US20220282592A1 - Method of abandoning a well - Google Patents
Method of abandoning a well Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20220282592A1 US20220282592A1 US17/638,047 US202017638047A US2022282592A1 US 20220282592 A1 US20220282592 A1 US 20220282592A1 US 202017638047 A US202017638047 A US 202017638047A US 2022282592 A1 US2022282592 A1 US 2022282592A1
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- Prior art keywords
- thermite
- sealing
- well
- cartridges
- well according
- Prior art date
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Links
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- 239000003832 thermite Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 51
- 239000003999 initiator Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 30
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 21
- 230000004888 barrier function Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 17
- 238000007789 sealing Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 17
- 230000004913 activation Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 4
- 238000012790 confirmation Methods 0.000 claims 1
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 13
- 239000012774 insulation material Substances 0.000 description 11
- 238000009413 insulation Methods 0.000 description 8
- 235000013580 sausages Nutrition 0.000 description 8
- 229910045601 alloy Inorganic materials 0.000 description 6
- 239000000956 alloy Substances 0.000 description 6
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- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 6
- 229910000831 Steel Inorganic materials 0.000 description 5
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- 239000010959 steel Substances 0.000 description 5
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- 230000000977 initiatory effect Effects 0.000 description 4
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 4
- 230000015572 biosynthetic process Effects 0.000 description 3
- 229910052797 bismuth Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- JCXGWMGPZLAOME-UHFFFAOYSA-N bismuth atom Chemical compound [Bi] JCXGWMGPZLAOME-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000010438 heat treatment Methods 0.000 description 3
- UIIMBOGNXHQVGW-UHFFFAOYSA-M Sodium bicarbonate Chemical compound [Na+].OC([O-])=O UIIMBOGNXHQVGW-UHFFFAOYSA-M 0.000 description 2
- UIIMBOGNXHQVGW-DEQYMQKBSA-M Sodium bicarbonate-14C Chemical compound [Na+].O[14C]([O-])=O UIIMBOGNXHQVGW-DEQYMQKBSA-M 0.000 description 2
- 229920002472 Starch Polymers 0.000 description 2
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- OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N Carbon Chemical compound [C] OKTJSMMVPCPJKN-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 229920002261 Corn starch Polymers 0.000 description 1
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- 239000011324 bead Substances 0.000 description 1
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Images
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- E21B29/00—Cutting or destroying pipes, packers, plugs or wire lines, located in boreholes or wells, e.g. cutting of damaged pipes, of windows; Deforming of pipes in boreholes or wells; Reconditioning of well casings while in the ground
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK 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
- E21B33/13—Methods or devices for cementing, for plugging holes, crevices or the like
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- E21B29/00—Cutting or destroying pipes, packers, plugs or wire lines, located in boreholes or wells, e.g. cutting of damaged pipes, of windows; Deforming of pipes in boreholes or wells; Reconditioning of well casings while in the ground
- E21B29/02—Cutting or destroying pipes, packers, plugs or wire lines, located in boreholes or wells, e.g. cutting of damaged pipes, of windows; Deforming of pipes in boreholes or wells; Reconditioning of well casings while in the ground by explosives or by thermal or chemical means
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK 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
- E21B33/13—Methods or devices for cementing, for plugging holes, crevices or the like
- E21B33/134—Bridging plugs
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- E21B36/00—Heating, cooling or insulating arrangements for boreholes or wells, e.g. for use in permafrost zones
- E21B36/008—Heating, cooling or insulating arrangements for boreholes or wells, e.g. for use in permafrost zones using chemical heat generating means
Definitions
- offshore structures may comprise production platforms which are either steel or concrete structures resting on the sea bed or floating platforms. Numerous conduits are connected to these offshore structures to carry the various fluids being gas, oil or water etc., which are necessary for the production of oil and/or gas from the well.
- a typical production well will comprise a number of tubular conduits arranged concentrically with respect to each.
- the method of abandoning the well which is presently known in the art involves the separate sealing of each of the concentric conduits which requires a large number of sequential steps.
- the first step is to seal the first central conduit usually by means of cement or other suitable sealant.
- the first annular channel between the first and second conduits is then sealed and the first central conduit is then cut above the seal and the cut section is removed from the well.
