Patent Application
20240183231
Aspects of the present disclosure relate to a casing shoe assembly configured to direct a drill string for drilling multiple wellbores through the casing shoe.
As the cost of wellbore drilling continues to rise, operators are continuously seeking cost saving tools and methods. One such method is to drill as many wellbores as possible within a given limited drilling area. However, existing systems are inadequate in their ability to place drill strings and/or casing strings in a safe way where multiple and robust wellbores can be drilled within a small drilling area during drilling operations.
Therefore, there is a continuous need for new and/or improved tools and methods for wellbore drilling.
In one embodiment, a casing shoe assembly comprises an outer housing; an inner body at least partially disposed within the outer housing and formed out of a drillable material, the inner body comprising a bore formed through the inner body; a check valve assembly disposed within the bore of the inner body and configured to allow fluid flow in one direction and prevent fluid flow in the opposite direction; a guide plate disposed within the outer housing above the inner body having a plurality of wellbore openings formed through the guide plate and a separate opening formed through the guide plate to provide fluid flow into the bore formed through the inner body; and a wellbore guide located below each wellbore opening of the guide plate and within a hole formed in the inner body, wherein each wellbore guide and each hole does not extend through the entire inner body.
In one embodiment, a method of drilling a wellbore comprises lowering a casing string comprising a casing shoe assembly into a primary wellbore, wherein the casing shoe assembly comprises: an outer housing; an inner body at least partially disposed within the outer housing and formed out of a drillable material, the inner body comprising a bore formed through the inner body; a check valve assembly disposed within the bore of the inner body and configured to allow fluid flow in one direction and prevent fluid flow in the opposite direction; a guide plate disposed within the outer housing above the inner body having a plurality of wellbore openings formed through the guide plate and a separate opening formed through the guide plate to provide fluid flow into the bore formed through the inner body; and a wellbore guide located below each wellbore opening of the guide plate and within a hole formed in the inner body, wherein each wellbore guide and each hole does not extend through the entire inner body; cementing the casing string in the primary wellbore by flowing cement through the casing string, through the bore of the inner body, and out of the casing shoe assembly into the primary wellbore; lowering a drill string through the casing string; directing the drill string into one of the plurality of wellbore openings of the guide plate and through the wellbore guide located below the wellbore opening; drilling through the inner body and out of the casing shoe assembly to drill a first wellbore below the primary wellbore; lowering the same or a different drill string through the casing string; directing the same or the different drill string into one of the other plurality of wellbore openings of the guide plate and through the wellbore guide located below the wellbore opening; and drilling through the inner body and out of the casing shoe assembly to drill a second wellbore below the primary wellbore.
So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.
The disclosure contemplates that terms such as “couples,” “coupling,” “couple,” and “coupled” may include but are not limited to welding, interference fitting, and/or fastening such as by using bolts, threaded connections, pins, clips, and/or screws. The disclosure contemplates that terms such as “couples,” “coupling,” “couple,” and “coupled” may include but are not limited to integrally forming. The disclosure contemplates that terms such as “couples,” “coupling,” “couple,” and “coupled” may include but are not limited to direct coupling and/or indirect coupling, such as indirect coupling through components such as links.
The casing shoe assembly 100 is configured to be coupled to an end of a casing string, lowered into a primary wellbore, and cemented within the primary wellbore. The casing shoe assembly 100 is configured to facilitate the drilling of multiple, uniformly spaced wellbores through the casing shoe assembly 100 as further described below.
With references to
The casing shoe assembly 100 further comprises a wellbore guide plate 30 disposed within the bore 11 of the outer housing 10 and positioned on an upper end of the inner body 20. The wellbore guide plate 30 has a first opening 31, a second opening 32, and a third opening 33 formed through the wellbore guide plate 30. Although three openings are shown, the wellbore guide plate 30 can have any number of openings. The openings 31, 32, 33 are uniformly and symmetrically spaced relative to each other but alternatively can be spaced in other orientations.
A first wellbore guide 34, a second wellbore guide 35, and a third wellbore guide 36 are disposed within the bore 11 of the outer housing 10 below the wellbore guide plate 30. The wellbore guides 34, 35, 36 are in the form of hollow cylindrical sleeves that are positioned in holes 37, 38, 39 formed in the inner body 20. The wellbore guides 34, 35, 36 and the holes 37, 38, 39 do not extend through the entire inner body 20. The wellbore guides 34, 35, 36 and the holes 37, 38, 39 are in alignment with and extend below one of the openings 31, 32, 33 of the wellbore guide plate 30.
