Not Applicable
Not Applicable.
This disclosure relates to the field of subsurface well intervention. More specifically, the disclosure relates to methods for preparing a subsurface well for permanent sealing and abandonment.
When subsurface wellbores are to be permanently abandoned, the oil and gas industry has as an objective to permanently leave as many well tubulars, e.g., tubing, liner and casing in the well as possible. Leaving tubulars in the well may provide the benefit of saving considerable cost for removing, transport and disposal of the tubulars and leaving the tubulars in the well may greatly reduce safety and health hazards to personnel performing abandonment procedures. A substantial benefit in leaving tubulars in the well accrues to offshore wells, where the drilling and/or plug and abandonment rig cost for an operator is often very high.
Where a well has both casing and a tubing nested in the casing, both being disposed in the well, abandonment procedures that leave such tubulars in the well may require sealing an annular space between the casing and the tubing. A method to create a seal between the tubing and the casing is to place a barrier material, for example cement, in the annular space, the so-called “A-annulus.” After sealing the A-annulus, a fluid barrier may be placed within the tubing. Such fluid barrier may comprise an expandable plug placed in the tubing and subsequently covered with cement.
However, wells are frequently drilled at inclined angles from vertical, even horizontal. Even when wells are drilled intended to be vertical, wells never precisely vertical. Even intended vertical wells tend to penetrate the ground at a non-zero angle, or inclination over at least part of the longitudinal extent. Since all wellbore tubulars are to some degree flexible, a tubing nested within a casing will have longitudinal contact with the casing along substantial areas of the casing string.
To illustrate the foregoing contact between tubing and casing,
Such contact as shown in
There is a need for methods to lift tubing from casing to enable full-circumference filling of the A-annulus with barrier material.
One aspect of the present disclosure is a method for lifting a first well tubular nested in a second well tubular from contact with the second well tubular. A method according to this aspect includes moving a wellbore intervention tool to a location where the first well tubular is in contact with the second well tubular. The well intervention tool is operated to displace a wall of the first tubular until either (i) the wall of the first tubular contacts the second tubular and separates the first tubular from contact with the second tubular, or (ii) an opening is made in the wall of the first tubular. After the opening is made, an object is displaced from the wall of the first tubular until the object contact the second tubular and lifts the first tubular from the second tubular, wherein a circumferentially continuous annular space is opened between the first well tubular and the second well tubular.
In some embodiments, the opening is created by a wellbore intervention tool conveyed into the first well tubular by at least one of slickline, wireline, spoolable rod and coiled tubing.
In some embodiments, the displacing an object comprises at least one of: (a) extending at least one of a bolt, a pin and a plug through the opening and into contact with the second well tubular, and (b) bending a flap created in the wall of the first wellbore by creating the at least one opening until the flap contacts the second well tubular.
In some embodiments, the at least one of a bolt, a pin and a plug comprises a self-drilling, self-tapping screw.
In some embodiments, the opening creating the flap is created by at least one of milling, chemical cutting and shaped explosive cutting.
In some embodiments, the first well conduit comprises a tubing.
In some embodiments, the second well conduit comprises a casing.
Some embodiments further comprise filling the circumferentially continuous annular space with a barrier material.
A method according to another aspect of this disclosure for lifting a first well tubular nested in a second well tubular from contact with the second well tubular includes the following. A wellbore intervention tool is moved to a selected position within the first well tubular. At least one radial expansion pin is extended outward from the wellbore intervention tool to plastically deform the first well tubular proximate the at least one radial expansion pin. A circumferentially continuous annular space is thereby opened between the first well tubular and the second well tubular.
Some embodiments further comprise extending a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart radial expansion pins from the wellbore intervention tool. The plurality of circumferentially spaced apart radial expansion pins are disposed at a same longitudinal position along the wellbore intervention tool as each other.
Some embodiments further comprise filling the circumferentially continuous annular space with a barrier material.
A method according to another aspect of this disclosure for lifting a first well tubular nested in and in contact with a second well tubular disposed in a well includes moving a wellbore intervention tool to a location along the first well tubular where the first well tubular is in contact with the second well tubular. The well intervention tool is operated so as to displace a wall of the first well tubular until either (i) the wall of the first well tubular contacts the second well tubular and separates the first well tubular from contact with the second well tubular, or (ii) an opening is made in the wall of the first well tubular. After the opening is made at least one of the following is performed: (a) extending at least one of a bolt, a pin and a plug through the opening and into contact with the second well tubular; and (b) bending a flap created in the wall of the first wellbore by creating the at least one opening until the flap contacts the second well tubular. A circumferentially continuous annular space is opened between the first well tubular and the second well tubular.