- a method of abandoning a well by first installing a barrier or plug at a depth in the well, depositing a thermal insulation material on top of this, then depositing thermite and an ignitor and on top of this a thermal insulation barrier and then some weight such as steel or ceramic balls, when the thermite is ignited, the thermal barrier contains the energy generated by the thermite and directs it to sever the tubing just below the thermal barrier.
- the thermal barrier and the balls above it will drop into the annular space with the severed tubing.
- a window is created to access the next casing out, and there is no obstruction in the tubing, so the process can be repeated to sever the next casing out. This process can be repeated for any number of nested casings.
- thermite is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- thermite initiator is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge. It will operate by wireless telemetry such as RFID, or listen for different tones and respond to confirm it has been activated.
- thermite initiator may require a wire to connect it to a RFID receiver.
- the insulation material is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- the weighting is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- the bismuth is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- thermite is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a long flexible hose or a string of sausages type structure.
- the insulation material will be a combination of starch, sodium bicarbonate and a binder fluid.
- the insulation material will be a combination of starch, sodium bicarbonate, carbon black and a binder material.
- the thermal insulation barrier can be deployed via the tubing as small beads and which can form a barrier in any of the tubing or casings.
- thermal insulation material can be coated on the tools, to provide a thermal insulation barrier and enable the heat and energy generated by the thermite to be precisely directed to server the tubing or casing.
- the thermal insulation material can be deployed in sealed cartridges and either dropped or lowered into the well on slickline, wireline, jointed tubing or coiled tubing.
- the thermal insulation material is made from three materials, in approx. ratios 90% corn starch, 10% Sodium bicarbonate, finally, these two blended powders are made into a putty paste by adding Poly(vinyl acetate)
- the thermal insulation barrier is reactive to the heat and forms carbon bubbles which have high temperature resistance.
- a low melting point alloy bismuth
- this alloy has a very low viscosity and flows into any crack, void or fissure.
- the thermal barrier could be ceramic balls
- the thermal barrier could be tungsten carbide balls.
- the thermal barrier could be bauxite in a small mesh size as used for hydraulic fracturing.
- FIG. 1 is section side view through a well with a casing and a severed production tubing, with a tubing bridge plug, thermite magma, insulation material and weight material, sealing the lower section from an earlier operation.
- FIG. 2 is a similar view to FIG. 1 , showing a wireline or slickline tool lowered through the previous tubing, and the tool highlighted by a dotted line box.
- FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the tool highlighted above
- FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3 , showing a subsequent stage in the process.
- FIG. 5 is a similar view to FIG. 2 , showing a slickline tool which has deposited its payload into the well.
- FIG. 6 is a similar view to FIG. 5 , with all the ingredients needed for the operation deployed in cartridges, and a tool deployed on slickline activating the thermite initiators.
- FIG. 7 is a similar view to FIG. 6 , after the thermite has been activated and it is severing the casing.
- FIG. 8 is a section side view through a well with the resulting parted tubing by the tool operation in FIG. 7
- FIG. 9 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention being conveyed on a slickline or wireline tool
- FIG. 10 is a subsequent operation to FIG. 9 with hose assembly released from the slickline, and the hose forming a coil at a position of rest inside the casing (casing not shown)
- FIG. 11 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention being conveyed on a slickline or wireline tool
- FIG. 12 is a view of a string of sausages containing the required ingredients released from the deployment tool
- FIG. 13 is a side of the released sausages shown in FIG. 12 coming to rest as a compact pile inside the casing (not shown)
- FIG. 14 is a section side view of the well with an alternative means of communicating with multiple RFID initiating cartridges.
- FIG. 15 is a similar view to FIG. 14 , at a subsequent step in the process.
- FIG. 16 is a similar view to FIG. 15 , at a subsequent step in the process.
- FIG. 17 is a similar view to FIG. 16 , at a subsequent step in the process.
- FIG. 18 is a section side view of the well with another means of communicating with multiple RFID initiating cartridges.
- FIG. 19 is a similar view to FIG. 18 , at a subsequent step in the process.
- FIG. 20 is a similar view to FIG. 19 , at a subsequent step in the process.
- FIG. 21 is a similar view to FIG. 20 , at a subsequent step in the process.
- FIG. 22 is a circuit diagram for an acoustic transmitter/receiver
- an objective of this process is to make an access window to the open hole.
