STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Disclosure
This invention relates generally to hydrocarbon exploration and production, and more specifically to the field of casing patches for wellbore casings.
Background of the Disclosure
Methods and apparatus utilized in the oil and gas industry enable patching of wellbore casing in a borehole to isolate damaged areas such as leaking connections, corroded or damaged areas, etc. Many examples of patching techniques exist including patents, such as UK Pat. No. GB2,525,830, owned by the assignee of the present invention. However, prior patching techniques may not be possible or desirable in some applications. Further, issues that present problems with some of these approaches may include the need to use a drill-string or a coiled tubing to enable resetting of the expansion tool for stroking the swage multiple times to complete the setting of the patch to the existing casing. In some cases, the most economical and desirable method of installation of patches in wellbore casings may be deploying and setting the patch utilizing a wireline. However, wireline may not have an adequate strength or weight for resetting of the expansion tool.
What is needed is a method and apparatus to allow repair of damaged wellbore casings in a single trip using an expansion device capable of deploying and fixing a casing patch utilizing a wireline. The method features setting a casing patch in a single stroke of the expander utilizing a dual expansion device system.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
These and other needs in the art may be addressed in embodiments by a system and method for installing a casing patch in a wellbore.
In accordance with the invention there is provided a casing patch system for installing a casing patch in a wellbore formed in an earth formation, the casing patch system comprising a base tubular comprising an internal diameter, and a first anchor/seal and a second anchor/seal coupled to the base tubular, wherein internal diameters of the first and the second anchor/seals are less than the internal diameter of the base tubular. Further, the casing patch system may comprise an expansion tool comprising a first expansion device and a second expansion device coupled to a shaft; a second expansion device positioned inside the base tubular between the first and second anchor/seals, and a distance between the first and second expansion devices selected such that upon expansion of the first anchor/seal by the first expansion device the second expansion device approximately engages the second anchor/seal; and a thruster coupled to a releasable support and the shaft, and the thruster is capable of providing a force necessary for expansion of the anchor/seals.
A casing patch is thereby achieved by positioning expansion devices as described above to minimize the expansion force due to sequential expansion and the length of the displacement necessary for setting the casing patch without resetting the thruster, instead of stroking the thruster multiple times as in previous efforts, which allows deployment and setting of the casing patch on a wireline.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the expansion device may comprise a dual swage system comprising a front swage and a back swage coupled to a shaft at a distance between them approximately equal to the length of the anchor/seal. The front swage has a diameter less than the diameter of the back swage. The swage diameters may be selected such that the expansion forces of the anchor/seal by the front and back swages may be approximately equal, resulting in significantly less expansion forces compared to the expansion force necessary for expanding an anchor/seal by a single swage. This may prevent localized buckling of the anchor/seals or base tubular in cases of high expansion ratios for setting anchor/seals to the well casing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic, partial view of one embodiment of a casing patch system shown in a run-in configuration.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the casing patch of the casing patch system shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the expansion tool of the system shown in FIG. 1.
FIGS. 4-6 illustrate the steps in assembling the casing patch system shown in FIG. 1.
FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate the steps in sequential expansion of the anchor/seals of the system shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 9 illustrates a dual swage expansion device;
FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate the steps in expanding an anchor/seal by dual swage expansion device shown in FIG. 9;
FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the casing patch system with dual swage expansion devises;
FIG. 13 is a schematic view of hydraulically expandable casing patch system with dual swage expansion device.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a casing patch system 10 comprising a base tubular 11, which comprises a first anchor/seal 12 and a second anchor/seal 13; an expansion tool 30 (FIG. 3), which comprises a first expansion device 14 and a second expansion device 15, solidly attached to first shaft 16a and a second shaft 16b; a releasable support 17; a thruster 18; and a conduit 19. The thruster 18 may have multiple pressure chambers to provide a force necessary for radially expanding first anchor/seal 12 by the first expansion device 14 and then second anchor/seal 13 by the second expansion device 15. The releasable support 17 provides a reaction force necessary for expansion of first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13. The casing patch system 10 may be deployed in a well on conduit 19, which may be a wireline with a pressure pump to provide pressure for thruster 18, or alternatively on a coiled tubing or a drill pipe.
FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a casing patch 20 of the casing patch system 10. Casing patch 20 comprises base tubular 11 having an internal diameter 8 and an external diameter 26 as well as first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13. The first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 may have middle portions 22 with internal diameters 25 and 21, respectively, which are less than the internal diameter 8 of the base tubular 11. Further, first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 may comprise transition portions 23 with internal diameters tapered from internal diameter 8 to internal diameter 21 or 25 of the middle portions 22. One or more sealing/anchoring elements 24 may be coupled to the outside surface of the middle portions 22 of the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13. Outside diameters 31 and 32 of first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13, respectively, and external diameter 26 of the base tubular 11 may be less than the minimum internal diameter of a well casing (not illustrated) including restrictions such as nipples above the location for installation of a casing patch. Lengths 27 and 28 of the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 may each be defined as the lengths of the sections with internal diameters less than the internal diameter 8 of the base tubular 11. The first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 may be manufactured by swaging of the base tubular 11 or separately by machining or swaging and then connecting to the base tubular 11 by welding or by threaded connections at a distance 33 between them.
