The invention relates generally to running a tubing string including a tubing and an isolation valve into a well, and running a toolstring including an electrical pump for engagement inside the tubing string.
A completion system is installed in a well to produce hydrocarbons (or other types of fluids) from reservoir(s) adjacent the well, or to inject fluids into the reservoir(s) through the well. In some wells, it may be desirable to provide an artificial lift mechanism, such as in the form of an electrical submersible pump (ESP). However, to perform workover operations in a well, it may be desirable to remove the ESP, such as to replace or repair the ESP at the earth surface, or to perform another workover operation. Traditionally, to remove an ESP, a tubing string that includes a tubing (e.g., production tubing or injection tubing) would have to be removed with the ESP, which is a time-consuming and costly operation, particularly in remote locations such as subsea wells. Also, conventional completion systems that include ESPs do not provide for flexible communication of hydraulic and/or electrical signals between different sections of the completion systems.
In general, according to an embodiment, a method for use in a well comprises running into the well a tubing string including a tubing and an isolation valve, where the tubing string is configured to receive an electrical pump. A first wet connect portion in the tubing string is engaged with a corresponding second wet connect portion that is part of a downhole completion section. A toolstring including the electrical pump is run into the inner bore of the tubing for engagement inside the tubing string. Removal of the toolstring including the electrical pump without removing the tubing string is enabled due to presence of the isolation valve.
In general, according to another embodiment, a completion system includes a first completion section having a first portion of a hydraulic wet connect mechanism, and a second completion section having a second portion of the hydraulic wet connect mechanism, where the first and second portions of the hydraulic wet connect mechanism are engageable when the second completion section is engaged with the first completion section. In addition, the completion system includes an electrical pump coupled to the second completion section.
Other or alternative features will become apparent from the following description, from the drawings, and from the claims.
In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of the present invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments are possible.
As used here, the terms “above” and “below”; “up” and “down”; “upper” and “lower”; “upwardly” and “downwardly”; and other like terms indicating relative positions above or below a given point or element are used in this description to more clearly describe some embodiments of the invention. However, when applied to equipment and methods for use in wells that are deviated or horizontal, such terms may refer to a left to right, right to left, or diagonal relationship as appropriate.
In accordance with some embodiments, an electrical pump-ready completion system can be installed in a well, where the electrical pump-ready completion system includes a tubing string having a tubing and an isolation valve. The tubing string is capable of receiving a toolstring that includes the electrical pump. After engagement of the toolstring including the electrical pump inside the tubing string, the toolstring including the electrical pump can be subsequently removed without removing the tubing string. This is enabled by presence of the isolation valve that is part of the tubing string. Also, the tubing string has a first wet connect portion for engagement with a second wet connect portion of a downhole completion section. The wet connect portions can be inductive coupler portions (for providing electrical wet connect) and/or hydraulic wet connect portions.
By being able to remove the electrical pump without removing the tubing string, workover operations involving repair or replacement of the electrical pump, or other types of operations in which the electrical pump has to be first removed (such as to enable access of completion equipment past the electrical pump), cost and time savings can be achieved since removing the toolstring with the electrical pump is much easier than removing the entire tubing string.
In one implementation, the electrical pump includes an electrical submersible pump (ESP), which is activated by electrical power. In other implementations, the electrical pump can be any other type of pump that can be activated by electrical power. In the ensuing discussion, reference is made to an ESP. However, it is contemplated that some embodiments of the invention can be applied to other types of electrical pumps.
The completion system includes a lower downhole completion section 104 that has a lateral branch liner 114 to connect a lateral branch 112 to the main wellbore. However, in an alternative implementation, the lateral branch 112 can be omitted. The lower completion section 104 is engageable with an indexing casing coupling 117 or other mechanism to set the position and orientation of the lateral branch liner 114.
The lower completion section has portions of both a hydraulic wet connect mechanism and an electrical wet connect mechanism provided on the lateral branch liner 114.
The electrical wet connect mechanism and hydraulic wet connect mechanism are provided to allow for electrical coupling and hydraulic coupling to occur between different sections of the completion system. The electrical wet connect mechanism includes an inductive coupler, made up of a first inductive coupler portion 116 (e.g., female inductive coupler portion) and a second inductive coupler portion 118 (e.g., male inductive coupler portion). The female inductive coupler portion 116 is part of the lower completion section 104 and is attached to the lateral branch liner 114. Also, the female inductive coupler portion 116 is electrically connected to an electrical cable segment 120 that extends from the female inductive coupler portion 116 to equipment in the lateral branch 112.
