This application claims priority to EP Patent Application No. 16176632.4 filed Jun. 28, 2016, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to a downhole drilling method for drilling a well in a formation having a formation pressure. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a downhole drilling system for performing the downhole drilling method according to the present invention and to a downhole completion system.
When drilling a new borehole or sidetrack in an existing well, the drilling head may drill into a low pressure zone, resulting in a loss of pressure. This means that the mud entered into the hole while drilling to prevent a blowout is lost in the low pressure zone, and there will be a substantial risk of a blowout if the drilling is continued. Cementing and thus sealing part of the annulus above the low pressure zone are also impossible, since the injected cement is lost as it disappears into the low pressure zone, and it can thus be very difficult to seal off the borehole/well in a manner safe enough to abandon the well.
It is an object of the present invention to wholly or partly overcome the above disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art. More specifically, it is an object to provide an improved downhole drilling system which is able to prevent a blowout if the drilling system drills into a low pressure zone.
Furthermore, it is an object to provide an improved downhole completion system which can be deployed longer into the formation or more easily than known completion systems while still being able to prevent blowouts.
The above objects, together with numerous other objects, advantages and features, which will become evident from the below description, are accomplished by a solution in accordance with the present invention by a downhole drilling method for drilling a well in a formation having a formation pressure, comprising:
Separating the first part and the second part may be performed by disconnecting the second part from the first part by activating a disconnecting unit.
Furthermore, the activation of the disconnecting unit may be performed by bursting a burst disc of the disconnecting unit by further pressurising the drill string until reaching a predetermined pressure which is larger than an expansion pressure required for expanding the expandable metal sleeve.
In addition, the step of pulling the second part may be performed by pulling the second part partly away from the first part, then injecting cement through the second part into the borehole above the first part, and subsequently pulling the second part out of the borehole.
Moreover, the method may comprise abandoning the borehole to drill a new borehole offset the borehole.
The present invention furthermore relates to a downhole drilling system for performing the downhole drilling method according to the present invention for drilling a borehole of a well in a formation having a formation pressure, comprising:
Furthermore, the disconnecting unit may be mounted as part of the drill string.
Also, the disconnecting unit may comprise a burst disc configured to burst at a predetermined pressure.
Moreover, the predetermined pressure may be larger than an expansion pressure required for expanding the expandable metal sleeve.
Additionally, the drill string may be an assembly of drill pipes.
Furthermore, the drill pipes may have an outer diameter and a wall thickness of at least 10% of the outer diameter.
The drill casing string may be an assembly of casing sections having a larger outer diameter than the drill pipe.
Also, the annular space between the inner face of the expandable metal sleeve and the tubular metal part may have a distance in the radial extension in an unexpanded condition, the distance being larger than 1.5 cm.
Moreover, the downhole drilling system may further comprise a pressurising device configured to pressurise the drill string.
The present invention also relates to a downhole completion system for permanently completing a well having a borehole in a formation having a formation pressure, the downhole completion system comprising:
By having an expandable metal sleeve arranged circumferenting and fastened to the casing string, the casing string is more rigid, and therefore it is possible to drill using such casing string with annular barriers having expandable metal sleeves.
By being able to drill with the casing string due to the casing string being more rigid than known strings, the completion system can be deployed further into the formation as the casing string is not stuck when being deployed in an already drilled borehole, since the drilling head is leading the way. Furthermore, isolation of production zones is very easily performed by just dropping a ball and pressurising the casing string from the top of the well.
Furthermore, by having a ball seat below the annular barrier closest to the drilling head, several annular barriers can be expanded substantially simultaneously by pressurising the casing string from above or from surface.
Moreover, the second part may be disconnected from the first part.
The downhole completion system as described above may further comprise a production casing for prolonging the casing string to a top of the well.
Said downhole completion system as described above may further comprise an inflow control section arranged between two annular barriers of the first part and/or the second part.
In addition, the downhole completion system as described above may further comprise a disconnecting unit configured to disconnect the second part from the first part.
The downhole drilling system may further comprise a detecting unit arranged at a top of the well.
Also, the tubular metal part may have a first expansion opening, the expandable metal sleeve being configured to expand by injecting pressurised fluid into the annular space through the first expansion opening.
Moreover, the annular space between the inner face of the expandable metal sleeve and the tubular metal part may have a distance in an unexpanded condition, the distance being larger than 1.5 cm.
Further, the expandable metal sleeve may be partly or fully made of metal.
In addition, the first part of the drill pipe may comprise two or more annular barriers.
Furthermore, the downhole drilling system may further comprise a pulling arrangement at the top of the well, the pulling arrangement being configured to pull the second part of the drill string.
Moreover, the downhole drilling system may further comprise a pressurising device configured to pressurise the casing string.
Further, the first part may be mounted from casing sections and the second part may be mounted from drill pipe sections.
The present invention also relates to a downhole drilling method for drilling a well in a formation having a formation pressure, comprising:
Moreover, the expandable metal sleeves of the annular barriers may be expanded substantially simultaneously.
The downhole drilling method as described above may further comprise disconnecting the second part from the first part.
Also, the downhole drilling method as described above may further comprise inserting a production casing for prolonging the casing string to a top of the well.
