1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for fracing producing formations for the production of oil or gas and, more particularly, for fracing in a cemented open hole using sliding valves, which sliding valves may be selectively opened or closed according to the preference of the producer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fracing is a method to stimulate a subterranean formation to increase the production of fluids, such as oil or natural gas. In hydraulic fracing, a fracing fluid is injected through a well bore into the formation at a pressure and flow rate at least sufficient to overcome the pressure of the reservoir and extend fractures into the formation. The fracing fluid may be of any of a number of different media, including sand and water, bauxite, foam, liquid CO2, nitrogen, etc. The fracing fluid keeps the formation from closing back upon itself when the pressure is released. The objective is for the fracing fluid to provide channels through which the formation fluids, such as oil and gas, can flow into the well bore and be produced.
One of the prior problems with earlier fracing methods is they require cementing of a casing in place and then perforating the casing at the producing zones. This in turn requires packers between various stages of the producing zone. An example of prior art that shows perforating the casing to gain access to the producing zone is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,727 to Zemlak, assigned to Schlumberger Technology Corporation. The perforating of the casing requires setting off an explosive charge in the producing zone. The explosion used to perforate the casing can many times cause damage to the formation. Plus, once the casing is perforated, then it becomes hard to isolate that particular zone and normally requires the use of packers both above and below the zone.
Another example of producing in the open hole by perforating the casing is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,888 to Wiemers. One of the problems with Wiemers is the fracing fluid is delivered over the entire production zone and you will not get concentrated pressures in preselected areas of the formation. Once the pipe is perforated, it is very hard to restore and selectively produce certain portions of the zone and not produce other portions of the zone.
When fracing with sand, sand can accumulate and block flow. United States Published Application 2004/0050551 to Jones shows fracing through perforated casing and the use of shunt tubes to give alternate flow paths. Jones does not provide a method for alternately producing different zones or stages of a formation.
One of the methods used in producing horizontal formations is to provide casing in the vertical hole almost to the horizontal zone being produced. At the bottom of the casing, either one or multiple holes extend horizontally. Also, at the bottom of the casing, a liner hanger is set with production tubing then extending into the open hole. Packers are placed between each stage of production in the open hole, with sliding valves along the production tubing opening or closing depending upon the stage being produced. An example is shown in U.S. Published Application 2003/0121663 A1 to Weng, wherein packers separate different zones to be produced with nozzles (referred to as “burst disks”) being placed along the production tubing to inject fracing fluid into the formations. However, there are disadvantages to this particular method. The fracing fluid will be delivered the entire length of the production tubing between packers. This means there will not be a concentrated high pressure fluid being delivered to a small area of the formation. Also, the packers are expensive to run and set inside of the open hole in the formation.
Applicant previously worked for Packers Plus Energy Services, Inc., which had a system similar to that shown in Weng. By visiting the Packers Plus website of www.packersplus.com, more information can be gained about Packers Plus and their products. Examples of the technology used by Packers Plus can be found in United States Published Application Nos. 2004/0129422, 2004/0118564, and 2003/0127227. Each of these published patent applications shows packers being used to separate different producing zones. However, the producing zones may be along long lengths of the production tubing, rather than in a concentrated area.
The founders of Packers Plus previously worked for Guiberson, which was acquired by Dresser Industries and later by Halliburton. The techniques used by Packers Plus were previously used by Guiberson/Dresser/Halliburton. Some examples of well completion methods by Halliburton can be found on the website of www.halliburton.com, including the various techniques they utilize. Also, the sister companies of Dresser Industries and Guiberson can be visited on the website of www.dresser.com. Examples of the Guiberson retrievable packer systems can be found on the Mesquite Oil Tool Inc. website of www.snydertex.com/mesquite/guiberson/htm.
None of the prior art known by applicant, including that of his prior employer, utilized cementing production tubing in place in the production zone with sliding valves being selectively located along the production tubing. None of the prior systems show (1) the sliding valve being selectively opened or closed, (2) the cement therearound being removed, and/or (3) selectively fracing with predetermined sliding valves. All of the prior systems known by applicant utilize packers between the various stages to be produced and have fracing fluid injected over a substantial distance of the production tubing in the formation, not at preselected points adjacent the sliding valves.
The invention is a method of producing petroleum from at least one open hole in at least one petroleum production zone of a hydrocarbon well. The method comprising the steps of locating a plurality of sliding valves along at least one production tubing; inserting the plurality of sliding valves and the production tubing into the at least one open hole; cementing the plurality of sliding valves in the at least one open hole; opening at least one of the cemented sliding valves; removing at least some of the cement adjacent the opened sliding valves without using jetting tools or cutting tools to establish at least one communication path between the interior of the production tubing and the at least one petroleum production zone; directing a fracing material radially through the at least one sliding valve radially toward the at least one production zone; producing hydrocarbons from the at least one petroleum production zone through the plurality of the sliding valves the cement adjacent to which has been removed.