- FIG. 1 shows a well where the tubing has been severed using a bridge plug 10 , thermal insulation material such as sand or ceramics, reacted thermite 12 , a second quantity of thermal insulation material 13 and weight in the form of steel ball bearing 14 .
- thermal insulation material such as sand or ceramics
- slickline 21 (or wireline or coiled tubing, the term slickline will only be used from now on) to lower the slickline running tool 22 into the well.
- the running tool clamps 23 to the slickline, extending from the running tool is a thin hollow rod 24 , on the end of which is a low temperature alloy end cap 25 , mounted on the rod are cartridges 26 , which consist of a hermetically sealed chamber 27 , with an outer cylindrical wall 28 , in inner very small inner cylindrical wall 29 , and a top 30 , and bottom 31 cap.
- inside the chamber could be any type of dry material or liquid chemicals such as thermite, bismuth, insulation, weighting materials, or instruments or sensors or telemetry such as a sonar Pinger, an acoustic transmitter receiver, or a RFID transmitter receiver, an ignitor to initiate the thermite reaction.
- dry material or liquid chemicals such as thermite, bismuth, insulation, weighting materials, or instruments or sensors or telemetry
- a sonar Pinger such as a sonar Pinger, an acoustic transmitter receiver, or a RFID transmitter receiver, an ignitor to initiate the thermite reaction.
- a heating element is powered up by current supplied by a cable inside the rod 24 , the low temperature alloy end plug will melt and then the cartridges will slide down the rod and be deposited on top 33 of the previous plug 32 , the empty slickline conveyance means 34 can now return to surface and make a repeat run.
- the length of the slickline tool is governed by the length of the lubricator at surface and the weight limitation of the slickline. This means of deploying cartridges enables unlimited quantities of the right materials to be deposited into the well, in a controlled way and with total quality control of the process.
- a master activation tool 41 is conveyed on the slickline and at the required time, it transmits an acoustic signal to activate the different initiators, and the different initiators transmit back different hand shake to confirm they have received the correct command and have been switched on.
- the initiators can either be turned on at the same time or different times if a different warm up profile of the thermite is preferred or required.
- the insulation provides a thermal barrier for the weighting material 44 , so the weighting material does not fuse or melt and free fall with the insulation material and the severed casing 45 .
- FIGS. 9 to 13 there is shown other means of conveying long flexible modules of different materials into the well on a mono conductor wireline conveyance system.
- the system consists of a mono conductor wireline 50 , attached to which is a grapple connector 51 .
- a shear pin assembly 52 is part of the assembly to enable a clean separation in the event of getting stuck. Termination of the conductor is in a heating element inside a low temperature alloy block 53 which connects the payload 54 to the lower part of the connector 55 .
- the payload is a long flexible tube, fitted with a rounded nose piece 56 .
- Inside the flexible tube would be any of the previously described materials that are required for an operation in the well for example those shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 .
- the heating element When electrical power is applied to the electrical conductor, the heating element is energised and this in turn melts the low temperature alloy which in turn disconnects the payload from the mono conductor running tool.
- the payload comes to rest and coils 57 into a compact form in the casing (not shown) below it. As in the previous system this can be repeated as often as required until the required quantity of material is placed into the well.
- an alternative arrangement is to have the payload made up made like a string of sausages 64 , the connecting members 60 being held tight in the sausage 64 ′ nearest the release mechanism 61 , when the release mechanism is activated the connecting members comes free and allows the sausage containers to separate 62 and when they land in the bottom of the well they fill the space, so forming a bigger diameter and shorter length 63 .
- the sausage skin could be plastic, thin steel or composite. Inside the sausage skin would be the desired material as described in FIG. 1-8 , and this would be hermetically sealed
- RFID Radio Frequency ID
- An RF module radio frequency module
- RF radio frequency
- the initiator is fitted with an RFID receiver/transmitter, connected via a long cable to the cartridge.
- the deployment process would be as follows;
- the cartridge initiator 70 would be lowered into the well as previously described, it would be adjacent to the running tool 71 .
- an arm 72 would be activated which would deploy a magnet to attach itself to the casing 73 , on the magnet will be a RFID transmitter/receiver, and a coiled cable 74 connecting it to the electronics inside the initiator cartridge 70 .
- a solenoid 75 on the running tool would be energised and it would shear a pin 76 on the thin central rod 77 and the cartridges would fall into the bottom of the well.
