Patent Grant
7441595
The present invention relates generally to the formation of lateral passages from a wellbore into a subsurface earth formation to facilitate enhancement of the production of material such as oil, natural gas or minerals from the formation. More particularly, the present invention concerns a method and apparatus for forming a plurality of lateral passages from a wellbore into a subsurface formation through the use of a single-run passage forming tool. Even more particularly, the present invention involves the use of a downhole tool having an indexing capability to establish precise radial orientation and vertical location of lateral passages that are formed into a subsurface formation from a wellbore.
The terms “lateral passages or lateral bores”, as used herein, is employed to describe a plurality of lateral passages that extend from a wellbore into a subsurface earth formation of interest. It is not intended that this term be restricted solely to a rotary boring or drilling operation. Rather, it is intended that the terms “lateral or radial bores” and “lateral or radial passages” be considered synonymous. The term “bore” is intended to encompass any method of forming a passage in an earth formation extending laterally or radially from a wellbore. For example, lateral or radial passages are presently formed in subsurface earth formation by hydraulic jet blasting, radial drilling, such as by using a drilling system powered by a hydraulic motor. The terms “lateral” or “radial” are intended to identify passages that extend from a wellbore into an earth formation whether they are oriented in normal relation with the wellbore or extend upwardly or downwardly in relation to their intersection with the wellbore.
For the production of fluid, such as crude oil or minerals from wells intersecting subsurface production formations, the formation of multilateral passages from a main or principal, typically vertical wellbore has been accomplished by rotary drilling or reaming as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,880,067, 4,928,767 and RE. 33,660 of Jelsma, or by hydraulic jet blasting as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,853,056 and 6,125,949 of Landers and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,263,948 and 6,668,948 of Buckman et al. Other related inventions from the standpoint of radial or lateral formation of passages extending from a primary well are presented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,497,381, 4,527,639 and 4,787,465 of Dickenson et al, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,640,362, 4,765,173 and 4,790,384 of Schellstede et al.
Though the prior art includes a number of devices and methods for forming lateral passages in a subsurface production formation, the lateral passages are typically formed individually, each lateral passage typically requires an individual run of one or more tools for forming openings or windows in the casing, milling away one or more sections of casing and for forming multiple lateral passages. Thus, for a well having multiple lateral passages it has been necessary to run window cutting and passage forming tools into the well a number of times, i.e., once for each lateral passage. This of course minimizes the productivity of the lateral passage forming procedure and adds significantly to the cost of forming multiple lateral passages from wells. No systems are currently known that permit a number of lateral passages to be formed in a subsurface formation from a wellbore by running a lateral passage forming tool into a well only one time. It is desired therefore to provide a lateral passage forming system that has the capability of being run into a well one time and being actuated to form any desired number of lateral passages, without having to retrieve and re-run the lateral passage forming system between each passage forming procedure.
The term “lateral bores”, as used herein, is employed to describe a plurality of lateral passages that extend from a wellbore into a subsurface earth formation of interest. It is not intended that this term be restricted solely to a rotary boring or drilling operation. Rather, it is intended that the terms “lateral or radial bores” and “lateral or radial passages” be considered synonymous. The term “bore” is intended to encompass any method of forming a passage in an earth formation extending laterally or radially from a wellbore. For example, lateral or radial passages are presently formed in subsurface earth formations by radial drilling, motor drilling, such as maybe powered by a hydraulically energized rotary motor, or by hydraulic means such as hydraulic jet blasting. The terms “lateral” or “radial” are intended to identify passages that extend from a wellbore into an earth formation whether they are oriented in normal relation with the wellbore or extend upwardly or downwardly into the formation in relation to their intersection with or extension from the wellbore. The term “fluid” as used herein is intended to mean any liquid, vapor, steam, gas, chemical leaching agent or combination thereof that causes liberation of heavy oil or a mineral from a subsurface formation as a production fluid and prepares or stimulates it for transportation to the surface.
When lateral passages are formed in a subsurface formation, it is difficult to ensure desired orientation of each of an array of multiple lateral passages. Thus, when lateral passages are formed it is possible for them to be improperly oriented with respect to their desired location within the formation. When the wellbore from which the lateral passages are intended is located near an edge portion of the subsurface formation it is possible for one or more of the passages to be located in a non-productive part of the formation.
