EP1277915A1 - Verfahren zum Abdichten eines ringförmigen Raumes - Google Patents

Verfahren zum Abdichten eines ringförmigen Raumes Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1277915A1
EP1277915A1 EP01306177A EP01306177A EP1277915A1 EP 1277915 A1 EP1277915 A1 EP 1277915A1 EP 01306177 A EP01306177 A EP 01306177A EP 01306177 A EP01306177 A EP 01306177A EP 1277915 A1 EP1277915 A1 EP 1277915A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
seal elements
seal
radially
cylindrical member
seal element
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP01306177A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
designation of the inventor has not yet been filed The
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV
Original Assignee
Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV filed Critical Shell Internationale Research Maatschappij BV
Priority to EP01306177A priority Critical patent/EP1277915A1/de
Publication of EP1277915A1 publication Critical patent/EP1277915A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21—EARTH DRILLING; MINING
    • E21B—EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
    • E21B43/00—Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells
    • E21B43/02—Subsoil filtering
    • E21B43/10—Setting of casings, screens, liners or the like in wells
    • E21B43/103—Setting of casings, screens, liners or the like in wells of expandable casings, screens, liners, or the like
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21—EARTH DRILLING; MINING
    • E21B—EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
    • E21B33/00—Sealing or packing boreholes or wells
    • E21B33/10—Sealing or packing boreholes or wells in the borehole
    • E21B33/12—Packers; Plugs
    • E21B33/128—Packers; Plugs with a member expanded radially by axial pressure

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a method of sealing an annular space formed between an outer cylindrical member and an inner cylindrical member extending within the outer cylindrical member.
  • the annular space can be defined between the wellbore wall being the outer cylindrical member and a tubular member being the inner cylindrical member, wherein the tubular member can be a hydrocarbon fluid production tubing or a wellbore casing.
  • the annular space can be formed between two tubular members extending into the wellbore, such as between a wellbore casing being the outer cylindrical member and a hydrocarbon fluid production tubing being the inner cylindrical member.
  • annular spaces have been sealed by application of expandable packers, plugs or by cementing the annular space.
  • the method of the invention comprises the steps of:
  • the seal elements are relatively easy because the thickness of the individual seal elements is significantly smaller than the width of the annular space, so that the seal elements can be manoeuvred easily through the annular space.
  • the seal elements are arranged at one of the two cylindrical elements before insertion of the inner element into the outer member, the relatively small thickness of the seal elements compared to the width of the annular space allows adequate manoeuvring of the inner member into the outer member.
  • the seal elements are moved towards each other in axial direction so as become radially stacked and to form a tight seal in the annular space.
  • the method of the invention can even be applied to seal relatively large annular spaces, for example by applying more seal elements and/or by applying thicker seal elements.
  • the first seal element of each pair of adjacent seal elements can be made of a flexible material, and wherein in step b) the first seal element is radially extended during sliding along said radially outer surface or radially compressed during sliding along said radially inner surface.
  • first seal element of each pair of adjacent seal elements is induced to slide along said radially outer surface of the second seal element of the pair.
  • the seal elements have tapered edges oriented such that the first seal element is induced to slide along the radially outer or inner surface of the second seal element of the pair upon relative axial movement of the first and second seal elements towards each other.
  • step a) a moving device and a stop device are arranged at axially opposite sides of the set of the seal elements, the stop device being fixedly connected to at least one of said cylindrical members, the moving device being axially movable relative to said cylindrical members, and wherein step b) includes axially moving the moving device in the direction of the stop device so as to axially move the seal elements towards each other.
  • the moving device can be axially moved in the direction of the stop device by radially expanding a portion of the inner cylindrical and gradually increasing the length of the expanded portion in the direction of the stop device.
  • Such expansion process can be achieved by gradually moving an expander through the inner cylindrical member.
  • a wellbore 1 formed into an earth formation 3 whereby the wellbore wall is indicted by reference numeral 4.
  • the wellbore wall 4 and the casing 6 form respective outer and inner cylindrical members whereby an annular space 8 is formed between said cylindrical members.
  • the wellbore wall 4 does not need to be perfectly cylindrical, as the wall generally is of irregular shape due to, for example, washouts which occur during the drilling process.
  • the casing 6 is provided with a set of three annular seal elements 10, 12, 14 arranged around the casing 6 and being mutually displaced in axial direction thereof, and with a stop device in the form of annular stopper 16 fixedly connected to the casing 6 and arranged at one side of the set of sealing elements. Furthermore, the casing is provided with a moving device in the form of metal compression sleeve 17 arranged at the other side of the set of seal elements 10, 12, 14. The compression sleeve 17 is movable relative to the casing 6 in axial direction thereof.
  • seal elements 10, 12, 14 are made of a flexible material, e.g. rubber, and are strengthened in axial direction by axially extending reinforcement bars (not shown) embedded in the flexible material.
  • Seal element 10 has a tapered edge 18 adjacent seal element 12
  • seal element 12 has a tapered edge 20 adjacent seal element 10 and a tapered edge 22 adjacent seal element 14
  • seal element 14 has a tapered edge 24 adjacent seal element 12 and a tapered edge 26 adjacent stopper 16.
  • the stopper 16 has a tapered edge 28 adjacent seal element 14.
  • the tapered edges 18, 20 are oriented such that seal element 10 is induced to slide along radial outer surface 30 of seal element 12 when seal element 10 is pushed in the direction of seal element 12.
  • the tapered edges 22, 24 are oriented such that seal element 12 is induced to slide along radial outer surface 32 of seal element 14 when seal element 12 is pushed in the direction of seal element 14.
  • the tapered edges 26, 28 are oriented such that seal element 14 is induced to slide along radial outer surface 34 of stopper 16 when seal element 14 is pushed in the direction of stopper 16.
  • the casing 6 has a radially expanded portion 40, a radially unexpanded portion 42, and a transition portion 44 located between the expanded and unexpanded portions 40, 42 and a having a diameter varying from the unexpanded diameter to the expanded diameter.
  • the stopper 16, the seal elements 10, 12, 14, and the compression sleeve 17 are all arranged around the unexpanded portion 42 of the casing whereby the compression sleeve 17 is arranged adjacent the transition portion 44 of the casing.
  • the compression sleeve 17 has an edge 46 adjacent the expanded portion 40 of the casing 6, which is provided with bearing means, e.g. a set of bearing balls regularly spaced along the circumference of the edge, a bronze bushing or a hydrostatic bearing, which ensures low friction between the edge and the transition portion 44 of the casing 6.
  • bearing means e.g. a set of bearing balls regularly spaced along the circumference of the edge, a bronze bushing or a hydrostatic bearing, which ensures low friction between the edge and the transition portion 44 of the casing 6.
  • the casing 6 is installed in the wellbore lwith the stopper 16, the seal elements 10, 12, 14, and the compression sleeve 17 present on the casing 6 as shown in Fig. 1.
  • An expander (not shown) is then pushed or pulled through the casing 6 to radially expand the casing 6 and thereby to form the initial expanded portion 40 thereof.
  • a suitable expander is, for example, a conical expander or a conical expander provided with rollers along the contact surface with the casing. By the expansion process the casing 6 is plastically deformed.
  • the expander is moved through the casing 1 in the direction of stopper 16 thereby increasing the length of the expanded portion 40 and moving the transition portion 44 in the direction of stopper 16.
  • the transition portion 44 Upon contact of the transition portion 44 with the edge 46 of the compression sleeve 17, continued movement of the transition portion 44 induces the compression sleeve to move in the direction of stopper 16.
  • the compression sleeve 17 thereby induces seal element 10 to move against seal element 12 and subsequently to slide along the radial outer surface 30 thereof.
  • seal element 10 becomes fully arranged around seal element 12
  • continued movement of the transition portion 44 induces the compression sleeve 17 to move seal element 12 against seal element 14 and subsequently to slide along the radial outer surface 32 thereof.
  • seal elements 10, 12 become fully arranged around seal element 14
  • continued movement of the transition portion 44 induces the compression sleeve 17 to move seal element 14 against stopper 16 and subsequently to slide along the radial outer surface 34 thereof.
  • annular space between two tubular elements can be sealed with the method of the invention.
  • the two tubulars can be wellbore tubulars, and the inner tubular can extend only a short distance into the outer tubular.
  • the method of the invention can be applied to seal an annular space between two axially overlapping wellbore tubulars which are to be radially expanded to form an assembly of expanded wellbore tubulars of substantially equal inner and/or outer diameter.
  • the seal elements can be made of or provided with an anisotropic material of higher axial stiffness than circumferential stiffness.
EP01306177A 2001-07-18 2001-07-18 Verfahren zum Abdichten eines ringförmigen Raumes Withdrawn EP1277915A1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP01306177A EP1277915A1 (de) 2001-07-18 2001-07-18 Verfahren zum Abdichten eines ringförmigen Raumes

