This invention relates to reverse cementing operations. In particular, this invention relates to methods and apparatuses for floating the casing and controlling fluid flow through the casing shoe.
After a well for the production of oil and/or gas has been drilled, casing may be run into the wellbore and cemented. In conventional cementing operations, a cement composition is displaced down the inner diameter of the casing. The cement composition is displaced downwardly into the casing until it exits the bottom of the casing into the annular space between the outer diameter of the casing and the wellbore. It is then pumped up the annulus until a desired portion of the annulus is filled.
The casing may also be cemented into a wellbore by utilizing what is known as a reverse-cementing method. The reverse-cementing method comprises displacing a cement composition into the annulus at the surface. As the cement is pumped down the annulus, drilling fluids ahead of the cement composition around the lower end of the casing string are displaced up the inner diameter of the casing string and out at the surface. The fluids ahead of the cement composition may also be displaced upwardly through a work string that has been run into the inner diameter of the casing string and sealed off at its lower end. Because the work string by definition has a smaller inner diameter, fluid velocities in a work string configuration may be higher and may more efficiently transfer the cuttings washed out of the annulus during cementing operations.
The reverse circulation cementing process, as opposed to the conventional method, may provide a number of advantages. For example, cementing pressures may be much lower than those experienced with conventional methods. Cement composition introduced in the annulus falls down the annulus so as to produce little or no pressure on the formation. Fluids in the wellbore ahead of the cement composition may be bled off through the casing at the surface. When the reverse-circulating method is used, less fluid may be handled at the surface and cement retarders may be utilized more efficiently.
In reverse circulation methods, it may be desirable to stop the flow of the cement composition when the leading edge of the cement composition slurry is at or just inside the casing shoe. To know when to cease the reverse circulation fluid flow, the leading edge of the slurry is typically monitored to determine when it arrives at the casing shoe. Logging tools and tagged fluids (by density and/or radioactive sources) have been used monitor the position of the leading edge of the cement slurry. If significant volumes of the cement slurry enters the casing shoe, clean-out operations may need to be conducted to insure that cement inside the casing has not covered targeted production zones. Position information provided by tagged fluids is typically available to the operator only after a considerable delay. Thus, even with tagged fluids, the operator is unable to stop the flow of the cement slurry into the casing through the casing shoe until a significant volume of cement has entered the casing. Imprecise monitoring of the position of the leading edge of the cement slurry can result in a column of cement in the casing 100 feet to 500 feet long. This unwanted cement may then be drilled out of the casing at a significant cost.
This invention relates to reverse cementing operations. In particular, this invention relates to methods and apparatuses for floating the casing and controlling fluid flow through the casing shoe.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for cementing a casing in a wellbore, the method having the following steps: attaching a valve to a casing; locking the valve in an open configuration; running the casing and the valve into the wellbore; reverse circulating a cement composition down an annulus defined between the casing and the wellbore; injecting a plurality of plugs into the annulus; unlocking the valve with the plurality of plugs; and closing the valve.
A further aspect of the invention provides a valve having a variety of components including: a valve housing defining a valve seat; a closure element adjustably connected to the valve housing, wherein the closure element is configurable relative to the valve seat in open and closed configurations; a lock in mechanical communication with the closure element to lock the closure element in the open configuration when the lock is assembled in the valve housing, wherein the lock comprises a strainer; and a bias element in mechanical communication with the valve housing and the closure element, wherein the bias element biases the closure element to the closed configuration.
Another aspect of the invention provides a system for reverse-circulation cementing a casing in a wellbore, wherein the system has a valve with a hole and a plurality of plugs, wherein the plugs have a plug dimension larger than the hole dimension. The valve may have a valve housing defining a valve seat; a closure element adjustably connected to the valve housing, wherein the closure element is configurable relative to the valve seat in open and closed configurations; a lock in mechanical communication with the closure element to lock the closure element in the open configuration when the lock is assembled in the valve housing, wherein the lock comprises a strainer with holes comprising a hole dimension; and a bias element in mechanical communication with the valve housing and the closure element, wherein the bias element biases the closure element to the closed configuration.
The objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the description of the exemplary embodiments which follows.
The present invention may be better understood by reading the following description of non-limitative embodiments with reference to the attached drawings wherein like parts of each of the several figures are identified by the same referenced characters, and which are briefly described as follows.
It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, as the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
This invention relates to reverse cementing operations. In particular, this invention relates to methods and apparatuses for floating the casing and controlling fluid flow through the casing shoe.
Referring to
The valve 1 also has a lock pin 10 stung into the inner bore 6 of the flapper seat 2. The lock pin 10 has a stinger section 11 and a strainer section 12. In the illustrated embodiment, the stinger section 11 has a cylindrical structure having an outside diameter only slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the inner bore 6 of the flapper seat 2. Along its longitudinal axis, the stinger section 11 has a flow conduit 13 extending all the way through the stinger section 11. The strainer section 12 is connected to one end of the stinger section 11. In this embodiment, the strainer section 12 has a hemisphere-shaped structure with a plurality of holes 14.
When the lock pin 10 is inserted into the flapper seat 2 of the valve 1, as illustrated in
A reverse cementing process of the present invention is described with reference to
Plugs 20 may be used to close the valve 1, when the leading edge 21 of the cement composition 22 reaches the valve 1. Plugs 20 may be inserted at the leading edge 21 of the cement composition 22 when the cement composition is injected into the annulus at the surface. As shown in
Referring to
Referring to
The valve 1, illustrated in
Referring to
In an alternative embodiment, the lock pin 10 illustrated in
Similar to that previously described with reference to
Referring to
In one embodiment of the invention, the valve 1 is made, at least in part, of the same material as the casing 4, with the same outside diameter dimensions. Alternative materials such as steel, composites, iron, plastic, cement and aluminum may also be used for the valve so long as the construction is rugged to endure the run-in procedure and environmental conditions of the wellbore.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the plugs 20 have an outside diameter of between about 0.30 inches to about 0.45 inches, and preferably about 0.375 inches so that the plugs 20 may clear the annular clearance of the casing collar and wellbore (6.33 inches×5 inches for example). However, in most embodiments, the plug outside diameter is large enough to bridge the holes 14 in the strainer section 12 of the lock pin 10. The composition of the plugs may be of sufficient structural integrity so that downhole pressures and temperatures do not cause the plugs to deform and pass through the holes 14. The plugs may be constructed of plastic, rubber, steel, neoprene plastics, rubber coated steel, or any other material known to persons of skill.
Therefore, the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned as well as those that are inherent therein. While the invention has been depicted and described with reference to embodiments of the invention, such a reference does not imply a limitation on the invention, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The invention is capable of considerable modification, alternation, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those ordinarily skilled in the pertinent arts and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of the invention are exemplary only, and are not exhaustive of the scope of the invention. Consequently, the invention is intended to be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims, giving full cognizance to equivalents in all respects.
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