1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for maintaining a capillary tube or a small diameter continuous hydraulic conduit in a well bore to inject fluids into or produce fluids from a well; specifically, the method and apparatus for inserting a capillary tube through a well head and production tubing past the wellhead master valves and/or a down hole safety valve and selectively removing the capillary tube if the valve must be closed and reinserting the tube when the valve is re-opened
2. Description of the Related Art
In the drilling and completion of oil and gas wells throughout the world, the need to insert small diameter continuous hydraulic conduits or tubes into the well's production tubing has arisen on numerous occasions and for a variety of purposes. Typically, this was accomplished by lowering the continuous hydraulic conduit through the well head, it's master valves, and then down through the production tubing, through any sub-surface safety valves and on down into the well bore from a surface spool system. Substantial cost savings result from the ability to quickly move onto a wellhead site and dispose a small diameter conduit down the well bore without the need of workover rigs or large coiled tubing injector head assemblies. Previously, when the treatment or task was completed, the tubing was withdrawn from the well bore, since it was imprudent to leave a conduit or tube suspended through a safety valve or well head master valve. Very often, it is beneficial to leave the small diameter tubing in the well bore, for example, to chemically treat the well below the safety valve or well head master valves; as, for example, by extending the tube on down the well bore to the production zone. Since these tubes extend past both the well head valves and one or more downhole safety valves, if the well pressures must be controlled, the small diameter continuous hydraulic conduit must be capable of being withdrawn from the well bore before the wellhead valve or the downhole safety valve is closed.
The ability to selectively or automatically move the small diameter continuous hydraulic conduit into and out of a well valve without completely removing the conduit from the well has heretofore not been accomplished.
The present invention discloses a system for manipulating a continuous hydraulic conduit in a producing well. The system is made up of an extraction device providing a longitudinal passage and a piston moveable in said longitudinal passage attached to a first continuous hydraulic conduit. Attached to the end of the first continuous hydraulic conduit is a stinger providing a profile on its outer lateral surface to engage a tubing hanger assembly. When setting the tubing hanger, a setting stinger is used to move the hanger to the desired position, then pressure on the continuous tubing is released, which thereby releases the tubing hanger to set in the lateral surface of the tubular member. The setting stinger is then removed and the production stinger is inserted into the polished bore of the tubing hanger thereby providing continuous hydraulic communication to the tubing hung below in the tubing hanger.
The system is connected to a hydraulic control system for delivery of hydraulic pressure to a well valve and to the extraction device with hydraulic attachment fittings, so that the hydraulic pressure on the well valve and on the piston may be controlled to selectively move the piston down when inserting the stinger in the tubing hanger and selectively move the piston up when removing the conduit out of the hanger and past the closing well valve. A tubing hanger assembly for insertion below a well valve provides a polished bore through its longitudinal axis, and is attachable to the well bore and provides attachment to a second continuous hydraulic conduit which can be suspended from the hanger to the production zone of the well. The system can provide a check valve at the end of the conduit to prevent ingress of well fluids into the hydraulic conduit. The system can also be deployed without a check valve to produce fluids up the continuous hydraulic conduit formed by the insertion of the sealing section into the polished bore below the valve. A second conduit hangs from the tubing hanger located adjacent and below the well valve which must be able to close, to the production zone so that the treatments introduced into the well can be introduced where such treatments are most efficacious or, alternatively, to allow the production of fluids up the well.