- the initiator cartridge 70 would be buried with the rest of the thermite cartridges 78 , and connected via the cable 74 to the receiver/transmitter 73 .
- a tool 79 is deployed on the mono conductor and it transmits 80 to all the RFID devices with their respective unique signals to arm them, they respond confirming they have been armed and then initiate the thermite reaction according to how they have been programmed.
- FIGS. 18 to 21 there is shown a further embodiment of the invention, showing multiple wireless RFID initiator cartridges 70 , which talk to each other in a daisy chain manner exclusively using wireless communication.
- the signal to the lowest initiator is achieved via multiple
- RFID transmitter/receivers because the cost is relatively low, they could be in every cartridge, resulting in multiple redundancy for signals in both directions, and also provide a quality assurance, as each cartridge is activated it could transmit that information before being vaporised.
- the other hermetically sealed cartridges would contain dry materials such as low temperature thermite 84 , slow burning thermite 81 , high temperature thermite or liquid propellant 82 , weighting material 83
- FIG. 22 there is shown a circuit diagram for a possible embodiment of the one of the acoustic transmitter/receivers for the initiators 38 of the invention.
- the assembly may also act to transmit and receive data to and from below it, so it forms a daisy chain.
- the acoustic transmitters/receiver's 105 are specifically tuned to under water performance.
- the reflection coefficient R when energy propagates through mediums, can be calculated as:
- Piezo ceramics composite (Z1) to air Z2air, 0.000429 kg/s g/cm3)
- Piezo ceramics composite (Z1) to water Z2water, 1.5 kg/s g/cm3)
- the goal would be to achieve Z1 as close as to the impedance of air of 0.000429, to minimize the R coefficient.
- Z1 close to 0.00085.
- the R coefficient is 10.8%, which means almost 89.2% of the energy is transmitted.
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Abstract
Description
- Over the past 20 years or so a large number of offshore structures have been constructed which are now or will soon be exhausted and will need to be abandoned. These offshore structures may comprise production platforms which are either steel or concrete structures resting on the sea bed or floating platforms. Numerous conduits are connected to these offshore structures to carry the various fluids being gas, oil or water etc., which are necessary for the production of oil and/or gas from the well.
- In abandoning a well, consideration has to be given to the potential environmental threat from the abandoned well for many years in the future.
- In the case of offshore structure there is usually no rig derrick in place which can be used to perform the required well abandonment procedure. Therefore it is typically necessary to install a new derrick or alternatively a mobile derrick can be positioned above the well. This requirement adds considerable expense to the task of abandoning the offshore well, compared to a land based well.
- A typical production well will comprise a number of tubular conduits arranged concentrically with respect to each. The method of abandoning the well which is presently known in the art involves the separate sealing of each of the concentric conduits which requires a large number of sequential steps.
- In the abandonment method known in the art the first step is to seal the first central conduit usually by means of cement or other suitable sealant. The first annular channel between the first and second conduits is then sealed and the first central conduit is then cut above the seal and the cut section is removed from the well.
- The second annular channel between the second and third conduits is then sealed and the second conduit cut above the seal and the cut section is removed from the well.
- This process is repeated until all the conduits are removed. The number of separate steps required is typically very large indeed and the number of separate operations is five times the number of conduits to be removed. This adds considerably to the cost of the well abandonment due to the time taken and the resources required at the well head.
- It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a method of abandoning a well which avoids the disadvantageous and numerous operations which are required by the existing known methods. This will greatly reduce the costs of safely abandoning a well. It is a further objective of the invention to provide a method of abandoning a well without the requirement of a rig which involves significant expense particularly in subsea based wells.
- It is a further advantage of the invention to isolate all the conduits and annuli with no return of the well bore tubulars to the surface. Furthermore, the method of abandonment of the well will comply with all the regulatory guidelines for the isolation of a well.
