Patent Application
20240328305
In the oil and gas industry, drilling is a crucial operation for ensuring the productivity of wells. There are a number of different types of completions which may be used. For example, well completions may include open hole completion, perforated liner completion, inflow control device (ICD) screen completion, and inflow control valve (ICV) completion. The completion type may vary and may be selected, for example, based on reservoir type or fluid produced budget. ICD screen completion is one of the most prevalently used completion types, with its main function being to control the water breakthrough to the well. Water breakthrough can kill or reduce the production potential of the well.
ICD completions have a number of potential problems. For example, in order for ICD completions to function as planned, the ICDs must open while installed in the wellbore. However, ensuring that the installed ICDs have opened is often costly, both in terms of monetary expenses and well downtime.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a system. The system may include a wellbore extending from a surface location to a formation and a wellbore fluid disposed within the wellbore. The system may also include a drilling rig installed at the surface location and one or more inflow control devices, each inflow control device comprising one or more unique tracer chemicals.
In another aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method. The method may include installing a drilling rig at a surface of a well, filling each of one or more inflow control devices with one or more unique tracer chemicals, and installing the one or more inflow control devices in a wellbore of the well. The method may also include performing an opening procedure on the one or more inflow control devices and performing, using the drilling rig, a bottom-up circulation procedure. The method may further include collecting a volume of wellbore fluid at the surface and analyzing the volume of wellbore fluid to determine which unique tracer chemicals are present in the volume.
Other aspects and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
Specific embodiments of the disclosed technology will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. The size and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not necessarily drawn to scale, and some of these elements may be arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility. Further, the particular shapes of the elements as drawn are not necessarily intended to convey any information regarding the actual shape of the particular elements and have been solely selected for ease of recognition in the drawing.
In the following detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.
Throughout the application, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third, etc.) may be used as an adjective for an element (i.e., any noun in the application). The use of ordinal numbers is not to imply or create any particular ordering of the elements nor to limit any element to being only a single element unless expressly disclosed, such as using the terms “before”, “after”, “single”, and other such terminology. Rather, the use of ordinal numbers is to distinguish between the elements. By way of an example, a first element is distinct from a second element, and the first element may encompass more than one element and succeed (or precede) the second element in an ordering of elements.
In the following description of
Further, embodiments disclosed herein are described with terms designating a rig site in reference to a land rig, but any terms designating rig type should not be deemed to limit the scope of the disclosure. For example, embodiments of the disclosure may be used on an offshore rig and various rig sites, such as land/drilling rig and drilling vessel. It is to be further understood that the various embodiments described herein may be used in various stages of a well, such as rig site preparation, drilling, completion, abandonment etc., and in other environments, such as work-over rigs, fracking installation, well-testing installation, and oil and gas production installation, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments are described merely as examples of useful applications, which are not limited to any specific details of the embodiments herein.
In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods and systems for use in determining if deployed inflow control devices (ICD) within a wellbore have successfully opened. Specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a specialized inflow control device configured to contain a volume of a unique tracer chemical and to release the unique chemical tracer when the ICD opens according to operational needs.
Turning to
As well fluids are produced from the reservoir 211, the well fluids flow into the annulus 219. As the well fluids may contain water, a ratio of hydrocarbons (e.g., oil and/or gas) to water may vary throughout the lifetime of the well. To control an influx of water, one or more inflow control devices 300 may be provided in the production tubing 217. As the well fluids flow in the annulus 219, the produced well fluids may flow from the annulus 219 and into the production tubing 217 via the one or more inflow control devices 300.
In one or more embodiments, the completion well site 210 may also include a collection and analysis system 221 installed at the surface 214. The collection and analysis system 221 may be configured to collect a volume of the wellbore fluid from the wellbore 213 and to analyze the wellbore fluid.
Turning now to
The ICDs 300 may be opened when the rig conducts an ICD opening procedure.
Once opened, each ICD 300 may be configured to release one or more unique tracer chemicals into the wellbore fluid. The rig may perform a bottom-up circulation, where wellbore fluid, and any released unique tracer chemicals, are displaced to the surface 214. A volume of the displaced fluids may then be collected and analyzed using a collection and analysis system 221, shown in
Initially, a drilling rig may be installed at a surface 214 of a well 100, S402. One or more inflow control devices (ICDs) 300 may be provided at the surface 214. Each of the one or more ICDs 300 may be filled with one or more unique tracer chemicals, S404. The one or more tracer chemicals may be, for example, any chemical which does not dissolve or otherwise react with oil or water. Further, each of the one or more unique tracer chemicals may be designed on a case-by-case basis depending on field conditions (e.g., pressure or temperature).
The one or more ICDs 300 may be installed in a wellbore 213 of the well 100, S406. In one or more embodiments, the ICDs 300 may be spaced along the length of the wellbore 213, as shown in
A bottom-up circulation procedure may be performed using the drilling rig. S410. In one or more embodiments, performing a bottom-up circulation procedure may include displacing wellbore fluid from the wellbore 213. The wellbore fluid may be, for example, drilling mud. In one or more embodiments, the wellbore fluid may include each of the unique tracer chemicals released from the one or more ICDs 300. A volume of wellbore fluid may be collected at the surface 214, S412. In one or more embodiments, the volume of wellbore fluid may be collected by a collection and analysis system 221 installed at the surface 214. Once collected, the volume of wellbore fluid may be analyzed to determine which unique tracer chemicals are present in the volume, S414.
In one or more embodiments, the method may further include detecting which unique tracer chemicals are absent from the volume of wellbore fluid. As a result, it may be possible to identify which of the ICDs 300 did not open as intended. In response, a remedial action plan may be performed. A remedial action plan, for example, may include applying another differential pressure across the unopened ICDs by displacing fluid from the wellbore 213. A further step of the remedial action plan may include mechanically opening any unopened ICDs 300 using an ICD shifting tool, which may be run-in-hole.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide at least one of the following advantages. In commercially available systems, it is often difficult to ensure that ICDs installed within a wellbore have opened as intended. The opening of the ICDs is critical to controlling water breakthrough to the wellbore, which can kill or reduce production potential of the well. Currently available systems for checking ICD status involve mechanical intervention post rig operation or after flowing the well. Both of these options necessarily require large time losses, which are expensive and lead to unplanned production rate reductions. Embodiments of the present disclosure allow for confirmation that installed ICDs have opened according to the operational plan. Further, embodiments of the present disclosure allow for a remedial action plan to be implemented to ensure all ICDs are open. Implementation of the embodiments described herein removes the need for the running in hole of mechanical tools to check each ICD individually. Further, a dramatic reduction in well downtime (in comparison to currently available systems) may be achieved.
Although only a few example embodiments have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the example embodiments without materially departing from this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims. In the claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus, although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures. It is the express intention of the applicant not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) for any limitations of any of the claims herein, except for those in which the claim expressly uses the words ‘means for’ together with an associated function.