According to another aspect of the invention, an open hole fracing system comprises at least one production tubing inserted into the at least one open hole; a plurality of sliding valves located along the at least one production tubing and in the at least one petroleum production zone, each of the sliding valves having radially-orientated openings therethrough; cement adjacent to the plurality of sliding valves; a fluid flowable radially through the openings of the at least one sliding valve to remove at least some of the adjacent cement without using jetting tools or cutting tools; a fracing material flowable radially through the plurality of sliding valves to cause fracturing of the at least one production zone.
A preferred embodiment of an open hole fracing system is pictorially illustrated in
Below liner hanger 22 extends production tubing 24. To extend laterally, the production well 10 and production tubing 24 bends around a radius 26. The radius 26 may vary from well to well and may be as small as thirty feet and as large as four hundred feet. The radius of the bend in production well 10 and production tubing 24 depends upon the formation and equipment used.
Inside of the hydrocarbon production zone 14, the production tubing 24 has a series of sliding valves pictorially illustrated as 28a-28h. The distance between the sliding valves 28a-28h may vary according to the preference of the particular operator. A normal distance is the length of a standard production tubing of 30 feet. However, the production tubing segments 30a-30h may vary in length depending upon where the sliding valves 28 should be located in the formation.
The entire production tubing 24, sliding valves 28a-28h, and the production tubing segments 30 are all encased in cement 32. Cement 32 located around production tubing 24 may be different from the cement 18 located around the casing 16.
In actual operation, sliding valves 28a-28h may be selectively opened or closed as will be subsequently described. The sliding valves 28a-28h may be opened in any order or sequence.
For the purpose of illustration, assume the operator of the production well 10 desires to open sliding valve 28h. A mechanical shifting tool 34, such as that shown in
To understand the operation of shifting tool 34 inside sliding valves 28a-28h, an explanation as to how the shifting tool 34 and sliding valves 28a-28h work internally is necessary. Referring to
When the shifting tool 34 shown in
Assume the shifting tool 34 is lowered into production well 10 through the casing 16 and into the production tubing 24. Thereafter, the shifting tool 34 will go around the radius 26 through the shifting valves 28 and production pipe segments 30. Once the shifting tool 34b extends beyond the last sliding valve 28h, the shifting tool 34b may be pulled back in the opposite direction as illustrated in
Referring to
Also located between the inner sleeve 48 and nozzle body 44 is a C-clamp 60 that fits in a notch undercut in the nozzle body 44 and into a C-clamp notch 61 in the outer surface of inner sleeve 48. The C-clamp puts pressure in the notches and prevents the inner sleeve 48 from being accidentally moved from the opened to closed position or vice versa, as the shifting tool is moving there through.
Also, seal stacks 62 and 64 are compressed between (1) the upper housing sub 40 and nozzle body 44 and (2) lower housing sub 42 and nozzle body 44, respectively. The seal stacks 62, 64 are compressed in place and prevent leakage from the inner passage 52 to the area outside sliding valve 28 when the sliding valve 28 is closed.
Turning now to the mechanical shifting tool 34, an enlarged partial cross-sectional view is shown in
Referring now to
If it is desired to close a sliding valve 28, the same type of shifting tool will be used, but in the reverse direction, as illustrated in
Also, as the shifting tool 34A moves the inner sleeve 48 to its lowermost position, pressure is exerted on the slope 76 by the inner diameter 61 of lower housing sub 42 of the selective keys 66 to disengage the notch 70 from the closing shoulder 56. Simultaneously, the C-clamp 60 engages in another C-clamp notch 61 in the outer surface of the inner sleeve 48.
If the shifting tool 34, as shown in
Pressure could be applied to the internal passage 74 of shifting tool 34 through the shifting string 36 to overcome the pressure of springs 72 and to retract the selective keys 66 as the shifting tool 34 is being inserted. However, on the other hand, even without an internal pressure, the shifting tool 34b, due to the beveled slope 68, would not engage any of the sliding valves 28a-28h as it is being inserted. On the other hand, the shifting tool 34a would engage each of the sliding valves 28 and make sure the inner sleeve 48 is moved to the closed position. After the shifting tool 34b extends through sliding valve 28h, shifting tool 34b can be moved back towards the surface causing the sliding valve 28h to open. At that time, the operator of the well can send fracing fluid through the annulus between the production tubing 24 and the shifting string 36. Normally, an acid would be sent down first to dissolve the acid-soluble cement 32 around sliding valve 28 (see
Normally, after dissolving the cement 32 around sliding valve 28h, then shifting tool 34a would be inserted there through, which closes sliding valve 28h. At that point, the system would be pressure checked to insure sliding valve 28h was in fact closed. By maintaining the pressure, the selective keys 66 in the shifting tool 34 will remain retracted and the shifting tool 34 can be moved to shifting valve 28g. The process is now repeated for shifting valve 28g, so that shifting tool 34b will open sliding valve 28g. Thereafter, the cement 32 is dissolved, sliding valve 28g closed, and again the system pressure checked to insure valve 28g is closed. This process is repeated until each of the sliding valves 28a-28h has been opened, the cement dissolved (or otherwise removed), pressure checked after closing, and now the system is ready for fracing.