The tubing hanger provides a landing tool having an enlarged upper throat to facilitate the guidance of the sealing stinger into the polished bore, which allows well fluids to flow up the well bore past the tubing hanger and a longitudinally spaced polished bore for accepting the setting stinger connected to the distal end of the first continuous hydraulic conduit; said stinger providing at least one hydraulic port communicating from its interior to its lateral exterior face, further providing a groove to activate a latching piston and providing dynamic seals for sealingly engaging the interior surface of the polished bore of the tubing hanger. The first hydraulic port on the interior surface of the landing tool communicates with the continuous hydraulic conduit selectively activating a latching piston, which engages a lateral surface on the slick stinger. This permits the first hydraulic conduit to act as a setting line when pressure is introduced through the conduit to hold the latch in engagement with the tubing hanger. A second hydraulic port on the interior surface of the landing tool communicates with the continuous hydraulic conduit for engaging a plurality of slips which are held out of engagement from the inner surface of the well tubing or casing until pressure is released or lowered in the latched tubing hanger assembly from the control panel at the surface. This lower pressure permits the springs that hold the slips from engagement to overcome the hydraulic pressure from the continuous conduit and move into engagement. As the slips engage the inner surface of the tubing or casing, the weight of the second continuous hydraulic conduit sets the teeth on the outer surface of the slips to bite the casing or tubing.
A tubing hanger supports a second length of continuous hydraulic conduit in a well bore to allow continuous fluid communication from the surface through the distal end of the first continuous hydraulic conduit to the distal end of said second continuous hydraulic conduit as previously described.
A production stinger is inserted in the polished bore of the tubing hanger which thereby allows fluid communication from the well head through the first hydraulic conduit into the second hydraulic conduit to the production zone. As previously noted, when pressure drops on a safety valve, the extraction device removes the first hydraulic conduit past the safety valve allowing it to close to seal the well off. In an alternative embodiment, the stinger on the production stinger is fabricated from a frangible material to break if the stinger is not removed before the safety valve is closed.
At the installation of the tubing hanger 80, hydraulic conduit 22 is connected to the setting stinger 25 and hydraulic pressure is increased to set a latch in the tubing hanger 80. The tubing hanger has been previously prepared with a second small diameter hydraulic conduit hung below it down into the well which was attached to the tubing hanger by means well known to those skilled in the art, such as by Swage-Lok assemblies or the like, by way of example only. This second hydraulic conduit and tubing hanger after being connected to the first hydraulic conduit are lowered into the well bore to a point below the well valve which selectively controls the flow of fluid through the tubular bore. Once the desired location for tubing hanger 80 is reached, pressure is reduced from surface by manipulation of the controls in control panel 10 to bleed pressure from the tube disposed in the well which thereby permits the slips on tubing hanger to move into engagement with the interior surface of the tubular member into which this tubing hanger was inserted. The weight of the second continuous hydraulic conduit sets against the slips causing them to bite into the interior surface of the tubular member. The first continuous hydraulic conduit may then be fully withdrawn. A production stinger 25A with a longitudinal passage can then be inserted into the polished bore receptacle of the tubing hanger to allow fluid communication from the surface to the production zone in the well, as desired.
During installation, since it is unknown or, at a minimum, unproven at what depth well valve 40 is located, control panel 10 can be used to close valve 40. Thereafter, the first continuous hydraulic conduit 22 can be lowered or pumped down the well bore until it is stopped by the closed valve 40. The operator can then register the depth of valve 40 and thereafter withdraw first hydraulic conduit 22, attach a setting stinger 25 and tubing hanger 80, latch the first hydraulic conduit 22 into the tubing hanger 80 and lower the entire assembly into the well bore. Since the exact location of the well valve 40 is now known, the tubing hanger may be set adjacent and below well valve 40. The travel of the piston in the extraction device 20 must be gauged to allow a production stinger 25A to be removed from the tubing hanger 80 and polished bore by movement of the piston 30 in the extraction device 20.
