Wells – Processes – Placing or shifting well part
Patent
1997-01-27
2000-01-18
Neuder, William
Wells
Processes
Placing or shifting well part
166 57, 166 772, 1662416, E21B 2308
Patent
active
060150157
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to coiled tubing and, more particularly, to insulated coiled tubing and/or concentric coiled tubing, including a method of fabrication of such composites and integration of a coiled tubing composite into operational apparatus.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Over the last two decades coiled tubing has proven increasingly useful in oil and gas field applications, including workovers, drilling, logging and well stimulation. These versatile coiled tubing units typically comprise a continuous length of several thousand feet (possibly up to 20,000 feet) of steel tubing, capable of withstanding pressures in the order of 10,000 psi, capable of being repeatedly coiled and uncoiled from a truckable spool, and capable of being injected and withdrawn from oil and gas wells without killing the well.
Continuous coiled tubing can be run and operated using coiled tubing injectors in a pressurized well. Coiled tubing drilling can be carried out without drilling mud. Fluids can be passed through the tubing for a variety of purposes. Being flexible, coiled tubing has particularly lent itself to horizontal well applications where segmented pipe has difficulty maneuvering and bending, such as through a rapid build out section. As a result in horizontal wells coiled tubing has grown to serve a variety of purposes, from drill pipe to production tubing.
The term "coiled tubing" has a generally understood meaning in the field. "Coiled tubing" lengths are understood to comprise several hundred or several thousand feet of continuous, uniform outer diameter tubing, coilable on a "truckable spool" and injectable in a bore by means of a coiled tubing injector. The continuous lengths are typically, although not necessarily, manufactured of steel having a longitudinally welded seam. Resin and fiber polymer materials are being proposed for continuous tubing. More typically today successive lengths of steel tubing are welded to create a desired unit length. "Coiled tubing" is expected to be able to withstand significant pressure differentials, such as at least 1,000 psi and preferably closer to 10,000 psi, and to be sufficiently corrosive resistant and heat resistant to withstand exposure to common hydrocarbons "downhole."
The term "truckable spool" implies a spool or reel having an outside diameter of no more than six meters, and preferably less, so that the spool can be transported by truck over land and highways to a site. Sufficient flexibility to be reeled on a "truckable spool" implies an ability of the tubing to be repeatedly coiled and uncoiled from such a spool or reel. The ability to be injected in a bore implies that the tubing, while flexible, is also sufficiently stiff that lengths of several hundred or thousand feet can be continuously thrust, or injected, in bores using coiled tubing injection equipment.
The present invention comprises, in one aspect, a new variety of coiled tubing, concentric coiled tubing and/or insulated coiled tubing, sometimes referred to herein as a coiled tubing "composite." The composite fits the definition of "coiled tubing" in that the composite is sufficiently flexible for reeling on a truckable spool and sufficiently stiff to be injected in a bore. The composite satisfies length and pressure and corrosion resistance expectations as well.
Establishing that concentric coiled tubing and/or insulated coiled tubing can be built opens up new and improved uses for coiled tubing. One such use for the novel insulated coiled tubing comprises integration of the tubing into apparatus for the thermal production of hydrocarbons.
Cost, or added cost, is a key factor in the economics of the thermal recovery of hydrocarbons and minerals from viscous underground formations. The versatility and reusability of novel insulated coiled tubing, together with its flexibility and compact size, may so favorably affect profit margins as to render thermal recovery from many additional formations economical. Novel insulated coiled tubing further permits consideration of simultaneous heat
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Luft H. Bernie
Pelensky Peter J.
Wilde Graham
BJ Services Company U.S.A.
Neuder William
Nowsco Well Service Ltd.
Shaper Sue Z.
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