It is a principle feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multilateral passage forming method and apparatus wherein some or all of a plurality of lateral passages can be formed from a single wellbore or cased well during a single run of an indexing type passage forming tool.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multilateral passage forming method and apparatus that enables selective angular and vertical indexing in the downhole environment thus enabling lateral passages to be formed from a will and extended into a formation of interest without having to remove the passage forming tool from the well until a desired number of lateral passages have been formed.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multilateral passage forming method and apparatus that provides for simple and efficient accurate alignment of multiple lateral passages that extend into a subsurface formation of interest.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multiple lateral passage forming method and apparatus having a tool indexing system.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multilateral passage forming method and apparatus that provides a lateral passage forming system with the capability of being run into a well one time and being actuated to form any desired number of lateral passages, without having to retrieve and re-run the lateral passage forming system between each passage forming procedure.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multilateral passage forming method and apparatus for multiple lateral passage formation from a primary wellbore wherein the multiple lateral passages can be precisely angularly oriented according to a desired plan.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a novel type multilateral passage forming method and apparatus having an indexing capability thus permitting the tool to be initially oriented and set according to a desired azimuth and permitting precise indexing of the tool either rotationally, linearly or both between lateral passage forming operations so that each of the lateral passages of the resulting array of lateral passages is precisely oriented according to a desired plan.
Briefly, the various objects and features of the present invention are realized through the provision of an indexing mechanism which is capable of being set within a wellbore or casing. The indexing mechanism incorporates a lower section in the form of an orienting or setting tool which is set at the bottom of a wellbore or is set on a packer which is positioned at a selected location within a wellbore or casing. The indexing mechanism incorporates an upper section in the form of an indexing deflector body. The orienting or setting tool and indexing deflector body each define an annular array of indexing teeth or other suitable indexing geometry that establish engagement with one another to define a plurality of specific angular indexing positions, there typically being four or eight indexing positions throughout the 360° circumference of rotational movement of the setting tool. If desired, the indexing mechanism may be designed to achieve the formation of lateral passages that may have other desired angles of relative rotational positioning. This feature permits a plurality of lateral passages to be formed in a subsurface formation at in equally angularly spaced relation to one another. The indexing mechanism provides indexing control for a casing window or opening forming tool thus permitting a plurality of windows or openings to be cut or otherwise formed in the casing at predetermined locations for lateral passages.
The indexing mechanism provides for support and indexing control for a lateral passage forming tool which may be a hydro-motor driven rotary drill bit for drilling the lateral passages or a hydro-blasting or jetting tool for lateral passage forming by means of a hydro-blasting operation. The indexing mechanism incorporates an accurate reference which permits the indexing tool to be accurately positioned within a well. By accurate positioning of the indexing mechanism and with incremental indexing due to the geometry and dimension of the annular arrays of indexing teeth, all of the radial or laterally extending passages may be accurately oriented. This feature is especially valuable when the primary wellbore is located near the outer edge of a production formation.
A linear indexing mechanism may also be coupled with the rotational indexing tool, thus permitting selective linear indexing of the lateral passage forming tool within the wellbore or casing so that various lateral passages may be spaced along a section of the wellbore or casing and may be rotationally positioned for accurate positioning of the lateral passages. Thus the indexing mechanism of the present invention provides for linear as well as rotational indexing of a well service tool, such as for forming lateral passages in a subsurface formation at selected locations along an interval of the wellbore and for rotationally orienting the lateral passages with respect to a selected azimuth. A lateral passage forming operation may be conducted by running the indexing mechanism into a well with a passage forming tool in assembly therewith. After each lateral passage is completed, the indexing mechanism is actuated to separate the indexing teeth, thus permitting relative rotational movement of the indexing deflector body and setting tool. When rough rotational adjustment has been accomplished the annular arrays of indexing teeth are moved into intimate engagement, thus causing the engaging arrays of indexing teeth to establish precision location of the lateral passage forming tool. After all of the lateral passages have been formed, the indexing mechanism and lateral passage forming tool are retrieved from the well.
Most importantly, the present invention permits the formation of a plurality of lateral passages or casing openings without having to retrieve a cutting and jetting tool from the wellbore between each lateral passage forming operation.
So that the manner in which the above recited features, advantages and objects of the present invention are attained and can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, maybe had by reference to the preferred embodiment thereof which is illustrated in the appended drawings, which drawings are incorporated as a part hereof.
