US 11,441,387 B2Granted

Method of securing a well with shallow leak in upward cross flow

AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company

InventorsMohamed M. El Nekhily, Ibrahim A. Al-Obaidi

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Abstract

A method of securing a wellbore experiencing upward crossflow includes determining a depth of a leak in a first wellbore casing tubular and identifying a second wellbore casing tubular downhole of the leak depth. From a surface, a well control tool is incrementally lowered into the wellbore until a lower tool string of the well control tool is positioned in mating contact with an end receptacle of the second wellbore casing tubular. The lower tool string is exposed to the upward crossflow during lowering of the well control tool. A unidirectional valve preinstalled inside the lower tool string inhibits movement of the upward crossflow into an upper tool string of the well control tool while permitting kill fluid pumped into the upper tool string from the surface to flow into the wellbore. The unidirectional valve is retrieved to allow additional operations in the wellbore through the lower tool string.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

in response to detecting a crossflow in a wellbore, determining a depth of a leak that is formed at least partially in a first wellbore casing tubular installed around the wellbore and disposed in a path of the crossflow;
identifying a second wellbore casing tubular installed around the wellbore and having an end receptacle that is positioned downhole of the depth of the leak;
from a surface, incrementally assembling and lowering a well control tool comprising a lower tool string releasably coupled to an upper tool string into the wellbore until a downhole end of the lower tool string is positioned in mating contact with the end receptacle;
while incrementally assembling and lowering the well control tool, exposing a conduit of the lower tool string to the crossflow and inhibiting movement of the crossflow from the lower tool string into the upper tool string by a unidirectional valve preinstalled inside the lower tool string;
supplying a kill fluid from the surface into the wellbore through the well control tool and unidirectional valve with a weight of the kill fluid selected to provide a hydrostatic head in the wellbore with an overbalance;
and
retrieving the unidirectional valve from the lower tool string to the surface,
wherein the first wellbore casing tubular is coupled to a seal stem and the lower tool string comprises a packer coupled to the first wellbore casing tubular, the packer comprising at least one radially expandable packer element, the seal stem having an end face to make a metal-to-metal contact,
wherein the unidirectional valve is located in a portion of a conduit within the first wellbore casing tubular, and
wherein a location of the unidirectional valve relative to the end face of the seal stem is based on the depth of the leak in the well.

7 more elements

A system comprising:

a wellbore traversing a first formation zone and a second formation zone, wherein the first formation zone is at a higher pressure and a greater depth compared to the second formation zone;
a first wellbore casing tubular installed around the wellbore;
a second wellbore casing tubular installed around the wellbore, the second wellbore casing tubular having an end receptacle;
and
a well control tool suspended in the wellbore, the well control tool comprising:
a lower tool string having a downhole end, an uphole end, and a first conduit for fluid flow extending from the downhole end to the uphole end, the lower tool string comprising a seal stem at the downhole end, the seal stem having an end face in metal-to-metal contact with a surface of the end receptacle;
an upper tool string having a downhole end, an uphole end, and a second conduit for fluid flow extending from the downhole end to the uphole end, the upper tool string comprising a connector releasably coupling the downhole end of the upper tool string to the uphole end of the lower tool string;
and
a unidirectional valve retrievably preinstalled inside the lower tool string and operable to provide a flow of fluid through the first conduit in a direction from the uphole end of the lower tool string to the downhole end of the lower tool string,
wherein the first wellbore casing tubular is coupled to the seal stem and the lower tool string further comprises a packer coupled to the first wellbore casing tubular, the packer comprising at least one radially expandable packer element,
wherein the unidirectional valve is located in a portion of the first conduit, and
wherein a location of the unidirectional valve relative to the end face of the seal stem is based on a depth of a leak in a well.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/062,862Filed 5 Oct 2020
Published: US 2022/0106856 A17 Apr 2022
Granted: 13 Sep 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

E21B 34/08
In wells: responsive to flow or pressure of the fluid obtained
E21B 29/10
Cutting or destroying pipes, packers, plugs or wire lines, located in boreholes or wells, e.g. cutting of damaged pipes, of windows; Deforming…
E21B 33/1212
Characterised by the construction of the sealing or packing means: including a metal-to-metal seal element
E21B 43/10
Subsoil filtering: setting of casings, screens, liners or the like in wells

Family

US 2022/0106856 A1Pre-grant publication · published 7 Apr 2022
US 11,441,387 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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