The lower end view of
Pressure is exerted through the first hydraulic conduit 22 into the setting stinger 25 attached to its distal end that provides a bull nose 83. Tubing hanger 80 affixes a second continuous hydraulic conduit 24 that is attached in hanger 80 in the tubing string. The internal pressure from the first hydraulic conduit 22 enters hydraulic port 86 that thereby engages a latch 86A into a profile on the external lateral surface of the setting stinger 25. The setting stinger 25 as more fully shown in the drawings provides a plurality of elastomeric elements O or O-rings, which dynamically engage the inner surface of the polished bore receptacle 85 of the tubing hanger 80 to sealingly engage the tubing hanger. Internal pressure from the first hydraulic conduit 22 also keeps the piston 87 in full extension thereby preventing the slips 81 from moving into contact with the interior lateral wall of the tubular member. When the pressure is reduced as shown in
The setting stinger 25 is then removed leaving the tubing hanger 80 as shown in
As additionally shown in
If the well valves must be closed for any reason, control panel 10 activates hydraulic port 35 to release the pressure on the resilient member 36 which immediately removes the first continuous hydraulic conduit and the attached stinger through the well valve 40 to be closed and thereby allowing control panel 10 to hydraulically close valve 40. As an additional feature, the production stinger 25A could be fabricated from a frangible material, such as a ceramic or the like, to permit the well valve to completely close on the stinger in the event the extraction device failed to withdraw the stinger from the tubing hanger in a timely manner.
An alternative embodiment can be utilized for wells only having a series of master valves on the surface for controlling the well. For example as shown in
If the operator desires, a tubing hanger can be set in a profile normally provided in a wellhead below the primary or first master valve to suspend a second small diameter continuous hydraulic. Once the tubing hanger is set in this profile in a manner well known in this industry, the operation of the extraction device could be readily accomplished as described above. The spool 100 would then work in the same manner as the extraction device 20 shown in
Although an apparatus and method is disclosed enabling a single hydraulic conduit to be installed through a downhole valve, it should be understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments and particular structures disclosed may be modified to allow for the passage of two or more hydraulic conduits through a downhole valve. Additionally, the methods disclosed can be performed using larger diameter pipe and tubing, either jointed or continuous.
Referring now to
Referring now to
With stinger 204 extended, assembly 200 is engaged into the well until the hanger receptacle (80 of
Once slips 210 are extended, stinger 204 can be extend thereby locking assembly 200 in place within the production string. This can be accomplished by any means already known in the art, but may be activated hydraulically or by axially loading assembly 200. With slips 210 set and stinger 204 extended and properly received by hanger receptacle 80, the system is ready for use. Should an event arise where the safety valve (located along tubular member between retractor 206 and stinger 204) needs to be closed, pressure within conduit 208 is released, causing retraction springs 216 to displace piston 214 upstream and retract stinger 204 attached thereto. Assembly 200 is preferably positioned such that the retraction of stinger 204 is enough to clear stinger 204 from hanger receptacle 80 and from safety valve.
Those familiar with well completions may readily substitute many well-known tubing hangers or utilize various setting methods which will accomplish the task of setting a hanger and suspending a tubular member below. The present invention for assembly of a continuous hydraulic conduit below a well valve while retaining the capacity for extracting a portion of the hydraulic conduit above the well valve to permit its closure can be practiced with these other well known tubing hanger assemblies and methods for setting them in a well without departing from the spirit or intent of this invention.
One skilled in the art will realize that the embodiments disclosed are illustrative only and that the scope and content of the invention is to be determined by the scope of the claims attached hereto.
This application is a divisional application of pending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/277,304 entitled “Method and Apparatus to Complete a Well Having Tubing Inserted Through a Valve” filed Mar. 23, 2006, which is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/708,338 entitled “Method and Apparatus to Complete a Well Having Tubing Inserted Through a Valve” filed Feb. 25, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,082,996 issued on Aug. 1, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/319,972 filed Feb. 25, 2003 entitled Method and Apparatus to Complete a Well Having Tubing Inserted Through a Valve. Each of the above referenced applications is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60319972 | Feb 2003 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11277304 | Mar 2006 | US |
Child | 11784655 | Apr 2007 | US |
Parent | 10708338 | Feb 2004 | US |
Child | 11277304 | Mar 2006 | US |