It is to be noted however, that the appended drawings illustrate only a typical embodiment of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
In the Drawings:
Referring now to the drawings and first to
For production of heavy viscous oil or minerals it is often desirable to form one or more passages that extend laterally from the well to a desired distance within the formation. As shown in
For production of heavy viscous crude oil from a subsurface formation an injection array of lateral passages will typically be located below a production array. For production of minerals from a formation an injection array of lateral passages will typically be located above the production array. Also, for production of minerals from a formation a plurality of collection laterals and headers can be drilled or otherwise formed laterally through the formation to provide for collection of a production fluid containing residual leaching agent and leached minerals. The collected mineral containing production fluid can be produced by pumping it from the headers of the collection laterals.
The arrays of injection and/or production passages typically extend from openings or windows, such as shown at 28 that are cut, milled or otherwise formed in the well casing or in the alternative may extend from an open hole or from the wellbore where a section of the well casing has been removed, such as by a casing milling operation. The lateral passages are in communication with an injection or production compartment 30 within the well which is typically isolated from other sections of the well by packers such as shown at 32. If the compartment 30 is an injection compartment an injection conduit 36 extends from the surface through the wellbore or casing and extending through the packer 32 and is in communication with the injection compartment 30 via the lower open end 38 of the conduit.
Other packers typically cooperate with the casing, injection tubing and production tubing define a production chamber or compartment which is in communication with the arrays of lateral passages 24 and isolate the production chamber or compartment from other sections of the well. Typically a production conduit 44 extends through the wellbore or casing from the surface and extends through the packer32 and may extend through other packers as well. However, it is only to be borne in mind that the present invention is applicable to many different types of well production and injection systems in that is provides an efficient system for cutting or forming casing openings or windows and for the formation of lateral bores that extend from a primary wellbore. Typically a pump “P” of any suitable character will be mounted to the production conduit and will be operative to pump collected production fluid from the production chamber or compartment to the surface and to typical production fluid handling equipment for treatment and handling of the production fluid. The pump “P” may comprise any one of a number of suitable downhole pump systems that are energized a pump jack, by electric or hydraulic power or by any other suitable means.
Though a well production system is shown in
The lateral passages extending from the wellbore may be un-lined or some or all of the lateral passages may be lined with a flexible slotted or otherwise perforated liner as shown at 48 and 50 in the lateral passages forming the array of
In cases where the subsurface production formation requires support to minimize the potential for sloughing of the formation material into the drilled or jetted lateral passages, formation supporting liners are inserted into selected lateral passages as discussed in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/271,231 which was filed on Nov. 12, 2005 by Henk H. Jelsma and entitled Fluid Injection Stimulated Heavy Oil or Mineral Production System and which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. The flexible liners are preferably perforated or slotted to provide for flow of injected fluid from the lateral passages into the production formation or flow production fluid into the lateral passages for production, are moved through the primary wellbore and are inserted into selected lateral passages. The slotted tubular liners are preferably composed of polyvinyl chloride or any one of a number of polymer materials having similar or desirable characteristics. The tubular liners are provided with a multiplicity of flow slots or perforations 52 that are located along substantially the entirety of its length. The slotted formation support liner is of sufficient flexibility to be passed through the principal typically vertically oriented wellbore and to become bent as it is diverted into a selected lateral passage that extends from the wellbore into the formation.
After lateral passages have been formed in the formation such as by a drilling, hydraulic jetting or hydro-blasting operation a jet washing assembly is connected to the leading end of the liner 48 or 50 and a fluid supply conduit is connected in fluid supplying relation with a jet washing head by means of an over-pull release mechanism. The fluid supply conduit is typically formed by flexible tubing that can be run into the well and bend to transition into the lateral passages that extend from the wellbore. The jet washing head is provided with a plurality of hydraulic jet nozzles that are arranged to direct jets of high velocity fluid, such as water, against the formation within the lateral passages. The jet nozzles of the jet washing head may be arranged to develop a reaction force which drives the jet washing head and the liner forwardly from the wellbore and into a lateral passage responsive to the jet reaction that occurs at the jet washing head. After sufficient jet washing has occurred to position the entirety of the formation supporting slotted liner within a lateral passage, a pulling force is applied to the fluid supply conduit, causing the over-pull release mechanism to actuate, releasing the connection of the fluid supply conduit with the jet washing head. When this occurs the fluid supply conduit is simply withdrawn from the slotted liner and is retrieved from the well. This process is repeated until the desired lateral passages have all been provided with formation supporting liners. Thereafter, the liners will prevent sloughing of the formation material into the lateral passages and the slots or perforations of the liner will permit efficient flow of injection fluid into the formation and will permit the flow of production fluid from the formation and into the lateral passages.