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP01306177A EP1277915A1 (de) 2001-07-18 2001-07-18 Verfahren zum Abdichten eines ringförmigen Raumes

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1277915A1 true EP1277915A1 (de) 2003-01-22

Family

ID=8182121

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP01306177A Withdrawn EP1277915A1 (de) 2001-07-18 2001-07-18 Verfahren zum Abdichten eines ringförmigen Raumes

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1277915A1 (de)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2006043829A1 (en) * 2004-10-22 2006-04-27 Easy Well Solutions As A method and a device for setting a casing
EP2817480A4 (de) * 2012-02-21 2016-05-04 Owen Oil Tools Lp System und verfahren zur verbesserten abdichtung von bohrlochrohren

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3587736A (en) * 1970-04-09 1971-06-28 Cicero C Brown Hydraulic open hole well packer
EP0460993A2 (de) * 1990-06-05 1991-12-11 Schlumberger Limited Mehrschalenüberbrückungsstopfen zum Abdichten einer Bohrlochverrohrung

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3587736A (en) * 1970-04-09 1971-06-28 Cicero C Brown Hydraulic open hole well packer
EP0460993A2 (de) * 1990-06-05 1991-12-11 Schlumberger Limited Mehrschalenüberbrückungsstopfen zum Abdichten einer Bohrlochverrohrung

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2006043829A1 (en) * 2004-10-22 2006-04-27 Easy Well Solutions As A method and a device for setting a casing
US7819199B2 (en) 2004-10-22 2010-10-26 Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. Method and a device for setting a casing
EP2817480A4 (de) * 2012-02-21 2016-05-04 Owen Oil Tools Lp System und verfahren zur verbesserten abdichtung von bohrlochrohren

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