Wells – Processes – Graveling or filter forming
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-17
2004-12-21
Schoeppel, Roger J. (Department: 3672)
Wells
Processes
Graveling or filter forming
C166S381000, C166S387000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832649
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to well completion; more particularly the present invention relates to methods and apparatus involving the use of expandable tubulars in a wellbore; still more particularly the invention includes trip saving methods and apparatus for use with expandable sand screen.
2. Background of the Related Art
The completion of wells includes the formation of a borehole to access areas of the earth adjacent underground formations. Thereafter, the borehole may be lined with steel pipe to form a wellbore and to facilitate the isolation of a portion of the wellbore with packers. The casing is perforated adjacent the area of the formation to be accessed to permit production fluids to enter the wellbore for recovery at the surface of the well. Whether the well is drilled to produce hydrocarbons, water, geothermal energy, or is intended as a conduit to stimulate other wells, the basic construction is the same. In addition to creating and perforating a wellbore, the formation surrounding a wellbore may be treated to enhance production of the well. For example, when a formation having very low permeability, but a sufficient quantity of valuable fluids is to be produced, it is necessary to artificially increase the formation's permeability. This is typically accomplished by “fracturing” the formation, a practice which is well known in the art and for which purpose many methods have been conceived. Basically, fracturing is achieved by applying sufficient pressure to the formation to cause it to crack or fracture, hence the term “fracturing” or simply “fracing”. The desired result of this process is that the cracks interconnect the formation's pores and allow the valuable fluids to be brought out of the formation and to the surface.
The general sequence of steps needed to stimulate a production zone through which a wellbore extends is as follows: First, a performable nipple is made up in the well casing and cemented in at a predetermined depth in the well within the subterranean production zone requiring stimulation. Next a perforating trip is made by lowering a perforation assembly into the nipple on a tubular work-string. The perforating assembly is then detonated to create a spaced series of perforations extending outwardly through the nipple, the cement and into the production zone. The discharged gun assembly is then pulled up with the work-string to complete the perforating trip. Thereafter, stimulating and fracturing materials are injected into the well.
Another frequently used technique to complete a well is the placement of sized gravel in an annular area formed between the perforated casing and a screen member disposed on the end of tubing that is coaxially inserted into the wellbore as a conduit for production fluids. In order to eliminate or reduce the production of formation sand, a sand screen is typically placed adjacent to the perforations or adjacent to an open wellbore face through which fluids are produced. A packer is usually set above the sand screen and the annulus around the screen is then packed with a relatively course sand, commonly referred to as gravel, to form a gravel pack around the sand screen as well as in the perforations and/or in the producing formation adjacent the well bore for filtering sand out of the in-flowing formation fluids. In open hole gravel pack installations, the gravel pack also supports the surrounding unconsolidated formation and helps to prevent the migration of sand with produced formation fluids.
Recently, technology has arisen making it possible to expand a tubular in a wellbore. These in-situ expansion apparatus and methods permit a tubular of a smaller diameter to be inserted into a wellbore and then expanded to a larger diameter once in place. The advantages of time and space are obvious. The technique has also been applied to sand screens, or those tubulars members at the lower end of production tubing designed to permit the passage of production fluid therethrough but to inhibit the passage of particulate matter, like sand. An expandable slotted tubular usable as a sand screen and a method for its use is described in published Application No. PCT/GB98/03261 assigned to the same entity as the present application, and that publication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
An expandable sand screen is typically inserted into a wellbore on the end of a run-in string of tubulars with its initial outer diameter about the same as the diameter of the run-in string. In one method of in-situ expansion, a wedge-shaped cone member is also run into the well at an upper or lower end of the expandable screen with the tapered surface of the cone decreasing in diameter in the direction of the expandable screen. The cone typically is mounted on a separate string to permit it to move axially in the wellbore independent of the expandable screen. At a predetermined time, when the screen is fixed in the wellbore adjacent that portion where production fluid will enter the perforated casing, the cone is urged through the expandable screen increasing its inner and outer diameters to the greatest diameter of the cone. Due to physical forces and properties, the resulting expanding screen is actually larger in inside diameter thus the outside diameter of the core.
In one technique, the cone is pulled up through the screen and then removed from the well with the run-in string. In another technique, the cone is used in a top-down fashion and is either dropped to the bottom of the well or is left at the bottom end of the well screen where it does not interfere with fluid production through the expanded well screen thereabove. In another method of expansion, an expansion tool is run into the wellbore on a string of tubulars to a location within the tubular to be expanded. The expansion tool includes radially expandable roller members which can be actuated against the wall of a tubular via fluid pressure. In this manner, the wall of the tubular can be expanded past its elastic limits and the inner and outer diameter of the tubular is increased. The expansion of the tubular in the case of expandable well screen is facilitated by slots formed in the wall thereof.
An expander tool usable to expand solid or slotted tubulars is illustrated in
FIGS. 1-3
. The expansion tool
100
has a body
102
which is hollow and generally tubular with connectors
104
and
106
for connection to other components (not shown) of a downhole assembly.
FIGS. 1 and 2
are perspective side views of the expansion tool and
FIG. 3
is an exploded view thereof. The end connectors
104
and
106
are of a reduced diameter (compared to the outside diameter of the longitudinally central body part
108
of the tool
100
), and together with three longitudinal flutes
110
on the central body part
108
, allow the passage of fluids between the outside of the tool
100
and the interior of a tubular therearound (not shown). The central body part
108
has three lands
112
defined between the three flutes
110
, each land
112
being formed with a respective recess
114
to hold a respective expandable member
116
. Each of the recesses
114
has parallel sides and extends radially from the radially perforated tubular core
115
of the tool
100
to the exterior of the respective land
112
. Each of the mutually identical rollers
116
is near-cylindrical and slightly barreled. Each of the rollers
116
is mounted by means of a bearing
118
at each end of the respective roller for rotation about a respective rotation axis which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tool
100
and radially offset therefrom at 120-degree mutual circumferential separations around the central body
108
. The bearings
418
are formed as integral end members of radially slidable pistons
120
, one piston
120
being slidably sealed within each radially extended recess
114
. The inner end of each piston
120
(
FIG. 2
) is exposed to the pressure of fluid within the hollow core of the tool
100
by way of the
Bode Jeffrey
Fishbeck Craig
Rouse Bill
Royer Ronnie S.
Moser Patterson & Sheridan
Schoeppel Roger J.
Weatherford / Lamb, Inc.
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