- According to the present invention there is provided a method of abandoning a well, by first installing a barrier or plug at a depth in the well, depositing a thermal insulation material on top of this, then depositing thermite and an ignitor and on top of this a thermal insulation barrier and then some weight such as steel or ceramic balls, when the thermite is ignited, the thermal barrier contains the energy generated by the thermite and directs it to sever the tubing just below the thermal barrier. When the tubing is severed it will collapse into the annular space of the casing around it, and the thermal barrier and the balls above it will drop into the annular space with the severed tubing. A window is created to access the next casing out, and there is no obstruction in the tubing, so the process can be repeated to sever the next casing out. This process can be repeated for any number of nested casings.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the thermite is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the thermite initiator is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge. It will operate by wireless telemetry such as RFID, or listen for different tones and respond to confirm it has been activated.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the thermite initiator may require a wire to connect it to a RFID receiver.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the insulation material is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the weighting is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the bismuth is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a cartridge.
- According to a further aspect to the invention the thermite is transported on a slickline or wireline tool in the form of a long flexible hose or a string of sausages type structure.
- According to a further aspect of the invention the insulation material will be a combination of starch, sodium bicarbonate and a binder fluid.
- According to a further aspect of the invention the insulation material will be a combination of starch, sodium bicarbonate, carbon black and a binder material.
- According to a further aspect of the invention, the thermal insulation barrier can be deployed via the tubing as small beads and which can form a barrier in any of the tubing or casings.
- According to a further aspect of the invention and thermal insulation material can be coated on the tools, to provide a thermal insulation barrier and enable the heat and energy generated by the thermite to be precisely directed to server the tubing or casing.
- According to a further aspect of the invention the thermal insulation material can be deployed in sealed cartridges and either dropped or lowered into the well on slickline, wireline, jointed tubing or coiled tubing.
- According to a further aspect of this invention the thermal insulation material is made from three materials, in approx. ratios 90% corn starch, 10% Sodium bicarbonate, finally, these two blended powders are made into a putty paste by adding Poly(vinyl acetate)
- According to a further aspect of the invention, the thermal insulation barrier is reactive to the heat and forms carbon bubbles which have high temperature resistance.
- According to a further aspect of the invention, while the thermite and surround formation is still hot and above the natural formation temperature, a low melting point alloy (bismuth) can be deposited on top of the thermite, this alloy has a very low viscosity and flows into any crack, void or fissure.
- During cool down all the fissures and conductive passages are plugged by the then cooled down to ambient temperature solidified metal alloy.
- Thus the well is plugged well out into the natural rock formation away from the well in multiple zones and wellbore itself is permanently plugged by a magma mass.
- According to a further aspect of the invention, the thermal barrier could be ceramic balls
- According to a further aspect of the invention the thermal barrier could be tungsten carbide balls.
- According to a further aspect of the invention, the thermal barrier could be bauxite in a small mesh size as used for hydraulic fracturing.
- Thus by means of the method according to the invention the number of operations required is greatly reduced, thus resulting in a considerable reduction in the cost of carrying out the well abandonment.
- The following is a more detailed description of an embodiment according to the invention by reference to the following drawings in which:
-
FIG. 1 is section side view through a well with a casing and a severed production tubing, with a tubing bridge plug, thermite magma, insulation material and weight material, sealing the lower section from an earlier operation. -
FIG. 2 is a similar view toFIG. 1 , showing a wireline or slickline tool lowered through the previous tubing, and the tool highlighted by a dotted line box. -
FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of the tool highlighted above -
FIG. 4 is a similar view toFIG. 3 , showing a subsequent stage in the process. -
FIG. 5 is a similar view toFIG. 2 , showing a slickline tool which has deposited its payload into the well. -
FIG. 6 is a similar view toFIG. 5 , with all the ingredients needed for the operation deployed in cartridges, and a tool deployed on slickline activating the thermite initiators. -
FIG. 7 is a similar view toFIG. 6 , after the thermite has been activated and it is severing the casing. -
FIG. 8 is a section side view through a well with the resulting parted tubing by the tool operation inFIG. 7 -
FIG. 9 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention being conveyed on a slickline or wireline tool -
FIG. 10 is a subsequent operation toFIG. 9 with hose assembly released from the slickline, and the hose forming a coil at a position of rest inside the casing (casing not shown) -
FIG. 11 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention being conveyed on a slickline or wireline tool -
FIG. 12 is a view of a string of sausages containing the required ingredients released from the deployment tool -
FIG. 13 , is a side of the released sausages shown inFIG. 12 coming to rest as a compact pile inside the casing (not shown) -
FIG. 14 is a section side view of the well with an alternative means of communicating with multiple RFID initiating cartridges. -
FIG. 15 is a similar view toFIG. 14 , at a subsequent step in the process. -
FIG. 16 is a similar view toFIG. 15 , at a subsequent step in the process. -
FIG. 17 is a similar view toFIG. 16 , at a subsequent step in the process. -
FIG. 18 is a section side view of the well with another means of communicating with multiple RFID initiating cartridges. -
FIG. 19 is a similar view toFIG. 18 , at a subsequent step in the process. -
FIG. 20 is a similar view toFIG. 19 , at a subsequent step in the process. -
FIG. 21 is a similar view toFIG. 20 , at a subsequent step in the process. -
FIG. 22 is a circuit diagram for an acoustic transmitter/receiver - Referring to
FIGS. 1-8 , an objective of this process is to make an access window to the open hole. -
FIG. 1 shows a well where the tubing has been severed using abridge plug 10, thermal insulation material such as sand or ceramics, reactedthermite 12, a second quantity ofthermal insulation material 13 and weight in the form ofsteel ball bearing 14. - The next operation will be described in more detail, the objective of which is to sever the next casing outside the one already severed, and to let that casing drop thereby enabling access outside of it.
