Patent Application
20240110462
In the petroleum industry, wells are drilled into the surface of the Earth to access and produce hydrocarbons. The process of building a well is often split into two parts: drilling and completion. Drilling a well may include using a drilling rig to drill a hole into the ground, trip in at least one string of casing, and cement the casing string in place. The casing string is used to define the structure of the well, provide support for the wellbore walls, and prevent unwanted fluid from being produced. The casing string is cemented in place to prevent formation fluids from exiting the formation and to provide further structure for the well.
After a casing string has been placed in the well, the annulus located between the casing string and the wellbore wall must be cemented completely (i.e., to surface) or partially. Cementing is done by pumping cement from the surface, through the inside of the casing string, and up the outside of the casing string (the annulus) to the required height. Oftentimes, the slurry of cement is followed by another type of fluid and/or a wiper plug to push the remainder of the cement out of the inside of the casing and into the annulus, leaving a small amount of cement inside of the casing string. The cement is left to harden before the next section of the well is drilled or the well is completed.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a system for removing contaminants from a tubular pipe in a well having a portion of a bore of the tubular pipe containing the contaminants, the system comprising: a wiper plug having an internal bore and an external profile comprising: at least three multi-sized wipers on an upper end of the wiper plug on the external profile; and a landing profile on a lower end of the wiper plug on the external profile for positioning the wiper plug in the tubular pipe, and configured to travel down in the tubular pipe, wherein the landing profile comprises at least two arms configured to extend outward from the external profile; a valve disposed at the lower end of the wiper plug in the internal bore, wherein the valve comprises a plurality of shear pins configured to hold the valve in a closed position and to break from increasing pressure upon the wiper plug to allow the valve to move from the closed position to an open position; and a nipple comprising a latch profile configured to cooperate with the landing profile of the wiper plug for holding the wiper plug at a landing position in the tubular pipe
In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method for removing contaminants from a tubular pipe in a well having a portion of a bore of the tubular pipe containing the contaminants, the method comprising: installing a nipple comprising a latch profile at an end of the tubular pipe; running a wiper plug having in internal bore, at least three multi-sized wipers, a landing profile, and a valve within the tubular pipe, wherein the landing profile comprises at least two arms configured to extend outward from an external profile of the wiper plug; pumping substance inside the tubular pipe to push the wiper plug toward the nipple; removing the contaminants within the tubular pipe, via the at least three multi-sized wipers, out of the tubular pipe; setting the wiper plug mechanically in place on the latch profile via the landing profile, wherein setting the wiper plug increases pressure in the tubular pipe; breaking a plurality of shear pins in the valve, via pumping the substance before, when, or after setting the wiper plug, to shear the valve and circulate the substance through the tubular pipe; and circulating the contaminants out of the tubular pipe through breaking the plurality of shear pins.
Other aspects and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
Specific embodiments of the disclosed technology will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. 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 of embodiments of the disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.
Throughout the application, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third, etc.) may be used as an adjective for an element (i.e., any noun in the application). The use of ordinal numbers is not to imply or create any particular ordering of the elements nor to limit any element to being only a single element unless expressly disclosed, such as using the terms “before”, “after”, “single”, and other such terminology. Rather, the use of ordinal numbers is to distinguish between the elements. By way of an example, a first element is distinct from a second element, and the first element may encompass more than one element and succeed (or precede) the second element in an ordering of elements.
Regarding the figures described herein, when using the term “down” the direction is toward or at the bottom of a respective figure and “up” is toward or at the top of the respective figure. “Up” and “down” are oriented relative to a local vertical direction. However, in the oil and gas industry, one or more activities take place in a vertical, substantially vertical, deviated, substantially horizontal, or horizontal well. Therefore, one or more figures may represent an activity in deviated or horizontal wellbore configuration. “Uphole” may refer to objects, units, or processes that are positioned relatively closer to the surface entry in a wellbore than another. “Downhole” may refer to objects, units, or processes that are positioned relatively farther from the surface entry in a wellbore than another. True vertical depth is the vertical distance from a point in the well at a location of interest to a reference point on the surface.
During the drilling operations of an oil or a gas well fluids may be circulated into and out of the well to help with the operations such as drilling, completing, or working over.
