Patent Application
20180283162
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein generally relate to oil and gas wells, and, more specifically, to a wellhead monitoring system used to monitor wellheads utilized in oil and gas wells.
Certain oil and gas drilling sites may include control systems that may be provided to monitor the operational and environmental conditions of the oil and gas site. Generally, the control systems and/or other monitoring systems may be located at an above-sea or above-ground drilling rig, while the oil and gas well itself may be located deeply below the sea or deeply underground. Thus, the operators or other personnel at the drilling rig may not have access to real-time data regarding the operational and environmental conditions of the oil and gas wells below sea or below ground. Instead, the operators may have to rely upon an indirect interpolation of data derived from accelerometers placed on, for example, wellhead equipment at the oil and gas well. Such data may not indicate accurate real-time operational and environmental conditions of the wellhead equipment or other equipment utilized at the oil and gas well. It may be useful to provide systems to improve the monitoring of wellhead equipment at oil and gas wells.
In accordance with a first embodiment, a system includes a wellhead monitoring system. The wellhead monitoring system includes a processor configured to receive from a sensor a detection of one or more operating parameters associated with a wellhead disposed within a subsea environment. The sensor is coupled to the wellhead, and is configured to detect the one or more operating parameters within the subsea environment. The processor is configured to store the detection of the one or more operating parameters, and to generate an output based at least in part on the detection of the one or more operating parameters. The output includes an indication of an operational fatigue or an operational health of the wellhead.
In accordance with a second embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer executable code stored thereon includes instructions to cause a processor of a wellhead monitoring system to receive from a sensor a detection of one or more operating parameters associated with a wellhead disposed within a subsea environment. The sensor is coupled to the wellhead and is configured to detect the one or more operating parameters within the subsea environment. The code includes instructions to cause the processor to store the detection of the one or more operating parameters, and to cause the processor to generate an output based at least in part on the detection of the one or more operating parameters. The output includes an indication of an operational fatigue or an operational health of the wellhead.
In accordance with a third embodiment, a wellhead sensor and monitoring system includes a plurality of subsea sensors each coupled to a subsea wellhead and configured to detect one or more operating parameters associated with the subsea wellhead while disposed within a subsea environment and a subsea wellhead monitoring system coupled to each of the plurality of subsea sensors. The subsea wellhead monitoring system is configured to receive the detection of the one or more operating parameters, store the detection of the one or more operating parameters, and to generate an output based at least in part on the detection of the one or more operating parameters. The output includes an indication of an operational fatigue or an operational health of the subsea wellhead.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate one or more embodiments and, together with the description, explain these embodiments. In the drawings:
The foregoing aspects, features, and advantages of the present embodiments will be further appreciated when considered with reference to the following description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings, wherein the reference numerals represent like elements. In describing the preferred embodiments of the technology illustrated in the appended drawings, specific terminology will be used for the sake of clarity. However, the technology is not intended to be limited to the specific terms used, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes equivalents that operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.
One or more specific embodiments of the invention will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.
When introducing elements of various embodiments of the invention, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
With the foregoing in mind, it may be useful to describe an embodiment of a subsea oil and well system, such as an example subsea oil and well system 10 illustrated in
In certain embodiments, as further depicted in
In certain embodiments, as depicted in
For example, as illustrated, the wellhead monitoring system 34 may include a processor 36 and a memory 38, and, in one embodiment, may include battery-powered system useful in processing and storing data over any period of time (e.g., minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years) while remaining positioned at the wellheads 30 and 32 within the subsea environment 22. The processor 36 may include a general processor, an application-specific integrated chip (ASIC), a microcontroller unit (MCU), system-on-chip (SoC), or other processor that may be used to process operational and environmental data (e.g., inclination (e.g., by accelerometers that may be coupled to the wellheads 30 and 32), cement level, pressure, temperature, annulus pressure, annulus temperature, vibration, clearance, flow data, load data, and so forth) associated with the wellheads 30 and 32 and/or the oil and gas wells.
In certain embodiments, the processor 36 may be used to generate an indication of the remaining fatigue life, peak loads, and other operational and/or environmental conditions of the wellheads 28 and 30 based on the sensed operational data measured directly by the sensors 32. For example, as will be described in further detail with respect to
In certain embodiments, the processor 36 of the wellhead monitoring system 34 may then store the data collected by the sensors 32 to the memory 38 of the wellhead monitoring system 34 for retrieval after some period of time (e.g., using the memory 38 of the wellhead monitoring system 34 to store hours, days, weeks, months, or years of sensor 32 data, all while the sensors 32 and wellhead monitoring system 34 remain within the subsea environment 22). In another embodiment, in addition to storing the sensor 32 data to the memory 38 for later retrieval, the processor 36 of the wellhead monitoring system 34 may transmit the received sensor 32 data to, for example, the central control system 20 located at one or more of the oil and gas rigs 14, 16, or 18. In this way, the present techniques may provide personnel (e.g., operators, engineers, technicians) at the oil and gas rigs 14, 16, or 18 with useful information pertaining to wellheads 28 and 30 such as remaining fatigue life and peak loads measured directly by the sensors 32 during, for example, drilling and production operations.
Turning now to
Indeed, as further depicted in
As previously noted, the processor 36 of the wellhead monitoring system 34 may then store the data collected by the sensors 32 to the memory 38 of the wellhead monitoring system 34 for retrieval after some period of time. In certain embodiments, based on the data detected by the sensors 32 and stored via the wellhead monitoring system 34, the processor 36 of the wellhead monitoring system 34, or, in another embodiment, the central control system 20 may be used to generate and predict an operational fatigue life or an operational health (e.g., remaining operational life or operational health before either maintenance or replacement of one or more components of the wellheads 28, 30) of the high pressure housing 38, the low pressure housing 40, the casing 44, the conductor pipe(s) 24, 26, and the connector 46, and, by extension, the wellhead(s) 28, 30.
In certain embodiments, as further illustrated by
In one embodiment, the ROV system 48 may be coupled between the central control system 20 and the wellhead monitoring system 34 via an ROV umbilical cable useful in transferring information within the subsea environment 22 without being compromised due to the subsea environmental conditions. In another embodiment, the ROV system 48 may be coupled to the central control system 20 via the ROV umbilical cable and coupled to the wellhead monitoring system 34 via a wireless communication connection (e.g., via optical communication transmission or via an inductively coupled hot stab). In this way, the present techniques may provide personnel (e.g., operators, engineers, technicians) at the oil and gas rigs 14, 16, or 18 with useful information pertaining to wellheads 28 and 30 such as remaining fatigue life or operational health and peak loads measured directly by the sensors 32 during, for example, drilling and production operations.
Turning now to
The process 50 may then continue with the wellhead monitoring system 34 collecting and storing (block 54) the system operating parameters at the wellhead(s) 28, 30. For example, as noted above with respect to
The process 50 may then conclude with the wellhead monitoring system 34, or, in another embodiment, the central control system 20 determining (block 58) an operational fatigue or an operational health of the wellhead(s) 28, 30. For example, as noted above with respect to
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal language of the claims.
Although the features and elements of the present exemplary embodiments are described in the embodiments in particular combinations, each feature or element may be used alone without the other features and elements of the embodiments or in various combinations with or without other features and elements disclosed herein.