FIG. 3 illustrates schematically expansion tool 30 of the casing patch system 10. The tool 30 comprises the first expansion device 14 solidly connected to the shaft 16a, the second expansion device 15 solidly connected to both shaft 16a and a shaft 16b, the releasable support 17 slidably connected to the shaft 16b, the thruster 18, and conduit 19 connected to the thruster 18. The first expansion device 14 may be a conical device, such as a swage, with a front small diameter 38 approximately equal to the internal diameter 25 of the first anchor/seal 12, and a back large diameter 35 approximately equal to the internal diameter 8 of the base tubular 11. The second expansion device 15 may be a conical device, such as a swage, with a front small diameter 37 approximately equal to the internal diameter 21 of the second anchor/seal 13, and a back large diameter 36 approximately equal to the internal diameter 8 of the base tubular 11. The conduit 19 may be a wireline comprising an electric pump for providing pressure in the thruster 18. Alternatively, conduit 19 may be a drill pipe or a coiled tubing capable of providing pressure to the thruster 18. Alternatively, the thruster 18 may be an explosive device capable of providing necessary expansion force with a stroke not less than the combined distance of lengths 27 and 28 of first and second anchor seals 12 and 13, respectively. The first and second expansion devices 14 and 15 may be positioned at a distance 34 defined as a distance between the large diameters 35 and 36. The distance 34 between first and second expansion devices 14 and 15 may be selected to be approximately equal to the distance 33 between the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13, see FIG. 2, such that upon expansion of the first anchor/seal 12 by the first expansion device 14, the second expansion device 15 may engage the second anchor/seal 13.
FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 conceptually demonstrate one possible method of assembling casing patch system 10. In the first step, FIG. 4, the casing patch 20 comprises base tubular 11 with second anchor/seal 13. The second expansion device 15 is attached to first and second shafts 16a and 16b and positioned inside the base tubular 11. In the second step, FIG. 5, the first anchor/seal 12 is attached to the base tubular 11, and then the first expansion device 14 is attached to the first shaft 16a. Finally, in the third step, FIG. 6, the second shaft 16b is attached to the releasable support 17 and the thruster 18 completing the assembling of casing patch system 10.
In operation, the casing patch system 10, see FIG. 6, may be deployed into a wellbore on the conduit 19 to a desired location. Then, the thruster 18 is pressurized pulling the first and second expansion devices 14 and 15 towards the thruster 18. The expansion of the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 takes place sequentially; first, expansion of the first anchor/seal 12 by the first expansion device 14, see FIG. 7, bringing first anchor/seal 12 into interference contact with wellbore casing (not shown); and only afterwards, expansion of the second anchor/seal 13 by the second expansion device 15, see FIG. 8, bringing the second anchor/seal 13 into interference contact with wellbore casing (not shown) also. Then, the expansion tool 30 can be removed from the well by simply pulling it by the conduit 19. Providing that the length of the stroke of thruster 18 is not less than the sum of the lengths 27 and 28 of the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13, see FIG. 2, the setting of the casing patch 20 can be accomplished in one stroke of the thruster 18, which eliminates the need for resetting and re-anchoring the thruster 18. Also, the sequential expansion of the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 significantly reduces the expansion forces.
In some cases, a wellbore may have a restriction, which may have a diameter significantly less than the internal diameter of the casing, above where the casing patch 20 needs to be installed. This requires the use of first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 with internal diameters 25 and 21, respectively, that may be significantly less than the internal diameter 8 of the base tubular 11. In this scenario, first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 require a high degree of expansion, in some cases up to 70%, to be cladded to the wellbore casing. The high degree of expansion requires exceedingly high expansion forces if expanded with a single swage which may cause localized buckling of the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 or the base tubular 11 during seal expansion. FIG. 9 shows schematics of an alternative expansion device 40 which may overcome this limitation. The expansion device 40 comprises a shaft 48 and two swages: a front swage 47a and a rear swage 47b solidly attached to the shaft 48 and positioned at a distance 45, which may not be less than the length 27 of an anchor/seal 58. The front swage 47a has a diameter 42 which is smaller than the diameter 35 of rear swage 47b. The expansion device 40 expands anchor/seal 58 sequentially in two steps: first by front swage 47a, FIG. 10, expanding internal diameter 25 of the anchor/seal 58 to a diameter 57, which may be approximately equal to the diameter 42 of front swage 47a with expansion Force, Fa, and then by the rear swage 47b to an internal diameter 56, which may be approximately equal to the diameter 35 of rear swage 47b with expansion Force, Fb.
