Hydrocarbons can be produced through a wellbore in a subterranean formation. Typically, a wellbore is lined with a casing or liner. A tubing string can be located in the casing to facilitate the production of the hydrocarbons. Tools coupled to the tubing string can be placed at a selected depth and orientation with a landing sub coupled to the casing. The tubing string can have various control lines to operate the various tools connected to the tubing string. The control lines are subject to damage during the landing and/or orientating of the tool. The damage includes being cut or stretched. The control lines could be stretched or cut during rotation of the tool as the tool couples to the landing sub. Furthermore, the control line could be cut when the tool couples to the landing sub. Therefore, a system and method are needed to orient and couple a tool to a casing without damaging the control lines while locking the tool in the casing.
This invention relates generally to wells to produce petroleum products. More specifically the present invention concerns the provision of a method and apparatus for landing and orienting downhole tools at well depths established by an indexing casing coupling (ICC) (not illustrated) to enable the efficient conduct of subsequent downhole operations.
This invention relates to control lines contained in a downhole tool that are not damaged during the landing and orienting of the downhole tool in an indexing casing coupling connected to the casing.
The present invention provides a method and system having the principal function of positioning, orienting a tool relative to a selected landing and orienting coupling of the casing string of the well and locking the apparatus within a landing profile of the selected landing and orienting coupling without damaging control lines utilized by downhole tools. The downhole tools include inflow control devices or any tool that requires the use of a control line. The control lines can be electric, fiber optic, hydraulic or any other type of line that will send control signals to a downhole tool.
The present invention provides a method and system for retrieving the tool after the tool has been locked in the ICC of a casing string.
Certain embodiments of the disclosure will hereafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements. It should be understood, however, that the accompanying figures illustrate the various implementations described herein and are not meant to limit the scope of various described technologies. The drawings are as follows:
In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of some embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the system and/or methodology may be practiced without these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments are possible. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but rather made merely for the purpose of describing general principles of the implementations. The scope of the described implementations should be ascertained with reference to the issued claims.
As used herein, the terms “connect”, “connection”, “connected”, “in connection with”, and “connecting” are used to mean “in direct connection with” or “in connection with via one or more elements”; and the term “set” is used to mean “one element” or “more than one element”. Further, the terms “couple”, “coupling”, “coupled”, “coupled together”, and “coupled with” are used to mean “directly coupled together” or “coupled together via one or more elements”. As used herein, the terms “up” and “down”; “upper” and “lower”; “top” and “bottom”; and other like terms indicating relative positions to a given point or element are utilized to more clearly describe some elements. Commonly, these terms relate to a reference point at the surface from which drilling operations are initiated as being the top point and the total depth being the lowest point, wherein the well (e.g., wellbore, borehole) is vertical, horizontal or slanted relative to the surface.
Turning now to the Figures,
The PSLT 18 comprises the landing keys 4 which may be in the form of a plurality of landing keys 4 mounted on body 2. By way of example, the landing keys 4 may comprise three keys that, when assembled on body 2, match a corresponding latching profile of the ICC coupled to the casing.
The orientation key 5 of the PSLT 18 extends through an opening of the body 2. Once at the desired location, the orientation key 5 engages an orienting mechanism of the ICC, as described in greater detail below. The orienting mechanism enables rotational orientation of the PSLT 18.
In operation, the PSLT 18 is conveyed downhole on a completion string (not illustrated). Once downhole, the PSLT 18 is oriented and landed on the ICC latching profile. Once landed, slack off weight and/or hydraulic pressure are applied to the PSLT 18. Once sufficient force, created by slack off weight and/or hydraulic pressure, is applied to the PSLT 18, the piston 10 is shifted and shear screws 11 are sheared. When the piston 10 is shifted the exterior of the locking lug 12 will be uncovered. Once the shear screws 11 are sheared and the piston is shifted, the locking lug 12 is expanded and the mandrel 1 can shift to support the landing keys 4 and the orientation key 5. The PSLT 18 scan support more than one locking lug 12. The rachet ring 13 and shear ring 14 are used to maintain the mandrel 1 in the shifted position. The rachet ring 13 and shear ring 14 lock the PSLT 18 in the ICC. As the mandrel 1, the lugs 8, and the control lines 7 are shifted as described above, while the body 2, the locking mechanism 3, the landing keys 4, and the orientation key 5 remain stationary. The mandrel 1, the lugs 8, the clamp 9, and the control lines 7 are shifted together. Additionally, the lugs 8, the clamp 9, and the control lines 7 are shifted jointly. The PSLT 18 can then be released with via pulling the completion string uphole. The pulling of the completion string uphole shears the shear ring 14. Once the shear ring 14 is sheared the ratchet ring 13 will no longer maintain the mandrel in the shifted position, allowing the PSLT 18 to be removed from the ICC.
Although a few embodiments of the disclosure have been described in detail above, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible without materially departing from the teachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the claims. It is also contemplated that various combinations or sub-combinations of the specific features and aspects of the embodiments described may be made and still fall within the scope of the disclosure. It should be understood that various features and aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be combined with, or substituted for, one another in order to form varying modes of the embodiments of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the disclosure herein should not be limited by the particular embodiments described above.
The present document is based on and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/366,807, filed Jun. 22, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2023/025911 | 6/22/2023 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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63366807 | Jun 2022 | US |