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US 12,006,466 B2Granted
Dissolvable sleeve for hydrocarbon well completions
AssigneeConocoPhillips Company
InventorsJames Rutherford, Roy Middleton
Life of this patent
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AssigneeConocoPhillips Company
InventorsJames Rutherford, Roy Middleton
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to the use of a sleeve (9) installed in a liner or casing (1) prior to a cementing operation. Completion equipment in the liner/casing creates an irregular inner profile which can cause cement to get trapped. A wiper dart (3) passed down the casing/liner (1) may have difficulty removing all residual cement (5). By using a sleeve or insert (8) in the liner/casing (1), a smooth inner profile (9) may be created which can be cleaned relatively easily by a wiper dart. Once cementing and cleaning are complete, the sleeve (9) may be removed by wellbore fluid or acid if it is made from a dissolvable material such as aluminum or magnesium.
A process for cleaning a liner or casing prior to completion, wherein the liner or casing has a region with a non-uniform inner profile, the process comprising:
A sleeve having a through bore with a substantially circular cross section with no abrupt changes in diameter and an outer surface profiled in a complementary manner to a non-uniform inner profile of a region of liner or casing, the sleeve being made from a material which is dissolvable or millable, wherein an inner surface of the sleeve is tapered at a distal end of the sleeve, at a proximal end of the sleeve or at both the distal and proximal ends of the sleeve.
An assembly comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.