As mentioned above, when lateral passages are formed in a subsurface formation, it is difficult to ensure precise orientation of each lateral passage of an array of multiple lateral passages. Since in present day practice each lateral passage is typically formed individually, there is often significant angular deviation from the desired orientation of certain passages. Thus, when a production formation is small or when a primary well has been drilled close to an edge of the formation, an error of lateral passage orientation can determine the productivity of the well. It is desired therefore to provide a method and apparatus for multiple lateral passage formation from a primary wellbore wherein multiple lateral passages can be precisely angularly oriented according to a desired plan. It is also desirable to provide a lateral passage forming tool system having an indexing capability thus permitting at least a portion of the tool system to be initially oriented and set according to a desired azimuth and permitting precise indexing of the tool between lateral passage forming operations so that each of the lateral passages of the resulting array of lateral passages is precisely oriented according to the desired plan.
Referring now to
At the lower portion of the indexing deflector body 62 there is provided an orienting profile or array of orienting teeth shown generally at 70 and having an orienting geometry of any suitable form. For purposes of explanation the setting or orienting array is shown to be of annular form and is shown to have a plurality of sharply defined setting teeth 72 arranged in a setting or orienting pattern. For example the setting or orienting array 70 may have four or eight setting or orientating teeth. The setting teeth may have any other suitable geometry that facilitates orientation and indexing control.
A bottom hole setting or orienting tool shown generally at 74 is adapted to be set within a wellbore or casing to provide for support and reference of a well servicing tool rotatably connected therewith. The exploded view illustration of
The setting bit 80 and its extendable steel pipe 82 are generally referred to collectively as a stab tool. The bottom indexing tool 74 is provided with a cross-over and supporting mount projection 84 to the stab tool. The extendable steel pipe 82 is typically mounted to the cross-over and supporting mount projection 84 by a suitable threaded connection although other suitable means of connection may also be employed. A centralizer assembly 86 is mounted to the cross-over stab tool and serves to centralize the setting tool and cross-over stab tool within a wellbore or casing.
The multiple setting tool 60 has an indexing deflector body 62 that is provided within a centrally or axially oriented guide receptacle 88 in the form of a centrally located passage. Within the axially oriented guide receptacle 88 is located a guide lug 89 which is fixed to the bottom setting tool 74 and projects into the guide receptacle. The indexing deflector body 62 is provided with a downwardly projecting indexing control stinger 90 which is adapted to enter the centrally or axially oriented guide receptacle 88 and establish accurate alignment of the indexing deflector body 62 with the bottom setting tool 74 and thus also establish accurate alignment or registry of the oppositely facing annular arrays of indexing teeth 72 and 78. The downwardly projecting indexing control stinger 90 is also adapted, by means of an indexing slot, to accomplish incremental indexing rotation of the indexer deflecting tool body 62 as is discussed in detail herein in connection with
The bottom setting tool 74 is also provided with an internal latch dog receptacle 92 that is adapted to receive the latch dogs of a running and retrieval tool, not shown, which extends downwardly from a connector of the running and retrieving tool. The running and retrieving tool is connected to a tubing string, drill string or to a wire-line tool which is used for setting and retrieval of the bottom or lower setting and indexing tool 74. The latch dogs of the running or retrieval tool are either spring urged or mechanically actuated to ensure latching activity when the latch dogs enter the latch receptacle 92.
As explained above, the oppositely facing annular arrays of indexing teeth 72 and 78 will become disengaged when the indexing deflector body 62 and its indexing control stinger 90 are moved upwardly relative to the bottom setting tool 74 thus permitting rotation of the indexing deflector body 62 to one of the rotational indexing positions that is desired for orienting the exit opening 64 for cutting a casing opening or forming a lateral passage within the formation. Downward movement of the indexing deflector body 62 and its indexing control stinger 90 will cause the oppositely facing annular arrays of indexing teeth to move into indexing engagement, thus preventing rotation of indexing deflecting tool relative to the bottom setting tool 74. At the engaged positions of the oppositely facing annular arrays of indexing teeth the bottom setting tool will maintain its static position within the wellbore or casing and in relation with a desired azimuth with which it was aligned when set.