The diameter 35 of the rear swage 47b is selected to be substantially equal to the internal diameter 8 of the base tubular 11, and a small diameter 43 of rear swage 47b, which may be approximately equal to the large diameter 42 of the front swage 47a. A small diameter 41 of the front swage 47a may be approximately equal to the internal diameter 25 of the anchor/seal 58. To minimize expansion forces, the expansion force Fa for expanding anchor/seal 58 by front swage 47a should be approximately equal to the expansion force Fb for expanding anchor/seal 58 by the rear swage 47b. Equalization of forces Fa and Fb, depending on the properties of the anchor/seal material (e.g. strain hardening), may be achieved by selecting the ratio of the diameter 42 of front swage 47a to the diameter 35 of rear swage 47b in the range of 0.55 to 0.8.
FIG. 12 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a casing patch system 50, which is a modification of casing patch system 10 described above. The system 50 comprises base tubular 11 with first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 as well as an expansion tool 100 comprising a first double-swage expansion device 140 and a second double-swage expansion device 150. The first double-swage expansion device 140 may comprise a front swage 14a and a back swage 14b positioned at a distance 45a, which may be approximately equal to the length 27 of the first anchor/seal 12. The second double-swage expansion device 150 comprises a front swage 15a and a back swage 15b positioned at a distance 45b, which may be approximately equal to the length 28 of the second anchor/seal 13. A distance 34a between the first and the second expansion devices 140 and 150 may be approximately equal to a length 33a of the base tubular 11 between the first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13 minus the distance 45a between front swage 14a and back swage 14b of the first expansion device 140. This allows sequential expansion of the first anchor/seal 12 and then the second anchor/seal 13 with the expansion forces significantly less compared to the expansion with the first and second expansion devices 14 and 15 with single swages and minimizes the length of the stroke for setting both first and second anchor/seals 12 and 13.
A double-swage expansion device may also be used for expanding one or more anchor/seals by pressure applied inside the base tubular 11 in the chamber below the expansion device. As discussed above, in the cases when the setting of the anchor/seals in the casing requires high expansion ratios, the expansion force in the case of expansion devices with a single swage may become exceedingly high in the sense that the pressure in the chamber necessary to generate this force may exceed the burst pressure of the base tubular 11. A double-swage expansion device may reduce expansion force and therefore necessary pressure due to sequential expansion of an anchor/seal first by a small swage and then by a larger swage. In another alternative embodiment, a casing patch system 60, see FIG. 13, comprises base tubular 11 with anchor/seal 68 and a shoe 61 threadably attached to the base tubular 11. An expansion tool comprises a double-swage expansion device 120 with a front swage 66 having diameter less than the diameter of a back swage 67. The front and back swages 66 and 67 may be solidly attached to a shaft 65 at the distance 45 not less than a length 46 of the anchor/seal 68. The back swage 67 may have a seal 62 creating a pressure chamber 63 between the shoe 61 and the back swage 67. Both front and back swages 66 and 67 and the shaft 65 have a liquid passage to communicate pressurized liquid from a conduit 64 to the pressure chamber 63. As discussed above, swage diameters may be selected such that pressure for expanding anchor/seal 68 by front swage 66 and by the back swage 67 may be equal to minimize pressure necessary for setting anchor/seal 68 in the well casing (not illustrated). Thus, casing patch system 60 may be deployed and set to the well casing by using a wireline with an electric pressure pump, or alternatively on a coiled tubing or a drill pipe providing pressure from the surface, even in the cases requiring high degrees of anchor/seal expansion, which is currently unachievable.
Upon application of pressure, the anchor/seal 68 is expanded first by the front swage 66 and then by the back swage 67 significantly reducing the pressure necessary for setting anchor/seal 68 in the well casing compared to a single swage system.
Although the expansion devices illustrated in FIGS. 9-13 have two swages, the expansion devices may have any number of swages without departing from the principles of the present invention. For instance, the expansion devices may have three swages, each having a front swage with a diameter less than a middle swage and a back swage with a diameter larger than the front and middle swages. Also, the casing patch system 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 may be reconfigured by positioning the second expansion device 15 in the vicinity of the second anchor/seal 13 and the first expansion device 14 below the first anchor/seal 12 at the distance approximately equal to the length 28 (FIG. 2) of the second anchor/seal 13. In this configuration upon stroking of the thruster 18, the second anchor/seal 13 may be initially expanded and then the first anchor/seal 12 may also be expanded, reducing expansion force and minimizing the length of the stroke of thruster 18.
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Patent Grant
10837264
