In the oilfield, the term “fish” is used to describe any item left in a wellbore. In some cases, fish may specifically refer to any item left in the wellbore that impedes further operations in the wellbore. During drilling operations, fish could be a drill string or parts of a drill string, such a drill pipe, drill collar, drill bit, logging tool, and other such items. The fish may be a result of the drill string experiencing mechanical sticking or mechanical failure during a drilling operation.
When there is a fish in a wellbore, a fishing operation may be carried out to remove the fish from the wellbore. Tubular fish, such as a pipe, may be retrieved from the wellbore using catch-type fishing tools such as overshots and spears. Overshots are external catch tools that engage the outer diameter of the fish, while spears are internal catch tools that engage the inner diameter of the fish. Overshots and spears have slip mechanisms, such as a grapple, to grip the fish. Once the fish is caught, force can be applied to the fish to release the fish from a stuck position, allowing the fish to be removed from the wellbore.
In some cases, a tubular fish may have exposed connection threads that allow a conventional drill pipe or screw-in sub to be used as a fishing tool. However, if the fish is misaligned in the wellbore due to the well conditions or fish position, it may not be possible to successfully connect to the fish and retrieve the fish using the drill pipe or screw-in sub.
In a first summary example, a method of retrieving a fish from a wellbore includes preparing a fishing assembly including a magnetized pipe coupled to an end of a work string. The method includes running the fishing assembly into a wellbore containing a target fish. The magnetized pipe is positioned at an effective position in which a first threaded end of the target fish is aligned with a second threaded end of the magnetized pipe by magnetic attraction between the magnetized pipe and the target fish. A threaded connection between the first threaded end of the target fish and the second threaded end of the magnetized pipe is made up. The fishing assembly with the attached target fish is then retrieved from the wellbore to a surface location.
The threaded connection may be made up between the first and second threaded ends by inserting a pin of the second threaded end into a box of the first threaded end. The threaded connection may be made up by running the fishing assembly into the wellbore while rotating the fishing assembly relative to the target fish and until the second threaded end of the magnetized pipe is fully engaged with the first threaded end of the target fish. A predetermined torque may be applied to the threaded connection after the first and second threaded ends are fully engaged.
The method may include releasing the target fish from a stuck point in the wellbore after making up the threaded connection between the first and second threaded ends. The target fish may be released from the stuck position by applying a force to the target fish. The target fish may be released from the stuck position by pumping fluid through the fishing assembly and fish into the wellbore while applying the force to the target fish. The force may be applied to the target fish by operating one or more jars coupled between the magnetized pipe and the work string.
The method may include determining a stuck point in a drill string deployed in the wellbore prior to running the fishing assembly into the wellbore. The method may include parting the drill string above the stuck point, removing an upper part of the drill string from the wellbore, and leaving a lower part of the drill string in the wellbore as the target fish. The method may include parting the drill string by a back-off process that leaves the target fish with the first threaded end.
The method may include pumping a fluid through the fishing assembly into the wellbore prior to positioning the magnetized pipe at the effective position.
In a second summary example, an apparatus for retrieving a fish from a wellbore includes one or more pipes connected to form a work string and a magnetized pipe coupled to an end of the work string. The magnetized pipe has a threaded end for threaded engagement with a target fish in a wellbore.
The threaded end may include a threaded pin. The magnetized pipe may include a magnetized drill pipe. Alternatively, the magnetized pipe may include a magnetized screw-in sub. The apparatus may include at least one jar coupled between the end of the work string and the magnetized pipe. The jar may be operated to deliver an impact load to the target fish in the wellbore. The apparatus may include a stabilizer coupled to the magnetized pipe. The stabilizer may centralize the magnetized pipe within the wellbore. The apparatus may include at least one pipe protector disposed around an outer diameter of the magnetized pipe. The pipe protector may act as a spacer between the magnetized pipe and a wall of the wellbore with the target fish.
In a third summary example, a system for retrieving a fish from a wellbore includes a wellbore containing a tubular fish having a first threaded end exposed and a fishing assembly movably suspended in the wellbore. The fishing assembly includes one or more pipes connected to form a work string and a magnetized pipe coupled to an end of the work string. The magnetized pipe has a second threaded end to engage the first threaded end. The magnetized pipe is to be positioned proximate to the tubular fish to magnetically align the first threaded end with the second threaded end and to screw into the tubular fish.
The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary of the invention and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.
The following is a description of the figures in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elements or acts. The sizes 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, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosed implementations and embodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that implementations and embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, related well known features or processes have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the implementations and embodiments. For the sake of continuity, and in the interest of conciseness, same or similar reference characters may be used for same or similar objects in multiple figures.