In some embodiments, the at least one of a bolt, a pin and a plug comprises a self-drilling, self-tapping screw.
In some embodiments, the opening creating the flap is created by at least one of milling, chemical cutting and shaped explosive cutting.
In some embodiments, the first well conduit comprises a tubing.
In some embodiments, the second well conduit comprises a casing.
Some embodiments further comprise filling the circumferentially continuous annular space with a barrier material.
In some embodiments, the displacing the wall of the first well tubular comprises extending a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart radial expansion pins from the wellbore intervention tool, the plurality of circumferentially spaced apart radial expansion pins disposed at a same longitudinal position along the wellbore intervention tool as each other.
Other aspects and possible advantages will be apparent from the description and claims that follow.
As a general explanation of methods according to the present disclosure, such methods include moving a wellbore intervention tool to a predetermined location along a first well tubular nested inside a second well tubular. The predetermined location may be where the first tubular is in contact with the second tubular so as to circumferentially interrupt an annular space between the first well tubular and the second well tubular, as explained in the Background section herein. The well intervention tool is operated so as to displace a wall of the first well tubular. Displacement of the wall of the first well tubular may be in the form of localized bending or creating an opening. Displacing the wall of the first tubular continues until either (i) in the case of localized bending, the wall of the first well tubular contacts the second well tubular and separates the first well tubular from contact with the second well tubular, or (ii) an opening is made in the wall of the first well tubular. Un the case where an opening is made in the wall of the first well tubular, at least one of the following is performed: (a) extending at least one of a bolt, a pin and a plug through the opening and into contact with the second well tubular, and (b) bending a flap created in the wall of the first wellbore by creating the at least one opening until the flap contacts the second well tubular, wherein a circumferentially continuous annular space is opened between the first well tubular and the second well tubular. Various example embodiments of methods according to the disclosure will now be explained with reference to
The wellbore intervention tool 1 may also have the capability of inserting a plug, bolt, pin or other device through the one or more openings 6 after retracting the penetration device 5 as more fully set forth in the Hansen et al. '919 patent.
The wellbore penetration tool 1 may be conveyed into the well using any known conveyance, including conveyances that do not require the use of a wellbore tubular hoisting apparatus such as a drilling unit or workover unit. For example, the conveyance may be armored electrical cable (wireline), coiled tubing, slickline or semi-rigid spoolable rod deployed from a winch Thus, the one or more penetrations 6 may be made without the use of such tubular hoisting apparatus.
After making the one or more penetrations 6 in the tubing 12, and referring to
While the outer or second well tubular is referred to as a casing, it will be appreciated that the present disclosure applies equally to liner, which is a well tubular that does not extend in a well back to the Earth's surface. The bolts, plugs, pins or similar devices 22 may be moved into the tubing wall, for example, by threading or by interference fit. In some embodiments, bolts 22 may be self-drilling, self-tapping screws that can be axially urged and rotated by the wellbore intervention tool (1 in
The pattern 24 may be cut, for example and without limitation, by a rotary mill, flame, chemical cutter or shaped explosive cutter conveyed by the wellbore intervention tool or another tool.
After the tubing 12 is lifted from the casing 10 to create a circumferentially continuous annular space (see
In another possible embodiment, shown in
Methods according to the present disclosure for lifting a well tubing from a well casing may enable placing a barrier material without the need to use a hoist to pull the tubing out of the casing, thereby saving time and cost.
In light of the principles and example embodiments described and illustrated herein, it will be recognized that the example embodiments can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. The foregoing discussion has focused on specific embodiments, but other configurations are also contemplated. In particular, even though expressions such as in “an embodiment,” or the like are used herein, these phrases are meant to generally reference embodiment possibilities, and are not intended to limit the disclosure to particular embodiment configurations. As used herein, these terms may reference the same or different embodiments that are combinable into other embodiments. As a rule, any embodiment referenced herein is freely combinable with any one or more of the other embodiments referenced herein, and any number of features of different embodiments are combinable with one another, unless indicated otherwise. Although only a few examples have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible within the scope of the described examples. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims.
Priority is claimed from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/044,929 filed on Jun. 26, 2020 and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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