Wells – Means for cutting cable or rope below ground – Cutting means actuated by contacting element suspended in...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-27
2001-10-02
Schoeppel, Roger (Department: 3672)
Wells
Means for cutting cable or rope below ground
Cutting means actuated by contacting element suspended in...
C408S019000, C408S169000, C408S172000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296053
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a method for generating counter forces in pipe couplings in order to position fractures on hydraulic and electrical cables which are slidingly attached along a production string.
For a variety of reasons, it is desirable to plan abandoning of oil and gas wells in advance, so that if this is deemed necessary, an abandoning operation will be conducted in a controlled manner and without causing any problems for the work involved in subsequent resumption of production.
Abandoning of the well is carried out by radially etching or machining off a section of the pipe wall in the production tubing down in the well; this releases the entire upper part of the production tubing, which can then be freely hoisted up to the drill floor.
Strings of production piping are normally joined together by pipe joints. Two pipe joints with threaded end pieces are screwed from each side into a corresponding threaded pipe coupling or collar, if the intention is to connect the pipe joints. When a well pipe string is established, the connection takes place on the drill floor before lowering. Well pipe strings can also be established by means of continuous coiled tubing.
A well normally has hydraulic and electrical control cables which are slidingly attached along the outside of the production tubing. When a well is abandoned today, the upper, released part of the production tubing is lifted up. The result of this is that, after the upper part of the production tubing has been lifted a short distance, the control cables will be broken off. The location of this break is not known in advance, and thus may occur at any point on the control cables, which are not cut in advance. If the break occurs high up in the well pipe string, these cables will gradually be released by sliding out through their points of attachment to the production tubing when it is raised, whereupon the cables will drop down and become tangled in the lower part of the borehole. This tangled mass of cables will impede access when production is subsequently resumed, since it has been found to be difficult to retrieve this mass of cables.
The object of the invention is to achieve the break of such cables, which are slidably attached along the production tubing, at a point below the location which is selected in advance as the point of break (abandonment).
Accordingly the invention provides, in a pipe string having a cable slidingly attached along it, apparatus for controlling the position of a fracture in the cable, characterised in that the apparatus comprises a pocket attached to the cable and having a passage through which the cable passes, and a nipple attached to the cable in the pocket, the lower face of the nipple being skewed relative to the lower internal face of the pocket. Preferably a second nipple is attached to the cable above the first nipple, the facing faces of the two nipples being skewed relative to each other.
The lower internal face of the pocket may be skewed and the lower face of the nipple level, or the lower internal face of the pocket may be level and the lower face of the nipple skewed.
The invention also provides a pipe string having a cable slidingly attached to it and including a plurality of such apparatuses located at spaced points along its length.
The present invention thus provides a method for generating counter forces in pipe couplings in order to position fractures on hydraulic and electrical cables which are slidingly attached along a production tubing in planned abandonment of an oil or gas well. The method for generating counter forces leading to positioned fracture of the cables is based on the use of a special pipe coupling, which replaces a standard pipe coupling in a production string, being installed at a point above the prospective point of abandonment which has been selected.
Through machined axial through-going holes in this special pipe coupling, each of the cables is led down into one of several longitudinal recessed pockets in the pipe coupling's outer side wall and then on down and out of the pipe coupling. It is also natural for the cables to be connected inside the recessed pocket. After installation, these pockets are covered by screwing on a protective cover on a level with the pipe coupling's other outer lateral surface.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4427059 (1984-01-01), Oliver
patent: 4660635 (1987-04-01), Wittrisch
patent: 4738312 (1988-04-01), Wittrisch
patent: 4817725 (1989-04-01), Jenkins
patent: 4981177 (1991-01-01), Carmody et al.
patent: 5626445 (1997-05-01), Nachbar et al.
patent: 5823031 (1998-10-01), Campbell et al.
patent: 0 511 735 A2 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 2278135 A (1994-11-01), None
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Schoeppel Roger
Subsurface Technology AS
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