For setting and retrieval of the bottom setting tool or indexing mechanism a running, setting and retrieval tool is connected with the bottom setting or indexing mechanism 74 such as by engaging within the latch receptacle 92. The running, setting and retrieval tool, with the indexing mechanism in releasable assembly therewith, is run into the well to an intended depth for supporting engagement with the bottom of the wellbore and is set either by engaging the bottom of the wellbore or by supporting it within the wellbore or casing by means of a packer, such as is shown in
As shown in
If desired the multiple deflector tool body 102 may be provided with an adjustment section 101 to permit infinite rotational adjustment of the adjustment section with respect to the multiple deflector tool. Locking members 103, which may take the form of one or more set screws or locking screws or bolts, are typically provided for securing the position of the adjustment section with respect to the indexer deflector tool 102.
The arrays of indexing teeth, as is evident from
An indexing control stinger 103 extends in downwardly projecting relation from the indexing deflector body 102 and is positioned centrally of the annular array of indexing teeth 106. The indexing control stinger 103 is adapted to enter a corresponding internal guide receptacle or passage of the bottom setting indexing tool as shown in broken line at 105 to establish a precisely oriented relation of the setting tool and the indexing deflector body and the arrays of indexing teeth thereof. The indexing control stinger 103 is provided with an indexing slot having an indexing control profile 107. When the indexing deflector body is run into the well to approximately the depth of lateral bore fonnation the indexing control stinger will enter the guide receptacle 105 and the lower tapered end of the indexing control stinger will come into contact with a guide lug 111 which is fixed to the bottom setting indexing tool 108 and projects into a centrally oriented receptacle 113 of the bottom setting indexing tool 108. Only when the indexing control stinger 103 is properly rotationally oriented relative to the guide lug will the guide lug enter the longitudinal portion 115 of the indexing control profile of the indexing control stinger, thus permitting the opposed arrays of indexing teeth to move toward engagement. As the indexing deflector body is raised and lowered with respect to the setting tool, the indexing control profile causes incremental rotational movement of the indexer deflector tool in a predetermined direction for incremental rotational positioning of a the indexer deflector tool. The indexing control profile may have a geometry that establishes four rotationally indexed positions of the well service tool at 90° increments of rotation so that the well service tool is enabled to conduct operations forming four precisely oriented casing openings and lateral passages. By changing the indexing control stinger 103 for another indexing control stinger having a different rotary indexing control profile, the number and orientation of casing openings and lateral passages formed by the lateral passage forming tool during a single run and multiple sequential lateral passage forming operation may be changed as desired.
When the downwardly and upwardly arrays of indexing teeth are in spaced relation as shown in
The bottom setting indexing tool 108 is provided with a lower section 118 having an internal orienting receptacle 120 having an orienting slot 122. The bottom setting indexing tool 108 is provided with a downwardly projecting orienting member 124 and a transverse orienting member 126. These orienting members engage within the orienting receptacle and orienting slot to establish precision rotational alignment of the bottom setting orienting tool 108 and its indexing teeth 110 with respect to the bottom, packer support section of the tool. A packer 129 is mounted to the lower, packer support section 118 of the bottom setting indexing tool and serves to provide for setting of the indexing mechanism within a casing or within an open-hole wellbore as desired. Alternatively, the indexing mechanism may be provided with a setting bit as shown at 80 and a bit supporting extension as shown at 82 in
Referring now to
Referring now to the partial elevational view of
Upon the guide lug 148 reaching the first angulated section 156 of the multiposition circumferential rotary indexing slot 150 as the result of downward movement of the indexing control stinger 90, the guide lug will encounter a “Y” intersection 149. A first guide lug control member 152 will prevent the guide lug from moving upwardly and to the left as shown in
When upward movement of the indexing control stinger 90 occurs from the apex position 158 due to controlled lifting of the indexing deflector body 62, an edge or guide shoulder of the succeeding rotary indexing slot section 160, reacting with the guide lug 148, will cause the rotatable indexing diverter tool to be moved through another increment of 45° rotational movement that is determined by the geometry of the rotary indexing slot. The rotational movement of the indexing control stinger 90 is unidirectional since rotational control members prevent movement of the indexing control stinger in the opposite rotational direction. In the case of a four position indexing system as shown in
