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US 2012/0222902 A1Published application
High performance wellbore departure and drilling system
AssigneeSmith International, Inc.
InventorsShelton W. Alsup, Philip M. Gregurek, Shantanu N. Swadi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method facilitate drilling of lateral wellbores by optionally eliminating one or more trips downhole. The system and method provide for drilling a lateral wellbore by enabling the milling of a casing window and the drilling of the desired lateral wellbore to a target depth during a single trip down hole. The system and method also facilitate better downhole dynamics control and improved overall bottom hole assembly functionality during drilling.
Claims20
A system for facilitating drilling of a lateral wellbore, comprising:
- a drilling assembly with a steerable drilling assembly, the drilling assembly including a cutting implement having cutters arranged and designed to enable both milling through a casing and at least partially drilling a lateral wellbore during a single downhole trip;
- a whipstock having a face with a profile arranged and designed to guide the cutting implement during milling of the casing, the whipstock also having an anchoring device coupled thereto to secure the whipstock at a desired downhole position in a wellbore;
- and
- an attachment member releasably coupling the cutting implement to the whipstock, the attachment member coupling to the cutting implement through a recess disposed in the cutting implement and coupling to the whipstock through an opening disposed in the whipstock;
- the attachment member arranged and designed to be severed such that any severed portion of the attachment member remaining coupled to the whipstock is nearly flush with the face of the whipstock.
2 more elements
A method of facilitating the drilling of a lateral wellbore, comprising the steps of:
- deploying a steerable drilling assembly and a whipstock downhole to a desired location in a well bore at which a lateral wellbore is to be drilled, the drilling assembly having a cutting implement with cutters arranged and designed to enable both milling through casing and at least partially drilling a lateral borehole, the cutting implement being releasably coupled to the whipstock via an attachment member, the attachment member being coupled between a recess disposed in the cutting implement and an opening disposed in the whipstock, the whipstock having a face with a profile arranged and designed to guide the cutting implement during milling of the casing, the whipstock also having an anchoring device coupled thereto to secure the whipstock at the desired downhole location in the wellbore;
- anchoring the whipstock at the desired downhole location in the wellbore through activation of the anchoring device;
- releasing the cutting implement from the whipstock by applying force to the cutting implement thereby shearing the attachment member such that any severed portion of the attachment member remaining coupled to the whipstock and protruding from the opening in the whipstock is minimized;
- and
- milling through the casing and at least partially drilling the lateral wellbore, the milling and drilling steps being conducted in a single trip downhole.
2 more elements
A system for facilitating drilling of a lateral wellbore, comprising:
- a drilling assembly with directional control, the drilling assembly including a cutting implement having cutters arranged and designed to enable both milling through a casing and at least partially drilling a directional wellbore during a single trip downhole;
- at least one back-up component positioned behind at least one of the cutters;
- the at least one back-up component arranged and designed to control a depth of cutting by the at least one of the cutters;
- and
- a whipstock releasably coupled to the cutting implement by an attachment member, the attachment member arranged and designed to couple the cutting implement to the whipstock during deployment of the whipstock to a desired downhole position and to facilitate release of the cutting implement from the whipstock at desired downhole position, the attachment member further arranged and designed to minimize any portion thereof remaining coupled to the whipstock after release of the cutting implement from the whipstock.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.