- This is achieved using a slickline 21 (or wireline or coiled tubing, the term slickline will only be used from now on) to lower the
slickline running tool 22 into the well. The running tool clamps 23 to the slickline, extending from the running tool is a thinhollow rod 24, on the end of which is a low temperaturealloy end cap 25, mounted on the rod arecartridges 26, which consist of a hermetically sealedchamber 27, with an outercylindrical wall 28, in inner very small innercylindrical wall 29, and a top 30, and bottom 31 cap. Inside the chamber, could be any type of dry material or liquid chemicals such as thermite, bismuth, insulation, weighting materials, or instruments or sensors or telemetry such as a sonar Pinger, an acoustic transmitter receiver, or a RFID transmitter receiver, an ignitor to initiate the thermite reaction. - When the slickline tags the top of the previous plug 32 a heating element is powered up by current supplied by a cable inside the
rod 24, the low temperature alloy end plug will melt and then the cartridges will slide down the rod and be deposited ontop 33 of the previous plug 32, the empty slickline conveyance means 34 can now return to surface and make a repeat run. The length of the slickline tool is governed by the length of the lubricator at surface and the weight limitation of the slickline. This means of deploying cartridges enables unlimited quantities of the right materials to be deposited into the well, in a controlled way and with total quality control of the process. - Once the required quantities of
low temperature thermite 35,wireless initiator 36,high temperature thermite 37,additional initiators 38,thermal insulation 39 andweighting materials 40 have been installed, amaster activation tool 41 is conveyed on the slickline and at the required time, it transmits an acoustic signal to activate the different initiators, and the different initiators transmit back different hand shake to confirm they have received the correct command and have been switched on. The initiators can either be turned on at the same time or different times if a different warm up profile of the thermite is preferred or required. For example, it may be better to ignite thelow temperature thermite 36 using a signal A 120 so that it softens the steel casing, which is confirmed by the initiator sending backsignal B 121 to thewireless transceiver 41, and then igniting thehigh temperature thermite 37 using signal C 122 which confirms initiation by returningsignal D 123, so that it can more easily sever 42 the softened casing. Ideally this will occur just below theinsulation 43. The insulation provides a thermal barrier for theweighting material 44, so the weighting material does not fuse or melt and free fall with the insulation material and the severedcasing 45. - Referring to
FIGS. 9 to 13 , there is shown other means of conveying long flexible modules of different materials into the well on a mono conductor wireline conveyance system. - The system consists of a
mono conductor wireline 50, attached to which is agrapple connector 51. A shear pin assembly 52 is part of the assembly to enable a clean separation in the event of getting stuck. Termination of the conductor is in a heating element inside a lowtemperature alloy block 53 which connects thepayload 54 to the lower part of theconnector 55. - The payload is a long flexible tube, fitted with a
rounded nose piece 56. Inside the flexible tube would be any of the previously described materials that are required for an operation in the well for example those shown inFIGS. 3 and 4 . - When electrical power is applied to the electrical conductor, the heating element is energised and this in turn melts the low temperature alloy which in turn disconnects the payload from the mono conductor running tool.