The male inductive coupler portion 118 is part of a tubing string that includes a larger tubing 140, a length compensation joint 108, and a pipe 110. The male inductive coupler portion 118 is attached to the pipe 110 of the tubing string in the example of
In this manner, electrical power and/or signaling communicated over the electrical cable 122 can be provided through the inductive coupler (made up of inductive coupler portions 116 and 118) and over the electrical cable segment 120 to an electrical component in the lateral branch 112 (or alternatively, to an electrical component in the lower portion of the main wellbore).
The hydraulic wet connect mechanism 124 allows for a hydraulic connection to be made in the presence of wellbore fluids between an upper completion section (tubing string) and the lower completion section 104. The hydraulic wet connect mechanism 124 includes a groove 126 that can be run around the circumference of a connection sub 128. Seals 130 and 132 are provided on the two sides of the groove 126 to provide a seal against leakage of hydraulic fluids in the groove 126. The groove 126 allows for hydraulic connection between a hydraulic control line 134 and a hydraulic control line segment 136, which can extend from the hydraulic wet connect mechanism 124 into the lateral branch 112 or into the lower portion of the main wellbore. The hydraulic control line segment 134 extends around the length compensation joint 108 and extends upwardly through the completion packer 106.
The tubing string above the completion packer 106 has the larger tubing 140 (e.g., production tubing or injection tubing). The term “tubing” is intended to refer to any conduit used to carry fluids. The tubing can be generally cylindrical in structure, or alternatively, can have other geometries. The lower end of the tubing 140 is attached to an isolation valve 142, such as a formation isolation valve implemented as a ball valve. In other implementations, other types of isolation valves can be used, such as flapper valves, sliding sleeve valves, and so forth.
The isolation valve 142 can be a mechanical isolation valve that is actuated by a mechanical shifting tool lowered through the inner bore 144 of the tubing 140 for engagement with an actuator mechanism of the isolation valve 142. Alternatively, the isolation valve 142 can be a surface-controlled isolation valve that is controlled by a control line 146 (e.g., an electrical cable, fiber optic cable, hydraulic control line, etc.). In some implementations, the isolation valve 142 can be actuated using both the mechanical shifting tool and the control line.
Instead of using a separate control line 146 to actuate the surface-controlled isolation valve 142, the isolation valve 142 can instead be actuated using a common control line that also controls another component.
When the isolation valve 142 is open, fluid can flow between the inner bore 144 of the tubing 140 and an inner bore 148 of the lower part of the tubing string below the isolation valve 142. On the other hand, when the isolation valve 142 is closed, the tubing inner bore 144 and the inner bore 148 are isolated from each other.
The tubing string of
The completion system depicted in
A polished bore receptacle and seal assembly 204 is provided at the isolation valve 142 to allow for sealing engagement of the lower portion of the toolstring 201 in a part of the tubing string. The toolstring 201 also has a smaller tubing 206 (smaller than the larger tubing 140 of the tubing string) that is connected to the ESP 200. The smaller tubing 206 can be a coiled tubing or ajointed tubing. The smaller tubing 206 has an inner bore 208 through which fluid can flow when the ESP 200 is activated.
The ESP 200 is activated by an ESP cable 210 that is run along the length of the smaller tubing 206. The ESP cable 210 can be an electrical cable or a fiber optic cable. The cable 210 extends through a packer 212 that is arranged outside the smaller tubing 206. The packer 212 when set engages an inner wall of the larger tubing 140 to provide a seal between the smaller tubing 206 and the larger tubing 140.
With reference to
At some later point in time, when it is desired to remove the ESP 200 to perform a workover operation, such as to repair or replace the ESP 200 or to perform some other workover operation with respect to a lower part of the completion system depicted in
In some embodiments, the control line 146 can be filled with nitrogen or other gas to perform control of the isolation valve. Alternatively, the control line 146 can be filled with a hydraulic fluid. In yet another variation, the control line can be an electrical control line. In yet another embodiment two control lines may be used, one for opening and one for closing.