The disclosure relates to retrieval of a drill string from a wellbore when the drill string, or a portion thereof, is left in the wellbore as a fish. A screw-in fishing tool that can magnetically align a fish with itself and screw into the fish is described. Two example scenarios in which the screw-in fishing tool may be used are described. In one of the scenarios, the drill string is stuck in the wellbore. In the other scenario, the drill string has parted unintentionally in the wellbore. However, the screw-in fishing tool is not restricted to retrieval of a drill string and may be used whenever it is possible to retrieve a fish by screwing into the fish.
In an alternative screw-in fishing tool 100′ shown in
In some cases, a magnetized pipe may have multiple magnetized pipe pieces to allow better control of its overall magnetic strength. In the alternative screw-in fishing tool 100″ shown in
To form the magnetized pipe, a pipe preform fabricated using ferromagnetic material, such as steel, or other magnetizable material suitable for downhole environments and able to carry weight is obtained. The pipe preform may be a conventional drill pipe, a screw-in sub, or other type of pipe suitable for use downhole. The pipe preform is then magnetized using any effective method, such as stroking the pipe with a magnet in a direction along an axial axis of the pipe; hanging the pipe vertically and repeatedly hammering one end of the pipe, optionally followed by heating the pipe; or inducing a magnetic field in the pipe with electrical current. Preferably, the pipe reaches full magnetic saturation during the magnetization process. Preferably, the magnetized pipe has sufficient magnetic strength to pull an end of a target fish in a wellbore into alignment with an axial axis of the magnetized pipe. For the multi-piece magnetized pipe, multiple pipe preforms are fabricated, magnetized, and then assembled to form a single magnetized pipe.
To use the screw-in fishing tool in a retrieval procedure, the screw-in fishing tool is incorporated into a fishing assembly. Any of the variants of the screw-in fishing tool shown in
In the illustrated example shown in
When running fishing assembly 110 through a cased section of a wellbore, there is the possibility of screw-in fishing tool 100 magnetically latching onto the casing in the wellbore, resulting in decentering of fishing assembly 110 in the wellbore. To keep fishing assembly 110 in the center of the wellbore, one or more stabilizers may be incorporated in fishing assembly 110.
In the particular scenario shown in
The method includes backing off the drill string above the stuck point (195). The drill string includes components that are connected together by threaded joints. Back-off is an operation that is performed to part a drill string at a threaded joint. The operation may include loosening the selected threaded joint using a prima cord explosive that is run on an electric wireline and applying a back-off torque to the drill string to unscrew the drill string at the loosened threaded joint. The back-off operation will leave an upper part of the drill string that is suspended from the surface and a lower part of the drill string that is separated from the upper part of the drill string.
The method includes retrieving the upper part of the drill string using normal procedures for tripping out a drill string (200). This will leave the lower part of the drill string in the wellbore as a fish.
Upon retrieving drill string part 170b to the surface, the method includes determining if screw-in fishing is possible for the fish in the wellbore (205 in
If the threaded connection of the fish is determined to be in a good condition, the method includes preparing the fishing assembly by coupling the screw-in fishing tool to a work string (210 in
The method includes running the fishing assembly into the wellbore. Joints of drill pipe may be added to the work string as the fishing assembly is run into the wellbore to enable the fishing assembly to reach the desired depth in the wellbore. Running the fishing assembly into the wellbore means continuously lowering the fishing assembly into the wellbore and towards the fish. The screw-in fishing tool will be at the bottom of the fishing assembly.
When the fishing assembly is at a predetermined distance from the fish, the method includes commencing pumping of fluid through the screw-in fishing tool (220 in
The method includes continuing running of the fishing assembly until the bottom end of the screw-in fishing tool is in close proximity to the top end of the fish, e.g., within 1 ft of the fish or within a distance in which the top end of the fish will be under the influence of the magnetic field of the magnetized pipe of the screw-in fishing tool. An attempt may be made to tap the screw-in fishing tool against the top end of the fish. The screw-in fishing tool is held in close proximity to the top of the fish, i.e., running of the fishing assembly is paused, for a period of time sufficient to allow the top end of the fish to align with the bottom end of the screw-in fishing tool magnetic attraction (225 in
The method includes screwing the screw-in fishing tool into the fish (230 in
With the connection between the fish and screw-in fishing tool fully made up, force is applied to the fish to release the fish from the stuck point (235 in
The method includes retrieving fishing assembly 110 with fish 170a attached to the screw-in fishing tool 100 to the surface (240 in
In the case of a drill string that is backed-off unintentionally, the retrieval process can be achieved in acts 200 to 240 of
The detailed description along with the summary and abstract are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the embodiments to the precise forms described. Although specific embodiments, implementations, and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, as will be recognized by those skilled in the relevant art.
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International Search Report and Written Opinion issued in Application No. PCT/US2020/047367, dated Feb. 17, 2021 (13 pages). |