- The payload comes to rest and coils 57 into a compact form in the casing (not shown) below it. As in the previous system this can be repeated as often as required until the required quantity of material is placed into the well.
- Referring to
FIGS. 11 to 13 , an alternative arrangement is to have the payload made up made like a string ofsausages 64, the connectingmembers 60 being held tight in thesausage 64′ nearest therelease mechanism 61, when the release mechanism is activated the connecting members comes free and allows the sausage containers to separate 62 and when they land in the bottom of the well they fill the space, so forming a bigger diameter andshorter length 63. - As above, the sausage skin could be plastic, thin steel or composite. Inside the sausage skin would be the desired material as described in
FIG. 1-8 , and this would be hermetically sealed - Referring to
FIGS. 14 to 17 there is shown an alternative method of initiating the thermite ignitors. RFID (Radio Frequency ID) is now a well-established method of both transmitting and receiving data. An RF module (radio frequency module) is a small electronic device used to transmit and/or receive radio signals between two devices. It is often desirable to communicate with another device wirelessly. For in well applications the wireless communication is best accomplished radio frequency (RF) communication. In well RFID has a proven typical range of between 3-5 meters. In our application, an RFID initiator may be used for the thermite further away from the transmitter than this. - To overcome this limitation, the initiator is fitted with an RFID receiver/transmitter, connected via a long cable to the cartridge. In practice the deployment process would be as follows;
- The
cartridge initiator 70, would be lowered into the well as previously described, it would be adjacent to the runningtool 71. At setting depth, anarm 72 would be activated which would deploy a magnet to attach itself to thecasing 73, on the magnet will be a RFID transmitter/receiver, and acoiled cable 74 connecting it to the electronics inside theinitiator cartridge 70. Asolenoid 75 on the running tool would be energised and it would shear apin 76 on the thincentral rod 77 and the cartridges would fall into the bottom of the well. Theinitiator cartridge 70 would be buried with the rest of thethermite cartridges 78, and connected via thecable 74 to the receiver/transmitter 73. - When all the required cartridges have been deposited, a
tool 79 is deployed on the mono conductor and it transmits 80 to all the RFID devices with their respective unique signals to arm them, they respond confirming they have been armed and then initiate the thermite reaction according to how they have been programmed. - Referring to
FIGS. 18 to 21 , there is shown a further embodiment of the invention, showing multiple wirelessRFID initiator cartridges 70, which talk to each other in a daisy chain manner exclusively using wireless communication. The signal to the lowest initiator is achieved via multiple - RFID transmitter/receivers, because the cost is relatively low, they could be in every cartridge, resulting in multiple redundancy for signals in both directions, and also provide a quality assurance, as each cartridge is activated it could transmit that information before being vaporised. The other hermetically sealed cartridges would contain dry materials such as
low temperature thermite 84, slow burningthermite 81, high temperature thermite orliquid propellant 82,weighting material 83 - Referring to
FIG. 22 , there is shown a circuit diagram for a possible embodiment of the one of the acoustic transmitter/receivers for theinitiators 38 of the invention. Once all the required tool assembly has been installed into the well, in order to activate the thermite reaction or some similar operation, an acoustic coded signal is transmitted from surface, or from a wireline or slickline deployed tool. A number of features to minimise premature activation are included. Prior to the on-board electronics 100 activating the device, thepressure safety switch 101 interlock has to be activate, and acertain temperature 99 must be achieved, both of these ensure that the device is at a certain depth in the well. Once these conditions have been met, thecircuit board 100 goes to ready mode and is receptive to signals. When the circuit receives a command, it is checks for a specific command construction which may include a preamble and postamble (framing bytes), or some other identifier code. If the identifier code is incorrect, it ignores the transmission. - The assembly may also act to transmit and receive data to and from below it, so it forms a daisy chain.
