Boring or penetrating the earth – Processes – Boring with specific fluid
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-14
2001-02-20
Tsay, Frank (Department: 3672)
Boring or penetrating the earth
Processes
Boring with specific fluid
C175S079000, C175S321000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189629
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to equipment used for drilling lateral channels into an oil or gas bearing formation of a well with the well either under pressure or not under pressure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Over the past twenty years a multitude of proposals have been put forth for drilling lateral channels into hydrocarbon bearing formations encountered in a well which has a vertical steel casing installed in it. Schellstede U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,362, Schellstede U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,111, Dickinson U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,639, Landers U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,184, Peters U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,858, rely on the casing being firstly perforated with a tool of some type, ranging from a punch in Schellstede U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,362 to a drill bit in Landers U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,184. After the hole is made in the casing, a water jet head and its connection hose, which is used to make a lateral channel in the formation, is moved out into the formation while water mixed with appropriate chemicals is pumped through the hose and jet head. The water is pumped down the well to the hose through small diameter tubing. The action of the jet on the formation erodes the formation and produces a lateral channel from the steel casing to the extent that the hose and jet head will reach. The jet head configurations have a jet or jets facing forward to erode material and jets facing rearward to help move the jet head and its connecting hose or pipe into the formation. The rearward facing jets also flush the eroded material back inside the well casing. Jets have been used in industry for many years for cleaning boiler tubes and other blocked and corrosion reduced diameters of tubes in refinery process equipment. There is a multitude of such jet head configurations on the market and their use for drilling wells, including lateral wells, is not new.
There are also available jet perforating systems which are positioned in a casing where it is required to bore through to the formation and such jets are supplied with fluid and an abrasive under high pressure and volume, which erodes a hole in the casing. These systems have been in use for over twenty-five years and are well known in the industry but are not the method of choice for the large majority of perforating services.
All of the various lateral jet drilling devices require that a hole be made in the casing for the jet head and hose to go through to get into the formation where the jet will drill the lateral channel. The main difference in the systems is how the hole is made in the casing. For each lateral channel, the jet head and hose must either be removed from the tool head and the drill system moved in and actuated or some mechanism must move the tool up or down in the casing to get the drilling device in place. There is also no provision for installing a casing in the lateral channel that will keep the channel from collapsing after the drilling is complete.
In order to drill several holes at different angles around the casing, a large number of runs of this type of equipment will be required. The various systems designed require that there be large tubing run in the well in order to house and support the various devices. This type of system requires a service rig on site to initially lower the equipment in the well. Reliance on tubing rotation (Landers U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,184) in order to orient the lateral holes being drilled in the formation is prone to error due to the tubing not rotating the same number of degrees at the bottom as it has been turned at the top. It is known that in wells that have not been drilled straight that the friction of the tubing on the casing can restrain the tool at the bottom from turning at all while the tubing at the top rotates a full turn. The accurate depth positioning of these tools in the well is also questionable. Typically, the position of the tool in the well is calculated by measuring the length of tubing that is run in the well and comparing this against electric well logging, wherein the well logging cable footage is recorded to the exact depth. The depth is also confirmed by counting casing collars.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
There is therefore provided in accordance with one aspect of the invention, an orientable jet drilling apparatus, comprising an upper anchorable body and a lower rotatable body carried by the upper anchorable body, with the lower rotatable body being rotated under control of a motor mounted in the upper anchorable body. The motor is controlled by controller at the surface connected to the motor via a communications link.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided the orientable jet drilling apparatus with a jet drilling hose received by the upper and lower bodies, a fluid supply line connected to the jet drilling hose, the fluid supply line being carried by a powered hose reel and a pump operably connected to the fluid supply line for pumping fluid to the jet drilling hose.
In a further aspect of the invention, the anchoring system comprises laterally movable dogs disposed in the upper body, a dogs driver in the upper body; and a control line running to the surface for surface control of the laterally movable dogs.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a vertical position sensor mounted on one of the upper body and the lower body.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a jet drilling system, comprising casing in a well, a wellhead connected to the casing, the wellhead being configured for pressure containment, a downhole jet orientation tool comprising an upper body housing having an anchoring system and a first hose channel passing through the upper body, and a lower body having a second hose channel extending through the lower body and forming an angled elbow, a jet drilling hose received within the first and second hose channels, a fluid supply line connected to the jet drilling hose, the fluid supply line being carried by a powered hose reel, and a pump operably connected to the fluid supply line for pumping fluid to the jet drilling hose.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a jet drilling device, which has a jet drilling hose having a downhole end, a jet head on the downhole end of the jet drilling hose, and a flexible perforated liner carried by the jet drilling hose. The flexible perforated liner may be secured on the hose by shoulders at opposed ends of the flexible perforated liner which engage with shoulders on the jet head.
In a further aspect of the invention, the wellhead comprises a valve connected above the casing, and grease injectors at the top of the wellhead which receives any lines passing up out of the wellhead.
In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of drilling lateral wells from a main well, the method comprising the steps of:
locating an orientable jet drilling apparatus in a well, the orientable jet drilling apparatus having an angled elbow for directing a jet drilling head laterally from the orientable jet drilling apparatus;
drilling a first lateral well at a first radial position with the orientable jet drilling apparatus;
rotating the orientable jet drilling apparatus with a motor mounted on the orientable jet drilling apparatus to a second radial position; and
drilling a second lateral well at the second radial position.
In a further aspect of the method of the invention, there is provided the steps of while drilling a lateral well, pulling a flexible perforated liner into the lateral well with the jet drilling head, and while removing the jet drilling head from the lateral well, leaving a portion of the flexible perforated liner in the lateral well after completion of the lateral well.
In a further aspect of the method of the invention, there is provided the step of shearing the flexible perforated liner by rotating the orientable jet drilling apparatus to cut off the portion of the flexible perforated liner in the lateral well.
The orientable jet drilling apparatus may thus, according to one embodiment, be located in the well using a casing collar l
Loree Dwight N.
McLeod Roderick D.
Pedersen Barbara S.
Pedersen Ken J.
Tsay Frank
LandOfFree
Lateral jet drilling system does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Lateral jet drilling system, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Lateral jet drilling system will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2575270