Finally, the downhole drilling system may further comprise a ball to be dropped into the drill string.
The invention and its many advantages will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, which for the purpose of illustration show some non-limiting embodiments and in which
All the figures are highly schematic and not necessarily to scale, and they show only those parts which are necessary in order to elucidate the invention, other parts being omitted or merely suggested.
The downhole drilling system 100 further comprises a disconnecting unit 21 configured to disconnect the second part 6 from the first part 5 after the annular barrier has been expanded. When the annular barrier has been expanded and the low pressure zone 101 sealed off, the disconnecting unit 21 is activated, e.g. by mud pulsing, increasing the pressure or by dropping a second ball having a larger diameter seating in the disconnecting unit 21. The disconnecting unit 21 may comprise a slot 35 and a pin 34 engaging the slot 35, as shown in
The drill string of
Furthermore, the tool may be a drilling tool drilling at least one hole 26 in the drill string so that cement can be injected from within the drill string out through the hole and into the borehole between the drill string and the borehole wall before the second part of the drill string is disconnected from the first part. In another not shown aspect, the drill string comprises a disconnecting unit 21 connected between the first part 5 and the second part 6 and being arranged above the holes 26.
The annular barrier 10 of
The drill string is an assembly of drill pipes, and the drill pipes have an outer diameter ODd and a wall thickness td of at least 10% of the outer diameter so as to transfer rotational force while drilling. The downhole drilling system 100 shown in
As can be seen in
In order to pull the second part 6 out of the well 2, the downhole drilling system 100 further comprises a pulling arrangement at the top of the well. Furthermore, the downhole drilling system 100 further comprises a pressurising device 31 configured to pressurise the drill string, as shown in
Furthermore, by having a ball seat 20 below the annular barrier 10 closest to the drilling head 9, several annular barriers 10 can be expanded substantially simultaneously by dropping a ball 32 and pressurising the casing string 1A from above, the top 30 or from surface, as shown in
When the drilling head cannot drill any further or has reached its final destination, a ball is dropped and the inside of the casing string is expanded to expand the expandable metal sleeves of the annular barriers. Hereby, the annular barriers 10 isolate a production zone 102, and production of hydro-carbon-containing fluid can easily be initiated by opening an inflow section arranged therebetween or by providing openings by perforating the casing string between the annular barriers. The annular barriers may be expanded via an expansion unit 58 (shown in
The second part 6 of the casing string is disconnected from the first part 5 by means of a connecting unit 21. After the annular barriers have been expanded, the second part 6 is disconnected from the first part, and a production casing 55 is inserted for prolonging the casing string to a top 30 of the well. The production casing 55 is inserted into the intermediate casing 57 and fastened by means of packers 56 as shown in
Even though not shown, the downhole completion system may further comprise an inflow control section arranged between two annular barriers of the first part or arranged in a second production casing inserted into the casing string as an inner string.
The annular barriers are expanded when it has been detected that the drilling operation has stopped, the drilling head is stuck or the pressure suddenly drops significantly so that the drilling mud is lost. Such detection may be performed by a detecting unit 24 arranged at a top 30 of the well. In order to pressurise the casing string, the downhole completion system further comprises a pressurising device 31 arranged in the top of the well.
Thus, the invention also relates to a downhole drilling method for drilling and completing a well 2 in a formation 4 having a formation pressure. The drilling method comprises providing the casing string 1A with a first part 5 and a second part 6, where the second part is arranged closer to a top 30 of the well than the first part, and the first part has a drilling head 9 in a first end 7 and at least two annular barriers 10 arranged closer to the top of the well than the drilling head. Then the borehole is drilled by means of the drilling head, and it is detected that the drilling has stopped or that the formation pressure is too low to continue drilling. The drilling is then stopped by stopping rotation of the drilling head and a ball 32 is dropped into the casing string. The casing string is pressurised until the ball reaches a ball seat 20 arranged opposite or below (as shown in
In order to insert a production casing in the top of the well, the second part may be disconnected from the first part and a production casing 55 is inserted for prolonging the casing string to the top of the well. Then, a packer 56 is set between the production casing and the intermediate casing 57.
Even though not shown, the first part of the casing string is mounted from casings sections, and the second part may be mounted from the drill pipe.
By fluid or well fluid is meant any kind of fluid that may be present in oil or gas wells downhole, such as natural gas, oil, oil mud, crude oil, water, etc. By gas is meant any kind of gas composition present in a well, completion, or open hole, and by oil is meant any kind of oil composition, such as crude oil, an oil-containing fluid, etc. Gas, oil, and water fluids may thus all comprise other elements or substances than gas, oil, and/or water, respectively.
By a casing is meant any kind of pipe, tubing, tubular, liner, string etc. used downhole in relation to oil or natural gas production.
Although the invention has been described in the above in connection with preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be evident for a person skilled in the art that several modifications are conceivable without departing from the invention as defined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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16176632 | Jun 2016 | EP | regional |
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Entry |
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Extended Search Report for EP16176632.4 dated Dec. 13, 2016, 9 pages. |
Invitation to Pay Additional Fees with Partial International Search Report dated Sep. 26, 2017 in International Application No. PCT/EP2017/065754 (13 pages). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20170370179 A1 | Dec 2017 | US |