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US 6,578,636 B2Granted
Horizontal directional drilling in wells
AssigneePerformance Research & Drilling, LLC
InventorsHenry B. Mazorow, Paris E. Blair, Chris Sanfelice
Life of this patent
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AssigneePerformance Research & Drilling, LLC
InventorsHenry B. Mazorow, Paris E. Blair, Chris Sanfelice
Estimating the term…
A method and apparatus for horizontally drilling in wells utilizing a shoe assembly at the down hole end of upset tubing. The shoe assembly includes a fixed section and a rotatable section suspended below the fixed section. An electric motor and associated batteries and a gyroscope carried on the rotatable section enable an operator on the surface to selectively rotate and position the rotatable section to any desired angular location for drilling a hole in the well casing. After one or more holes have been cut in the casing, a drill assembly can be removed from the upset tubing and be replaced by a high pressure blaster nozzle to bore into the formation zones. The gyroscope enables the operator to accurately position the rotatable section to the same locations at which the holes have been cut. The drill assembly includes an electric motor with an associated battery, flexible drive shaft, and a hole saw.
Apparatus for horizontally drilling in wells comprising a shoe assembly adapted to be lowered into a casing of a well to a depth at which a hole or holes are to be drilled in the casing wall, said shoe assembly comprising a fixed section and a rotatable section, a cutter support body on the rotatable section adapted to support a cutter adjacent an angular location at which it is desired to form a hole in the casing, a gyroscope on the assembly fixed relative to the cutter support body and adapted to transmit a signal to the surface that indicates the angular location of the cutter support body, said fixed section being arranged to receive said cutter in a longitudinally oriented path, said cutter support body being arranged to receive said cutter from said longitudinally oriented path and to direct said cutter in a radial path towards the casing wall.
A shoe assembly for horizontally drilling in wells comprising a fixed section and a rotatable section, a power actuator for turning the rotatable section relative to the fixed section, said rotatable section including a support body for supporting a cutter for movement in a path along a radial direction and against the well casing, and a device carried on the rotatable section for accurately determining the angle of rotation of the rotatable section relative to the fixed section, whereby the rotatable section can be turned through selected angles to cut holes in the well casing or bore into hydrocarbon payzones at locations spaced by said selected angles.
A shoe assembly for horizontal drilling in wells comprising a fixed section adapted to be suspended at a down hole end of a length of upset tubing and a rotatable section suspended on bearing structure from the fixed section for rotation about a longitudinal axis relative to the fixed section, a rotational motor on the assembly operable to rotate the rotatable section relative to the fixed section, a passage with a longitudinal portion connected to the interior of the upset tubing and with a radial portion on the rotatable section adjacent the interior surface of the well casing, a gyroscope on the rotatable section fixed relative to the radial portion of the passage, and a drill assembly comprising a cutter, a flexible shaft and a motor, the flexible shaft connecting an output shaft of the motor to the cutter, the drill assembly being adapted to pass through the upset tubing and the cutter being adapted to pass through said passage with a portion of said flexible shaft to cut through the wall of a well casing, the gyroscope being adapted to signal the angular orientation of the radial passage to enable the rotational motor to index the radial passage to selected spaced angular locations for drilling operations and to return to the selected locations after a plurality of holes have been cut in the casing, the drill assembly being removable from the shoe assembly and being replaceable by a blaster nozzle adapted to be passed into said passage and through holes formed by said cutter.
A method of horizontal well drilling comprising providing a shoe assembly having a fixed section and a rotatable section, said fixed section being arranged to receive a cutter in a longitudinally oriented path, said rotatable section having a cutter support body arranged to receive said cutter from said longitudinally oriented path and to direct said cutter in a radial path, lowering the shoe assembly down a casing of a well to a depth at which a hole or holes are to be cut in the casing, cutting a first hole in the casing wall with said cutter at one angular location, rotating the rotatable section through an angle corresponding to the desired angular spacing of the first hole and a second hole, and cutting a second hole in said casing wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.