Also, the hydraulic control line 608 is provided to the hydraulic wet connect mechanism 604, which connects the hydraulic control line 608 to a hydraulic control line segment 612 below the hydraulic wet connect mechanism 604. The hydraulic control line segment 612 is hydraulically connected to the isolation valve 142 to control the isolation valve. Moreover, the hydraulic control line segment 612 extends through the length compensation joint 108 to the lower hydraulic wet connect mechanism 124 (which is the same as the hydraulic wet connect mechanism 124 of
An electrical cable 614 also extends from the earth surface through the packer 610 to the inductive coupler 602. More specifically, the electrical cable 614 extends to a male inductive coupler portion 616 of the inductive coupler 602. A female inductive coupler portion 618 is provided adjacent the male inductive coupler portion 616 to allow coupling of electrical energy between the inductive coupler portions 616 and 618. The inductive coupler 602 is connected to an electrical cable segment 620, which extends through the length compensation joint 108 to the inductive coupler 124 (which is the same as the inductive coupler 124 of
In the embodiment of
The intermediate completion section 703 includes a lower pipe 709, and a packer 711 that engages the lateral branch liner 700. The intermediate completion section 703 also has a support structure 713 to which is mounted the isolation valve 142 and a female inductive coupler portion 706 of an inductive coupler 704. The isolation valve 142 is electrically connected to the inductive coupler 704, which further includes a male inductive coupler portion 708 to communicate with the female inductive coupler portion 706.
The inductive coupler 704 is electrically connected by another electrical cable segment 710 to the inductive coupler 714 that includes the female inductive coupler portion 716 and male inductive coupler portion 718.
The male inductive coupler portion 718 of the inductive coupler 714 is electrically connected to an electrical cable segment 722 that extends to a control station 724. The control station 724 includes processing elements, such as a processor (or processors), and other components, to allow for control of various electrical components in the completion system of
The control station 724 in turn is connected to an electrical cable 726 that extends through a packer 728 to the earth surface. The packer 728 is arranged on the outside surface of a tubing 730 (part of the tubing string) which extends into a part of the lower completion section. The tubing 730 has a shifting tool 732 at its lower end for actuating the isolation valve 142 mechanically.
The tubing 730 has an inner bore 740 for receiving an ESP, according to some embodiments. The ESP that is engaged inside the inner bore 740 of the tubing 730 has an ESP cable attached to it, where the ESP cable can be run inside the inner bore 740 of the tubing 730.
A lower part of the smaller tubing 802 has a shifting tool 808 for actuating the isolation valve 142 that is attached to the larger tubing 804. The smaller tubing 802, ESP 800, and shifting tool 808 can be considered a toolstring that is engageable inside a tubing string that includes the larger tubing 804 and other components.
The tubing string depicted in
The flow control valves 810 and 812 are controlled by a one or more control lines 820, which can be a hydraulic control line. The control line 820 extends through a packer 822 (provided between the tubing string and the casing 102) to the earth surface. Note that the control line 820 may also be used to control the isolation valve 142 or a separate control line is run to control isolation valve.
The hydraulic control line 820 also extends through another packer 824 between the tubing string and the casing 102 to couple to the flow control valve 812. Alternately separate control line(s) may be run for controlling each flow control valve 810 and 812. Moreover, the hydraulic control line 820 extends to a hydraulic wet connect mechanism 826 to allow for hydraulic pressure in the control line 820 to be communicated to flow control valves in the segmented main or mother bore of the well 828 below the hydraulic wet connect mechanism 826.
Note that the hydraulic control line segment 828 can be used to control another flow control valve 830 that is provided in a lower completion section positioned in the lower portion of the main wellbore.
The electrical cable 832 further extends through the packer 824 to another sensor 836. The sensor 834 is provided to monitor parameters in the zone associated with lateral branch 814, and the sensor 836 is provided to monitor parameters in the zone associated with the lateral branch 816.
The electrical cable 832 continues through another packer 825 to an inductive coupler 838 (which has a male inductive coupler portion 840 and female inductive coupler portion 842). The electrical cable 832 is electrically connected to the male inductive coupler portion 840 which is inductively coupled to the female inductive coupler portion 842 to allow for communication of electrical energy to electrical cable segment 844 (which can be connected to an electrical device in the lower portion of the main wellbore, such as a sensor).
While the invention has been disclosed with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
This claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/894,495, entitled “Method and Apparatus for an Active Integrated Well Construction and Completion System for Maximum Reservoir Contact and Hydrocarbon Recovery,” filed Mar. 13, 2007; and of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/895,555, entitled, “Method and Apparatus for an Active Integrated Well Construction and Completion System for Maximum Reservoir Contact and Hydrocarbon Recovery,” filed Mar. 30, 2007, both hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60894495 | Mar 2007 | US | |
60895555 | Mar 2007 | US |