System and method for removing sand from a wellbore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10428635-B2
Application number	US-201615370584-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2016
Priority date	Dec 6, 2016
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

A system and method of removing sand from a wellbore by mixing the sand with a liquid to form a slurry, and forcing the slurry through a discharge line to surface. The sand is separated from the production fluid within the wellbore by centrifugal action created using a specially design screen or tangential perforations, and directed into a portion of the wellbore that is sealed from the remainder of the wellbore. The liquid and sand are mixed together in the sealed portion of the wellbore, and the pressure of the fluid is sufficient to force the slurry uphole. Included in the sealed portion of the wellbore is a perturbation element for mixing the sand and liquid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for producing from a wellbore comprising:
production tubing in the wellbore having an inlet in fluid communication with a formation that is intersected by the wellbore;
upper and lower seals axially spaced apart from one another and in an annulus that is bounded by walls of the wellbore;
a sealed space on a side of the lower seal opposite the upper seal;
a discharge chute that is in communication with a source of sand, that that has an exit disposed in the sealed space;
an inlet line in communication with a source of fluid and having a fluid exit in the sealed space; and
a discharge line having an inlet in the sealed space, so that when fluid from the source of fluid flows out of the fluid exit and into the sealed space, sand from the source of sand in the sealed space mixes with the fluid exiting the fluid exit and is forced into the inlet of the discharge line.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the source of sand comprises a separator coupled with the production tubing, and that comprises a housing connected to the discharge chute, inlet ports formed in a sidewall of the housing.

3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a one way valve on an end of the discharge chute distal from the housing which is in an open configuration when pressure in the discharge chute is greater than pressure in the sealed space, and which is in a closed configuration when pressure in the sealed space is greater than pressure in the discharge chute.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a perturbation element disposed in the sealed space for mixing the sand and the fluid.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the perturbation element mounts to the inlet line, and which comprises a base that selectively rotates and that is in fluid communication with the inlet line, vanes formed on the base, and blades mounted to the base, so that when fluid from the inlet line flows across the base, interaction of the fluid with the vanes causes the base and blades to rotate, thereby mixing the sand with the fluid to create a slurry.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a wellhead assembly mounted at an opening of the wellbore on the Earth's surface.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the inlet line and discharge lines are routed through the wellhead assembly.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wellbore comprises a main bore, and a lateral bore is oriented oblique to the main bore, and that intersects the main bore on a side of the seal opposite from the sealed space, and wherein the lateral bore comprises the source of the sand.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein perforations are formed in the formation and that are tangential to sidewalls of the wellbore, and wherein the formation comprises the source of the sand.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein a production space is defined in a portion of the wellbore between the upper and lower seals.

11. A system for producing from a wellbore comprising:
a means for transporting connate fluid from within the wellbore that is produced from a formation intersected by the wellbore;
a means for forming a slurry of motive fluid and sand separated from the connate fluid that comprises a selectively rotatable perturbation element; and
a means for transporting the slurry out of the wellbore.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the means for transporting connate fluid from the wellbore comprises production tubing, and the means for separating sand from the connate fluid comprises a separator that attaches to the production tubing.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the selectively rotatable perturbation element comprises blades that project radially from a base, a bore in the base in communication with a source of motive fluid, and vanes projecting from a sidewall of the bore that extend along helical paths.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the perturbation element is selectively rotated by contacting the perturbation element with the motive fluid.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the means for transporting the slurry out of the wellbore comprises a source of the motive fluid, an inlet line in the wellbore having an inlet in fluid communication with a source of the motive fluid and a fluid exit proximate a sealed space in the wellbore where sand separated from the connate fluid is collected, and a discharge line having an inlet in fluid communication with the slurry in the sealed space, and an exit that is disposed outside of the wellbore, and wherein the source of the motive fluid is at a pressure sufficient to lift the slurry from the sealed space and to outside of the wellbore.

16. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a means for separating the sand from the connate fluid.

17. A method of producing from a wellbore comprising:
transporting connate fluid from the wellbore that is produced from a production zone that surrounds a portion of the wellbore; and
forming a slurry by combining the particulate matter with a motive fluid injected into the wellbore, and using the motive fluid to rotate a perturbation element, so that a pressure of the motive fluid lifts particulate matter separated from the connate fluid to outside of the wellbore.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein a seal blocks axial flow in the wellbore at a depth past the production zone to define a sealed space on a side opposite the production zone.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the slurry is mixed in the sealed space in the wellbore and separate from where connate fluid enters the wellbore from the production zone.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the perturbation element comprises a base and blades.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Ayub Muhammad
• Habib Nabeel S

Classifications

• E21B33/12

  Packers; Plugs (used for cementing E21B33/134, E21B33/16) · CPC title

• E21B37/00

  Methods or apparatus for cleaning boreholes or wells (E21B21/00 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B43/02

  Subsoil filtering · CPC title

• E21B43/121

  Lifting well fluids (monitoring of down-hole pump systems E21B47/008) · CPC title

• E21B43/38 Primary

  in the well · CPC title