologies, and have been used in the oil and gas industry for many decades. Examples of such technologies including cutting devices, some of which are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,561,683 issued to Wood and U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,174 issued to Terrell. These technologies will only provide one cut, typically to pull a tubular apart or provide a hydraulic communication path between the inside and the outside of the cut tubular. Herein are described a method and apparatus for removing a section of a wellbore tubular by longitudinal and circumferential cutting of the tubular, followed by pushing or pulling the cut sections away from the uncut tubular below and/or above the cut portion so that the cut portions are able to drop into the wellbore below a lowermost circumferential cut. A tool to perform such cutting may be designed such that the lower part of the tool protrudes below the lowest circumferential cut, and enables the tool to laterally lift the remaining, cut tubular clear of the inner wall of an externally disposed, nested tubular.
The wellbore intervention tool 10 may comprise, in its upper section, a cable head 10A or similar connector for electrical and mechanical connection to a deployment device (e.g., an armored electrical cable 14), and optionally an emergency release (associated with the cable head 10A, not shown separately). A guide nose 10B may be disposed in the lower end of the wellbore intervention tool 10. An actuation module 12 forming part of the wellbore intervention tool 10 may comprise control circuits (not shown separately) for actuating explosive and/or chemical cutting materials and actuating one or more push-out modules 18.
The cutting materials may be disposed, for example, in a cutting materials module 60. The placement of the cutting materials in such cutting materials module 60 may be chosen according to intended cut pattern of the tubular in which the wellbore intervention tool 10 is deployed. The present example embodiment contemplates a combination of cutting materials arranged on the wellbore intervention tool 10 for both longitudinal and circumferential cutting. The circumferential and longitudinal cuts may be performed simultaneously, or with a chosen time delay between them to optimize the energy created when cutting. In the example embodiment shown in
In some embodiments, such as the embodiment shown in
In the present example embodiment, the push-out module(s) 18 when actuated may spread the tubular (e.g., tubing 30) along the longitudinal cuts after the cutting materials are actuated. A wellbore intervention tool as shown in
In the present example embodiment, the push out module(s) 18 may be disposed longitudinally along the wellbore intervention tool 10 between the spaced apart circumferential discharge ports 16B.
Other embodiments may omit the push-out and/or pull in modules entirely, having only the cutting materials module 60. In such embodiments, the functions performed by the push our or pull in modules may be performed by a separate wellbore intervention tool.
Some embodiments of the wellbore intervention tool may comprise only one circumferential discharge port 16B. Such embodiments may be used, among other purposes, to sever additional segments of wellbore tubular as will be further explained below.
The present example embodiment may comprise a guide 22 on the longitudinal end opposite the end connected to the cable 14. The guide 22 may comprise one or more rollers 22A to reduce friction when the wellbore intervention tool 10 is moved along the interior of a wellbore tubular.
The above operations may be repeated any number of times, so that required lengths of tubulars are removed. One tubular section may be of a length of, for example, 10-12 meters, while there may be requirements to remove up to 100 meters of tubular. A tool as herein described may also be configured for longer than 10-12 meter cuts, e.g., by increasing the longitudinal spacing between the circumferential discharge ports (16A in
In the present example embodiments, the severed tubular may be deformed or pushed outward into the annular space 50 by energy from operation of the cutting materials. Such outward pushing may enable severed segments of the tubular (e.g., tubing 30) to drop below the upper end 30D in
In some embodiments, and as explained with reference to
Although only a few examples have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the examples. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims.
Continuation of International Application No. PCT/IB2020/052426 filed on Mar. 17, 2020. Priority is claimed from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/819,824 filed on Mar. 18, 2019. Both the foregoing applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20220074279 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62819824 | Mar 2019 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/IB2020/052426 | Mar 2020 | US |
Child | 17478459 | US |