Deploying wellbore patch for mitigating lost circulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11261678-B2
Application number	US-201916708865-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2019
Priority date	Dec 10, 2019
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for deploying a lost circulation fabric (LCF) to seal a lost circulation zone during a drilling operation. The LCF may be contained within a lost circulation fabric deployment system (LCFDS) that is coupled to a tubular of a drilling string. The LCFDS may include a controller and sensors to detect the presence of a lost circulation zone and deploy the LCF upon detection of the lost circulation zone. In some implementations, a plurality of LCFDSs may be disposed on the tubular and work in cooperation to deploy a plurality of LCFs to form a seal along the lost circulation zone.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device implemented method for deploying a lost circulation fabric (LCF), the method comprising:
receiving one or more signals representing one or more conditions within a wellbore from at least one sensor, the at least one sensor comprising a temperature sensor and the one or more conditions comprising a temperature condition;
determining a depth of a downhole tool or a presence of a lost circulation zone based on the one or more signals representing the one or more conditions;
receiving one or more signals representing a remote trigger to deploy the LCF from the downhole tool;
determining whether to deploy the LCF based on (i) the determined depth of the downhole tool or the determined presence of the lost circulation zone and (ii) the one or more signals representing a remote trigger; and
deploying the LCF from the downhole tool to at least partially seal the lost circulation zone in the wellbore.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving one or more signals representing one or more conditions within a wellbore from at least one sensor comprises receiving one or more signals representing one or more conditions within a wellbore from at least one sensor mounted on the downhole tool.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein deploying the LCF comprises opening a door to a housing of the downhole tool.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein deploying the LCF comprises ejecting the LCF from the housing of the downhole tool.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein ejecting the LCF from the housing of the downhole tool comprises using a spring to eject the LCF from a housing of the downhole tool.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detaching the LCF from a housing of the downhole tool.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein detaching the LCF occurs after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after deploying the LCF.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the LCF is a first LCF, and the method further comprises deploying a second LCF.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first LCF is longitudinally offset from the second LCF.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first LCF is angularly offset about a longitudinal axis from the second LCF.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring the temperature condition within the wellbore.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the depth of the downhole tool based on the one or more signals representing the one or more conditions comprises determining the depth based on the temperature condition.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a wellbore temperature versus depth profile, wherein determining the depth of the downhole tool or the presence of the lost circulation zone based on the one or more signals representing the one or more conditions comprises determining the depth based on the wellbore temperature versus depth profile.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether to deploy the LCF based on the determined depth of the downhole tool or the determined presence of the lost circulation zone comprises determining whether to deploy the LCF based on the determined depth of the downhole tool.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the downhole tool comprises a housing mounted to an exterior surface of a tubular.

16. One or more computer readable storage devices storing instructions for deploying a lost circulation fabric (LCF), that are executable by a processing device, and upon such execution cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:
receiving one or more signals representing one or more conditions within a wellbore from at least one sensor, the at least one sensor comprising a temperature sensor and the one or more conditions comprising a temperature condition;
determining a depth of a downhole tool or a presence of a lost circulation zone based on the one or more signals representing the one or more conditions;
receiving one or more signals representing a remote trigger to deploy the LCF from the downhole tool;
determining whether to deploy the LCF based on (i) the determined depth of the downhole tool or the determined presence of the lost circulation zone and (ii) the one or more signals representing a remote trigger; and
deploying the LCF from the downhole tool to at least partially seal the lost circulation zone in the wellbore.

17. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein receiving one or more signals representing one or more conditions within a wellbore from at least one sensor comprises receiving one or more signals representing one or more conditions within a wellbore from at least one sensor mounted on the downhole tool.

18. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein deploying the LCF comprises opening a door to a housing of the downhole tool.

19. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 18 , wherein deploying the LCF comprises ejecting the LCF from the housing of the downhole tool.

20. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 19 , wherein ejecting the LCF from the housing of the downhole tool comprises using a spring to eject the LCF from a housing of the downhole tool.

21. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 19 , wherein the operations further comprise detaching the LCF from a housing of the downhole tool.

22. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 21 , wherein detaching the LCF occurs after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after deploying the LCF.

23. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein the LCF is a first LCF, and the one or more computer readable storage devices comprises deploying a second LCF.

24. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 23 , wherein the first LCF is longitudinally offset from the second LCF.

25. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 23 , wherein the first LCF is angularly offset about a longitudinal axis from the second LCF.

26. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise measuring the temperature condition within the wellbore.

27. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein determining the depth of the downhole tool based on the one or more signals representing the one or more conditions comprises determining the depth based on the temperature condition.

28. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise receiving a wellbore temperature versus depth profile, wherein determining the depth of the downhole tool or the presence of the lost circulation zone based on the one or more signals representing the one or more conditions comprises determining the depth based on the wellbore temperature versus depth profile.

29. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein determining whether to deploy the LCF based on the determined depth of the downhole tool or the determined presence of the lost circulation zone comprises determining whether to deploy the LCF based on the determined depth of the downhole tool.

30. The one or more computer readable storage devices of claim 16 , wherein the downhole tool comprises a housing mounted to an exterior surface of a tubular.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Li Bodong
• Gooneratne Chinthaka Pasan
• Moellendick Timothy E

Classifications

• E21B33/13 Primary

  Methods or devices for cementing, for plugging holes, crevices or the like · CPC title

• E21B21/003 Primary

  Means for stopping loss of drilling fluid (plastering the borehole wall E21B33/138) · CPC title