The wellbore guide plate 30 has a separate opening 42 that is in alignment with the bore 26 that extends through the inner body 20. An optional receiver sub 40 and an optional inner flow sleeve 41 are disposed within the bore 26 of the inner body 20 below the wellbore guide plate 30. The receiver sub 40 may be coupled to the inner body 20, the inner flow sleeve 41, and/or the wellbore guide plate 30.
A check valve assembly 50 is also disposed within the bore 26 of the inner body 20 below the inner flow sleeve 41. The check valve assembly 50 comprises one or more check valves 55 configured to allow fluid flow in one direction through the bore 26 of the inner body 20 and out of the bull nose 25, and prevent fluid flow in the opposite direction back up through the bore 26 from the bull nose 25. The check valves 55 may be coupled to the inner body 20 and/or disposed within recessed portions formed in the bore 26 of the inner body 20.
Each check valve 55 comprises a valve member 56, a valve seat 57, a valve guide 58, and a biasing member 59. The biasing member 59 biases the check valve 55 into a closed position where a plunger portion 60 of the valve member 56 is in sealing engagement with the valve seat 57. The biasing member 59 is positioned between the plunger portion 60 and the valve guide 58. A stem portion 61 of the valve member 56 extends through the valve guide 58. The valve guide 58 also abuts up against and supports a lower end of the valve seat 57. The upper end of the valve seat 57 abuts up against a lower end of the inner sleeve 41. A spacer ring 62 can be positioned between adjacent check valves 55 to support the ends of the check valves 55. Although only one check valve 55 is needed to prevent fluid flow back up through the bore 26 from the bull nose 25, two, three, four, or more check valves 55 may be used as backup valves in the event of failure of the other check valves 55.
With reference to
The fluid 120 is pumped at a pressure sufficient to move the check valves 55 from the closed positon to the open position against the bias force of the biasing members 59. The check valve assembly 50 allows the fluid 120 to flow through the bore 26 of the inner body 20 and out of the bull nose 25, and prevents the fluid 120 and/or any other fluid in the primary wellbore 200 from flowing up into the bore 26 from the bull nose 25. When the casing string 110 and the casing shoe assembly 100 are in the desired location, the fluid 120 can be cement that is pumped down through the casing shoe assembly 100 and into the primary wellbore 200 to cement the casing string 110 and the casing shoe assembly 100 in the primary wellbore 200.
With reference to
A fluid 125 can be pumped down through the drill string 210 and circulated back up to the surface through the casing string 110. The fluid 125 can flow up through the portion of the inner body 20 of the casing shoe assembly 100 that was drilled through by the drill string 210. When the first wellbore 220 has been drilled, the drill string 210 can be removed and a casing string 130 (illustrated in
With reference to
A fluid 135 can be pumped down through the drill string 230 and circulated back up to the surface through the casing string 110. The fluid 135 can flow up through the portion of the inner body 20 of the casing shoe assembly 100 that was drilled through by the drill string 230. When the second wellbore 240 has been drilled, the drill string 230 can be removed and another casing string can be subsequently lowered and cemented in the second wellbore 240. Alternatively, the drill string 230 can be a casing string that is used to drill the second wellbore 240 and cemented in place in a single trip without having to remove any drill/casing string from the second wellbore 240.
The method described with respect to
Any one or more components of the casing shoe assembly 100 may be integrally formed together, directly coupled together, and/or indirectly coupled together, and are not limited to the specific arrangement of components illustrated in
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the preceding embodiments are exemplary and not limiting. It is intended that all modifications, permutations, enhancements, equivalents, and improvements thereto that are apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings are included within the scope of the disclosure. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims may include all such modifications, permutations, enhancements, equivalents, and improvements. The disclosure also contemplates that one or more aspects of the embodiments described herein may be substituted in for one or more of the other aspects described. The scope of the disclosure is determined by the claims that follow.
This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/430,550, filed Dec. 6, 2022, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63430550 | Dec 2022 | US |
