Method and Apparatus for Sealing and Cementing a Wellbore

Apparatus for cementing casing in a well, comprising:

• a housing having an upper end adapted to couple to the lower end of a well casing, the housing having a cementing port extending from an inner surface of the housing to an outer surface of the housing,
• a closing sleeve carried within the housing and movable between a first position in which the closing sleeve does not cover the cementing port to a second position in which the closing sleeve covers the cementing port,
• a closing sleeve seat carried within the housing, releasably coupled to the closing sleeve, and adapted to selectively move the closing sleeve from the first position to the second position,
• a packer carried on an outer surface of the housing below the cementing port,
• a packer setting sleeve carried within the housing, the packer setting sleeve coupled to the packer and adapted to selectively set the packer, and
• a collet coupled to a lower end of the housing, the collet having an expandable portion having an unexpanded inner diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the packer setting sleeve and the closing sleeve seat, the expandable portion being elastically expandable in response to downward movement of the packer setting sleeve and the closing sleeve seat to permit the packer setting sleeve and the closing sleeve seat to be pumped out of the housing.

Apparatus for cementing casing in a well, comprising:

• a housing having an upper end adapted to couple to a lower end of a well casing, the housing having a cementing port extending from an inner surface of the housing to an outer surface of the housing,
• a packer carried on the outer surface of the housing below the cementing port,
• an inner assembly carried within the housing consisting of three movable parts as assembled for running into the well, the three movable parts comprising;
• a closing sleeve carried within the housing and movable between a first position in which the closing sleeve does not cover the cementing port to a second position in which the closing sleeve covers the cementing port,
• a closing sleeve seat carried within the housing, releasably coupled to the closing sleeve, and adapted to move the closing sleeve from the first position to the second position, and
• a packer setting sleeve carried within the housing below the closing sleeve, the packer setting sleeve coupled to the packer and adapted to selectively set the packer,
• wherein the closing sleeve seat and packer setting sleeve are adapted to be pumped out of the cylindrical housing leaving only one movable part within the housing.

A method of servicing a well, comprising:

• coupling a cementing apparatus to the lower end of a casing string, the cementing apparatus comprising a cementing port, a rupture disk in the cementing port, a cementing port closing sleeve, a cementing port closing seat, a packer, and a packer setting sleeve,
• running the cementing apparatus and casing string into a well,
• applying pressure through the casing string to the packer setting sleeve and thereby setting the packer, and
• applying pressure through the casing string to the rupture disk and thereby rupturing the rupture disk.

A method of servicing a well, comprising:

• coupling a cementing apparatus to the lower end of a well casing, the cementing apparatus comprising a housing, an inner assembly of movable parts carried in the housing, and an expandable collet carried on a lower end of the housing,
• running the cementing apparatus and casing into a well,
• flowing cement through the cementing apparatus and into an annulus between the casing the well,
• expanding the collet to provide an inner diameter large enough to permit at least one movable part of the inner assembly to pass through the collet, and
• pumping at least one movable part of the inner assembly out of the housing through the collet and into the well.