By determining the depth from the surface, the operator can tell exactly which sliding valve 28a-28h is being opened. By selecting the combination the operator wants to open, then fracing fluid can be pumped through casing 16, production tubing 24, sliding valves 28, and production tubing segments 30 into the formation.
By having a very limited area around the sliding valve 28 that is subject to fracing, the operator now gets fracing deeper into the formation with less fracing fluid. The increase in the depth of the fracing results in an increase in production of oil or gas. The cement 32 between the respective sliding valves 28a-28h confines the fracing fluids to the areas immediately adjacent to the sliding valves 28a-28h that are open.
Any particular combination of the sliding valves 28a-28h can be selected. The operator at the surface can tell when the shifting tool 34 goes through which sliding valves 28a-28h by the depth and increased force as the respective sliding valve is being opened or closed.
Applicant has just described one way of shifting the sliding sleeves used within the system of the present invention. Other types of shifting devices may be used including electrical, hydraulic, or other mechanical designs. While mechanical shifting using a shifting tool 34 is tried and proven, other designs may be useful depending on how the operator wants to produce the well. For example, the operator may not want to separately dissolve the cement 32 around each sliding valve 28a-28h, and pressure check, prior to fracing. The operator may want to open every third sliding valve 28, dissolve the cement, then frac. Depending upon the operator preference, some other type shifting device may be easily be used.
Another aspect of the invention is to prevent debris from getting inside sliding valves 28 when the sliding valves 28 are being cemented into place inside of the open hole. To prevent the debris from flowing inside the sliding valve 28, a plug 78 is located in nozzle 46. The plug 78 can be dissolved by the same acid that is used to dissolve the cement 32. For example, if a hydrochloric acid is used, by having a weep hole 80 through an aluminum plug 78, the aluminum plug 78 will quickly be eaten up by the hydrochloric acid. However, to prevent wear at the nozzles 46, the area around the aluminum plus 78 is normally made of titanium. The titanium resists wear from fracing fluids, such as sand.
While the use of plug 78 has been described, plugs 78 may not be necessary. If the sliding valves 28 are closed and the cement 32 does not stick to the inner sleeve 48, plugs 78 may be unnecessary. It all depends on whether the cement 32 will stick to the inner sleeve 48.
Further, the nozzle 46 may be hardened any of a number of ways instead of making the nozzles 46 out of titanium. The nozzles 46 may be (a) heat treated, (b) frac hardened, (c) made out of tungsten carbide, (d) made out of hardened stainless steel, or (e) made or treated any of a number of different ways to decrease and increase productive life.
Assume the system as just described is used in a multi-lateral formation as shown in
In the drilling of wells with multiple laterals, or multi-lateral wells, an on/off tool 88 is used to connect to the stinger 90 on the liner hanger 22 or the stinger 92 on packer 94. Packer 94 can be either a hydraulic set or mechanical set packer to the wall 81 of the horizontal lateral 86. In determining which lateral 86, 96 to which the operator is going to connect, a bend 98 in the vertical production tubing 100 helps guide the on/off tool 88 to the proper lateral 86 or 96. The sliding valves 102a-102g may be identical to the sliding valves 28a-28h. The only difference is sliding valves 102a-102g are located in hydrocarbon production zone 82, which is drilled through the window 84 of the casing 16. Sliding valves 102a-102g and production tubing 104a-104g are cemented into place past the packer 94 in the same manner as previously described in conjunction with
Just as the multi laterals as described in
By use of the system as just described, more pressure can be created in a smaller zone for fracing than is possible with prior systems. Also, the size of the tubulars is not decreased the further down in the well the fluid flows. Although ball-operated valves may be used with alternative embodiments of the present invention, the decreasing size of tubulars is a particular problem for a series of ball operated valves, each successive ball-operated valve being smaller in diameter. This means the same fluid flow can be created in the last sliding valve at the end of the string as would be created in the first sliding valve along the string. Hence, the flow rates can be maintained for any of the selected sliding valves 28a-28h or 102a-102g. This results in the use of less fracing fluid, yet fracing deeper into the formation at a uniform pressure regardless of which sliding valve through which fracing may be occurring. Also, the operator has the option of fracing any combination or number of sliding valves at the same time or shutting off other sliding valves that may be producing undesirables, such as water.