After a particular well servicing operation has been completed at a selected indexed position of the indexing mechanism it is desirable to index the well service tool to successive rotational positions and to repeat the well servicing operation at each position. The rotary indexing slot geometry 150 permits rotation of the well service tool to a successive pre-selected indexed position simply by raising and lowering the indexing deflector body and thus the indexing control stinger 90 through a cycle of indexing movement. From an apex 158 of the rotary indexing slot downward movement of the guide lug within the rotary indexing slot, caused by upward movement of the indexing control stinger results in movement of the guide lug within a succeeding oppositely angulated section 160 of the rotary indexing slot, since a locking element 162 functions to prevent return of the guide lug through the inclined rotary indexing slot section 156 and functions to permit movement of the guide lug through the succeeding oppositely inclined section 160 of the rotary indexing slot geometry. Thus, the indexing control stinger 90 causes the setting tool 74 with its upwardly facing annular array 76 of indexing teeth 78 to be rotated through a desired angle of rotation as determined by the geometry of the rotary indexing slot. Preferably a four position rotary indexing slot will have eight angulated sections and four apexes for each complete rotation of 360° and thus for each cycle of upward and downward movement of the indexing control stinger, the setting tool will be rotated through an angle of 90°. This feature permits four equally angled lateral passages to be formed by a lateral passage forming tool that is positioned by the indexing mechanism. However it should be borne in mind that two, three or more equally angled casing openings and lateral passages may be formed simply by providing a indexing control stinger having rotary indexing slot geometry that accomplishes desired rotational positioning of a well service tool.
Unidirectional progression of the guide lug 148 in the directions of the movement arrows through the multiple angulated sections of the circumferential rotary indexing slot geometry of the indexing control stinger 90 is controlled by a plurality of lug movement control members. The first of these lug movement control members is shown at 152 and is urged to a lug blocking position by a spring 153. The spring will yield to permit guide lug movement of the lug movement from the rotary indexing slot section 151 to the Y-position 149 at the intersection of the longitudinal guide passage 142 with the rotary indexing slot geometry after completion of indexing movement through all of the indexing positions of the rotary indexing slot. The second of these lug movement control members is shown at 154 and is moveably maintained at a control position by a spring member 157. The various angulated sections of the rotary indexing slot geometry each have similar lug movement control members so that four downward and upward cycles of movement of the indexing control stinger will achieve 360° of rotational indexing movement of the well service tool that is supported and oriented by the setting tool 74. After the guide lug has progressed unidirectionally through all of the indexed positions of the rotary indexing slot, the next increment of lifting movement of the indexing deflector body will return the guide lug to a position of registry with the longitudinal guide slot 142. At this point the indexing deflector body may be retrieved form the will, leaving the setting or orienting tool 74 in place for controlling precise rotational orientation of other tools for subsequent well servicing operations.
The present invention is practiced according to the following method: An indexing tool having the capability for rotational indexing and having upper and lower sections each defining annular arrays of indexing teeth or other indexing geometry is run into a well and its lower setting or orienting section is set at the bottom of the wellbore or set on a packer within the casing of the well. If desired the indexing mechanism may also incorporated a linear indexing mechanism such as is shown in
When an indexing mechanism is set within the well it is initially precisely aligned with a particular reference azimuth, thus permitting each of the lateral passages to be formed in the subsurface formation with respect to the selected azimuth of reference. This feature is accomplished by loosening the connection of the rotational adjustment section 81, such as by loosening retainer screws or bolts 83 and by manually positioning the adjustment section relative to the orienting reference point 64. This character of adjustment is infinite and permits any rotational position within a rotational adjustment range of 360° to be selected. After precision rotational adjustment has been accomplished the retainer screws or bolts are then tightened to lock the adjustment mechanism at the desired position.