- First a Ready command is sent, then “arm”, then “fire”. On Fire, the
relay 102 latches on, and applies power which comes from 3×4.4volt 30amp batteries 103 connected in series to theinitiator 104. This all happens to all the acoustically activated switches that are to be initiated together simultaneously. - The acoustic transmitters/receiver's 105 are specifically tuned to under water performance. When sound travels through medium that has different acoustic impedance, the reflection coefficient R (when energy propagates through mediums) can be calculated as:
-
- where Z1, Z2 represent the acoustic impedance value of medium 1 and medium 2. If we like to achieve 100% transmission rate, we like to have R=0 (no energy is reflected)
- In transducers case, the model can be simplified to
- 1. Piezo ceramics composite (Z1) to air (Z2air, 0.000429 kg/s g/cm3),
2. Piezo ceramics composite (Z1) to water (Z2water, 1.5 kg/s g/cm3) - When an air transducer is to be used, the goal would be to achieve Z1 as close as to the impedance of air of 0.000429, to minimize the R coefficient. By adding composite, we can achieve Z1 close to 0.00085. In this case, the R coefficient is 10.8%, which means almost 89.2% of the energy is transmitted.
- However, if the same air transducer is used in water, the second medium immediate has 10,000 times of change in acoustic impedance. And therefore, R=99.99%, which means no energy can escape/transmit through the surface. For this reason, the transducer must to be specifically designed for underwater use, rather than employing an air transducer without modification.
-
Acoustic impedance Z1 0.00085 Z2 air 0.000429 Z2 water 1.5 R of piezo to air 10.8% R of piezo to water 100%
Claims (14)
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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GB1912538.4 | 2019-08-30 | ||
GBGB1912538.4A GB201912538D0 (en) | 2019-08-30 | 2019-08-30 | Method of abandoning a well |
PCT/GB2020/052090 WO2021038254A1 (en) | 2019-08-30 | 2020-09-01 | Method of abandoning a well |
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US20220282592A1 true US20220282592A1 (en) | 2022-09-08 |
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ID=68207219
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US17/638,047 Pending US20220282592A1 (en) | 2019-08-30 | 2020-09-01 | Method of abandoning a well |
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US (1) | US20220282592A1 (en) |
CA (1) | CA3149747A1 (en) |
GB (1) | GB201912538D0 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2021038254A1 (en) |
Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2619083A (en) * | 1951-01-10 | 1952-11-25 | Charles F Bowersett | Cutting device |
US20150152727A1 (en) * | 2012-12-28 | 2015-06-04 | Michael Linley Fripp | Systems and Methods for Downhole Telecommunication |
US20150211322A1 (en) * | 2014-01-30 | 2015-07-30 | Olympic Research, Inc. | Well sealing via thermite reactions |
US20150361761A1 (en) * | 2014-06-13 | 2015-12-17 | Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Cable-conveyed activation object |
US20210231007A1 (en) * | 2017-12-29 | 2021-07-29 | Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | Feedback Signaling From Downhole Tools |
Family Cites Families (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20040089450A1 (en) * | 2002-11-13 | 2004-05-13 | Slade William J. | Propellant-powered fluid jet cutting apparatus and methods of use |
WO2015116261A1 (en) * | 2014-01-30 | 2015-08-06 | Olympic Research, Inc. | Well sealing via thermite reactions |
GB2551693B (en) * | 2016-05-24 | 2021-09-15 | Bisn Tec Ltd | Down-hole chemical heater and methods of operating such |
GB2558309B (en) * | 2016-12-30 | 2021-08-25 | Metrol Tech Ltd | A downhole monitoring method |
-
2019
- 2019-08-30 GB GBGB1912538.4A patent/GB201912538D0/en not_active Ceased
-
2020
- 2020-09-01 CA CA3149747A patent/CA3149747A1/en active Pending
- 2020-09-01 US US17/638,047 patent/US20220282592A1/en active Pending
- 2020-09-01 WO PCT/GB2020/052090 patent/WO2021038254A1/en active Application Filing
Patent Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US2619083A (en) * | 1951-01-10 | 1952-11-25 | Charles F Bowersett | Cutting device |
US20150152727A1 (en) * | 2012-12-28 | 2015-06-04 | Michael Linley Fripp | Systems and Methods for Downhole Telecommunication |
US20150211322A1 (en) * | 2014-01-30 | 2015-07-30 | Olympic Research, Inc. | Well sealing via thermite reactions |
US20150361761A1 (en) * | 2014-06-13 | 2015-12-17 | Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Cable-conveyed activation object |
US20210231007A1 (en) * | 2017-12-29 | 2021-07-29 | Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | Feedback Signaling From Downhole Tools |
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GB201912538D0 (en) | 2019-10-16 |
CA3149747A1 (en) | 2021-03-04 |
WO2021038254A1 (en) | 2021-03-04 |
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