On the top of casing 18 of production well 10 is located a wellhead 108. While many different types of wellheads are available, the wellhead preferred by applicant is illustrated in further detail in
Above the goat head 116 is located blowout preventer 120, which is standard in the industry. If the well starts to blow, the blowout preventer 120 drives two rams together and squeezes the pipe closed. Above the blowout preventer 120 is located the annular preventer 122. The annular preventer 122 is basically a big balloon squashed around the pipe to keep the pressure in the well bore from escaping to atmosphere. The annular preventer 122 allows access to the well so that pipe or tubing can be moved up and down there through. The equalizing valve 124 allows the pressure to be equalized above and below the blow out preventer 120. The equalizing of pressure is necessary to be able to move the pipe up and down for entry into the wellhead. All parts of the wellhead 108 are old, except the modification of the goat head 116 to provide injection of sand at an angle to prevent excessive wear. Even this modification is not necessary by controlling the flow rate.
Turning now to
The system previously described can also be used for an entirely vertical well 140 as shown in
On the other hand, if the operator wants to have multiple sliding valves 162a-162d operate in production zone 156, the operator can operate all or any combination of the sliding valves 162a-162d, dissolve the cement 164 therearound, and later frac through all or any combination of the sliding valves 162a-162d. By use of the method as just described, the operator can produce whichever zone 152, 154 or 156 the operator desires with any combination of selected sliding valves 158, 160 or 162.
Alternative embodiments of the present invention may include any number of sliding sleeve variants, such as a hydraulically actuated ball-and-seat valve 200 shown in
The inner sleeve 216 is cylindrical with open ends to allow fluid communication through the interior thereof. The inner sleeve 216 further contains a cylindrical ball seat 222 opened at both ends and connected to the inner sleeve 216. When the ball-and-seat valve 200 is closed as shown in
To open the ball-and-seat valve 200—in other words, to move the inner sleeve 216 to the “open” position—downward flow within the production tubing (not shown) is maintained. Because fluid cannot move through the seat 222 because the ball 223 is in sealing contact with the seating surface 224 thereof, pressure upwell from the ball 223 may be increased to force the ball 223, and therefore the inner sleeve 216, downwell until further movement of the inner sleeve 216 is impeded by contacting the lower sub 210.
As shown in
When multiple ball-and-seat valves are used in a production well, each of the ball-and-seat valves will have a ball seat sized differently from the ball seats of the other valves used in the same production tubing. Moreover, the valve with the largest diameter ball seat will be located furthest upwell, and the valve with the smallest diameter ball seat will be located furthest downwell. Because the size of the seating surface of each ball seat is designed to mate and seal to a particularly-sized ball, valves are chosen and positioned within the production string so that balls will flow through any larger-sized, upwell ball seats until the appropriately-sized seat is reached. When the appropriately-sized ball seat is reached, the ball will mate and seal to the seat, blocking any upwell-to-downwell fluid flow as described hereinabove. Thus, when selectively opening multiple ball-and-seat valves within a production string, the valve furthest downwell is typically first opened, then the next furthest, and so on.
Referring to
As shown in
Further referring to
After having been pumped into the production well to selectively trigger corresponding ball-and-seat sliding valves, the balls may be pumped from the production well during production by reversing the direction of flow. Alternatively, seated balls may be milled, and thus fractured such that the pieces of the balls return to the well surface and may be retrieved therefrom.
By use of the method as described, the operator, by cementing the sliding valves into the open hole and thereafter dissolving the cement, can frac just in the area adjacent to the sliding valve. By having a limited area of fracing, more pressure can be built up into the formation with less fracing fluid, thereby causing deeper fracing into the formation. Such deeper fracing will increase the production from the formation. Also, the fracing fluid is not wasted by distributing fracing fluid over a long area of the well, which results in less pressure forcing the fracing fluid deep into the formation. In fracing over long areas of the well, there is less desirable fracing than what would be the case with the present invention.
The present invention shows a method of fracing in the open hole through cemented in place sliding valves that can be selectively opened or closed depending upon where the production is to occur. Preliminary experiments have shown that the present system described hereinabove produces better fracing and better production at lower cost than prior methods.
The present invention is described above in terms of a preferred illustrative embodiment of a specifically described cemented open-hole selective fracing system and method, as well as an alternative embodiment of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other alternative embodiments of such a system and method can be used in carrying out the present invention. Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention may be obtained from a study of this disclosure and the drawings, along with the appended claims.
This continuation application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/089,165, filed Apr. 18, 2011 which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/760,728, filed Jun. 8, 2007 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,926,571), which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/359,059, filed Feb. 22, 2006 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,377,322), which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/079,950, filed Mar. 15, 2005 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,172), each of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13089165 | Apr 2011 | US |
Child | 14480470 | US | |
Parent | 11760728 | Jun 2007 | US |
Child | 13089165 | US |