With the indexing mechanism located within the well and the setting tool set with respect to the wellbore or casing a first well service operation is carried out. Assuming that the well service operation is the formation of openings or windows in the casing and formation of lateral passages from the wellbore into the surrounding formation of interest or the formation of lateral passages from an open hole wellbore, the first operation will be carried out by an appropriate tool. After that tool has completed its first well service operation, the deflector housing is lifted to separate the annular arrays of indexing teeth and to initiate a cycle of linear movement. The rotary indexing slot and guide lug arrangement will interact to cause an increment of rotational movement of a well service tool during lifting movement of the deflector housing and a second increment of rotational movement of the well service tool during lowering of the deflector housing. When the indexing mechanism is provided with a indexing control stinger 90 having a four position rotary indexing slot geometry as shown in
A window opening cutting and/or lateral passage forming tool or any other well service tool is controllably connected with the lower section of the indexing mechanism so as to be positionable via controlled rotational indexing actuation. If the well has a casing, which is the condition that is usually encountered, a window or opening cutting tool will be supported and oriented by the lower setting tool section of the indexing mechanism. The opening forming or cutting mechanism is then actuated to form an accurately positioned opening or window in the casing. This procedure is repeated a desired number of times, with the tool being indexed either rotationally, linearly or both for precision location of all of the casing openings that are desired. It is important to note that this opening forming procedure for all of the desired casing opening is accomplished by running the tool into the well one time and by retrieving the tool from the well after all of the desired casing openings have been formed. If the well is an “open hole” well, without a casing or if a section of the casing has been removed at the depth of the production formation, then use of an opening or window forming tool is not necessary.
When the casing openings or windows have been formed or when the well is otherwise ready for lateral passage formation, a passage forming tool is then run into the well with a string of tubing, typically referred to as a “stinger” and is landed on and latched to the upper section or deflector body of the indexing mechanism. This causes the lateral passage forming tool to be precisely oriented by the indexing mechanism in relation to the azimuth of reference. The lateral passages are then formed using a commercially available hydro-motor type drilling system, a hydro-blaster type passage forming tool or a tool of any other suitable character. After each lateral passage has been formed, the indexing mechanism is actuated for a predetermined increment of rotation indexing movement, linear movement or both simply by lowering and lifting the indexing deflector body and achieving rotational positioning by means of the rotary indexing slot geometry followed by engagement of the annular arrays of indexing teeth to lock the indexing mechanism at the selected indexed position. This procedure is repeated until all of the lateral passages have been formed in the subsurface formation. It is important to note that all or a desired number of lateral passages are formed during a single run of the passage forming tool, after which the tool is retrieved from the well. This “single-run” passage forming procedure significantly minimizes the rig time and thus the costs for completing the well with a desired number of precisely located lateral passages and provides a simple and efficient system for lateral passage formation providing assurance that the lateral passages are precisely located according to a designed plan.
In the event the subsurface formation is not well consolidated and there is a potential for sloughing of formation material into the lateral passages, flexible slotted or otherwise perforated liners 48 and 50 can be run through the guide passage and into the lateral passages utilizing a washing head and define slots or openings 52 through which fluid is permitted to flow. These slotted liners are typically composed of polyvinyl chloride or any other polymer material having similar characteristics and are sufficiently flexible to pass through the lower transitioning curvature of the guide passage.
After all of the lateral passages have been formed in the subsurface formation, the indexing mechanism and passage forming tool are removed from the well to complete the lateral passage forming operation. At this point it may be appropriate to provide one or more tieback conduits to make individual connection with certain ones of the lateral passages. If so, the indexing mechanism and passage forming tool will also function to guide the tieback connectors from the wellbore and into the desired lateral passages.
In view of the foregoing it is evident that the present invention is one well adapted to attain all of the objects and features hereinabove set forth, together with other objects and features which are inherent in the apparatus disclosed herein.
As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the present invention may easily be produced in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered as merely illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalence of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3154147 | Lanmon, II | Oct 1964 | A |
| 3294163 | Lebourg | Dec 1966 | A |
| 4880067 | Jelsma | Nov 1989 | A |
| 4928767 | Jelsma | May 1990 | A |
| RE33660 | Jelsma | Aug 1991 | E |
| 5413184 | Landers | May 1995 | A |
| 5853056 | Landers | Dec 1998 | A |
| 6125949 | Landers | Oct 2000 | A |
| 6168213 | Muller | Jan 2001 | B1 |
| 6263984 | Buckman | Jul 2001 | B1 |
| 6298915 | George | Oct 2001 | B1 |
| 6668948 | Buckman | Dec 2003 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070181308 A1 | Aug 2007 | US |