Another operation is known in the art as cementing for which the fluid is a cement slurry, hereafter cement. After a hole section has been drilled, a string of casing is run into a well and cemented in place by pumping cement through a tubular pipe such as conduit 104 inside of the casing or tubing string. An area of a well that is uncased, which means exposed to the rock formation without any casing, is known in the art as open hole. The cement slurry exits the conduit 104 at a downhole location. Continued pumping may cause the cement slurry to rise up annulus 106 between conduit 104 and the well wall. Next a cementing tool may be used to separate the column of cement slurry in conduit 104 from another fluid or substance such as a column of drilling mud used to push the cementing tool to the downhole location and in doing so, displace the column of cement with drilling mud. Displacing the cement slurry evacuates cement in the bore and replaces it with drilling mud. Cement slurry within annulus 106 may be filled to a desired height. The cement slurry may be allowed to harden. Cement that has hardened thereby forms a seal between the exterior surface of conduit 104 and the well wall of well 102. One of the challenges in drilling and workover is the proper cleaning of the tubular profile after the cement job.
Cleaning the tubular profile entails removal of contaminants that are disposed on portions of the tubular profile walls and that are contained within the bore of conduit (104). Cement slurry that remains in the tubular profile may adhere to a portion or portions of the tubular profile if the cement slurry is allowed to harden, therefore cement that is still in the slurry condition may be easier to remove than cement that has been allowed to harden. Accumulated cement is an example of the contaminants contained within conduit 104 to be removed from within portions of the tubular profile. Contaminants such as accumulated cement may prevent certain tools from passing or setting inside the tubular profile. Accumulated cement may also cause plugging of downhole tools or obstructing the passage or travel of downhole tools along the portion of the tubular profile in which the accumulated cement is contained. Accumulated cement may increase the cost of drilling with lost time due to downhole tool damage. Accumulated cement along portions of tubular profiles may also limit the utilization of tubulars in the long term. Embodiments disclosed herein present a system and method to remove contaminants from a portion of a bore of a tubular pipe in a well by pumping in a wiper plug with multi-sized fins and to circulate through the plug.
As shown in
The flapper may be translatably coupled to the wiper plug 202. The means of translatably coupling may include fasteners such as studs, nuts, screws, bolts, and pins engaging the flapper, e.g., through a hole or slot in the flapper. The means of translatably coupling may include springs such as coil springs in compression or tension, constant force springs, or torsion springs. The coupling may further use a dovetail slot on one or both of the flapper or the wiper plug 202 and a mating dovetail rail on the other of the flapper or the wiper plug 202. The coupling may include one or more sliding bearings such as a ball bearing, cylindrical roller bearing, spherical roller bearing, tapered roller bearing, and/or journal bearing on one or both of the flapper or the wiper plug 202 and a mating sliding surface.
The flapper may be rotatably coupled to the wiper plug 202. The means of rotatably coupling may include fasteners such as studs, nuts, screws, bolts, and pins engaging the flapper, e.g., through a hole or slot in the flapper. The means of rotatably coupling may include springs such as coil springs in compression or tension, constant force springs, or torsion springs. The coupling may include one or more rotatable bearings such as a ball bearing, cylindrical roller bearing, spherical roller bearing, tapered roller bearing, and/or journal bearing on one or both of the flapper or the wiper plug 202 and a mating shaft or axle, pin, stud, or rod on the other of the flapper or the wiper plug 202.
Flapper 232 may be maintained, held, or latched in the disabled condition by a means for holding such as a flapper disabler 236. Although in this embodiment the flapper disabler 236 is shown as a single shear pin, flapper disabler 236 may use a plurality of shear pins, and flapper disabler 236 may be any appropriate holder such as, without limitation, a spring, a ball-spring catch, a grab latch, etc., that maintains the flapper 232 in the closed position to prevent flow of fluid along path 230. Flapper disabler 236 may be configured to release the flapper 232 from the disabled condition. Release of flapper 232 may occur if a release force is applied to a flapper opening side 238 of flapper 232 that meets or exceeds the holder force holding the flapper 232 in the disabled condition. Release force may be applied by a pressure acting in the opening direction on the surface of the flapper opening side 238 of the flapper 232 such as a pressure in conduit 104. For instance, a plurality of shear pin holds the flapper 232 in the disabled condition and if a breaking force resulting from pressure in conduit 104 acting on the surface of the flapper opening side 238 of flapper 232 exceeds the holder force, then the breaking force may break the shear pin such as by shearing. Breaking the shear pin will allow circulation, i.e., flow through wiper plug 202 in the opening direction.
As shown in
Pressure applied to the fin sealing side 210 of fins 206 may move the wiper plug 202 to landing position 392 at which wiper plug 202 may be considered in a landing position 392. If pressure continues to be applied to the wiper plug 202 in the landing position 392, then the wiper plug 202 no longer moves down the conduit 104 and pressure may increase and may exceed the holding force of the flapper disabler 236.
Referring to
Although only a few example embodiments have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the example embodiments without materially departing from this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims. In the claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus, although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures. It is the express intention of the applicant not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) for any limitations of any of the claims herein, except for those in which the claim expressly uses the words ‘means for’ together with an associated function.
