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US 2012/0298372 A1Published application
Apparatus and method for abandoning a well
AssigneeGeoprober Drilling Limited
InventorAntony Stephen Bamford
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AssigneeGeoprober Drilling Limited
InventorAntony Stephen Bamford
Estimating the term…
Apparatus for recovery of sections of tubing and inter alia, the tubing hanger, from a subsea well to enable the abandonment of a subsea well to be accomplished from a mono-hull vessel includes a dual gripper assembly (1) adapted for onshore or offshore deployment is configured to handle oilfield tubulars and associated completion equipment and configured for attachment to a wellhead structure and subsequent reciprocation cycles whereby oilfield tubulars can be run-in hole or pulled to surface without requiring a riser. A cutter mechanism (22) is disclosed for severing sections of tubular to form a clean cut end for attachment of a connection mandrel. The individually controllable gripping devices (19, 20) are operated such that during a reciprocation cycle at least one of the gripping devices is engaged around the tubular body for supporting same, and the other is spaced from the tubular body sufficiently for said other gripping device to slide over the tubular body to be selectively re-positioned to take up a fresh gripping position on the same or a further tubular body. The respective gripping devices can be used to bring together tubulars to be connected using a connection mandrel (28) or to manipulate a running and recovery tool (26), and to make up or break standard tool joints of wellbore tubulars. A method for pulling or running a completion is disclosed.
Apparatus for recovery of sections of wellbore tubular from a subsea well to enable the abandonment of a subsea well to be effected from a mono-hull vessel, wherein the apparatus includes a dual reciprocating gripper assembly (1) comprising first and second gripper means (19, 20) with corresponding actuating means comprising cylinders (18) for use in the subsea installation or removal of a wellbore tubular from a wellbore, and a cutting device (22) for the purpose of disconnecting lengths of said wellbore tubular.
Apparatus (1) for the installation or removal of a tubular body from a wellbore, said assembly being adapted for removable mounting upon a wellhead structure, and comprising first and second individually controllable gripping devices (19, 20) adapted to selectively engage around a tubular body, said assembly being operatively connected to control means to operate said gripping devices and configured such that during a reciprocation cycle step to install or remove a tubular body at least one of the gripping devices is engaged around the tubular body for supporting same, and the other is spaced from the tubular body sufficiently for said other gripping device to slide over the tubular body to be selectively re-positioned to take up a fresh gripping position on the same or a further tubular body, and a tubing hanger retrieval tool (26) for connection to the tubing hanger, and high capacity auxiliary cylinders (41) to provide additional lifting force to unseat the tubing hanger.
A method of pulling a completion tubular from a subsea well comprising retrievably deploying a retrieval tool and a dual reciprocating gripper assembly from a surface vessel to the wellhead, operating the dual reciprocating gripper assembly to bring the retrieval tool into operative contact with a subsea tubing hanger at the wellhead, engaging the tubing hanger with the tool while gripping and rotating the tool, running a connection mandrel from the surface vessel to the wellhead, connecting the mandrel to the retrieval tool, operating the dual reciprocating gripper assembly to unlatch the tubing hanger, raising the retrieval tool and tubing hanger while supporting the tubular at the wellhead, separating the tubing hanger from the supported tubular, recovering the dual reciprocating gripper assembly and the tubing hanger with connection mandrel and retrieval tool to the surface vessel, re-running the connection mandrel and the dual reciprocating gripper assembly to the wellhead, operating the dual reciprocating gripper assembly to engage the connection mandrel with the supported tubular, and subsequently operating the dual reciprocating gripper assembly to successively engage and pull the tubular, wherein one of the grippers of the dual reciprocating gripper assembly supports the tubular while the other re-positions with respect to the tubular to take up the load.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.