In situ injection or production via a well using selective operation of multi-valve assemblies with choked configurations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11261715-B2
Application number	US-202016858418-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 24, 2020
Priority date	Sep 27, 2019
Publication date	Mar 1, 2022
Grant date	Mar 1, 2022

Abstract

Oil recovery can include providing a tubing string and isolation devices to define isolated intervals for an existing well previously operated using plug-and-perf and primary production. Valve assemblies are installed in respective isolated intervals, each valve assembly including at least two valves. The valve can be operated in open and closed configurations, and at least one open configuration provides choked flow via an elongated passage. The valves can have a housing and a shiftable sleeve. The valve assemblies can be operated to provide a desired openness based on the injectivity or other properties by shifting the sleeves of the valves. Different flow resistance levels can be provided to facilitate enhanced operations for water flooding and other oil recovery processes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for enhanced oil recovery using an existing horizontal well section of a wellbore that has been fractured and operated for primary production, the method comprising: running a tubing string into the horizontal well to define an annulus between the tubing string and the wellbore, and defining a plurality of wellbore intervals isolated from one another along the horizontal well defined by isolation devices deployed in spaced-apart relation to each other within the annulus; for one or more of the wellbore intervals, installing a valve assembly along the tubing string, the valve assembly comprising at least a first valve and a second valve to define a multivalve interval, each of the first and second valves being operable in a corresponding open configuration for allowing fluid flow from the tubing string into the surrounding reservoir via a corresponding fluid passage and a closed configuration for preventing fluid flow into the surrounding reservoir, the fluid passage of at least one of the first and second valves being elongated and configured such that the open configuration of the corresponding valve is a choked configuration where fluid flowrate from the tubing string into the reservoir is restricted; in at least one of the multivalve intervals, operating the first valve in the open configuration and the second valve in the closed configuration; injecting a fluid down the tubing string so as to pass through the first valve in the open configuration to measure an injectivity of the corresponding wellbore interval or surrounding reservoir; based on the measured injectivity, selectively operating each of the first valve and the second valves in the open or closed configuration; and injecting the fluid down the tubing string so as to pass through at least one of the first valve and second valve to drive oil toward a production well.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second valves are preconfigured to provide redundancy where at least two different configurations of the valve assembly provides a substantially similar overall openness for fluid flow through the fluid passages.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second valves are preconfigured to provide higher precision of fluid flow adjustment at lower flowrates compared to higher flowrates.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second valves are preconfigured to provide a range of overall openness for fluid flow through the fluid passages at the different configurations of the valve assembly, the range comprising evenly distributed flow resistances from minimum to maximum fluid flow.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second vales comprises an open configuration for injecting fluid via a fully open aperture for high throughput.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid flowrate between the tubing string and the reservoir is defined by at least one of a shape and size of the fluid passage of each valve in the open configuration.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the valve assembly comprises a plurality of valves each having corresponding elongated fluid passages defining respective fluid flowrates between the tubing string and the reservoir when the valves are in the open configuration, and wherein each valve is independently operable between the open and closed configurations, thereby defining a predetermined range of fluid flowrates between the tubing string and the reservoir.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the open configuration of one of the first and second valves is the choked configuration for restricting fluid flowrate into the reservoir, and wherein the open configuration of the other one of the first and second valves is a high throughput configuration.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple wellbore intervals comprise respective valve assemblies that are operated to provide fluid injection based on the respective measured injectivities.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein, when one of the wellbore intervals experiences a rise in injectivity above a given threshold indicating fluid bypass or thief zone, each valve of the valve assembly installed along the corresponding wellbore interval are displaced to the closed configuration to cease injection via the corresponding valve assembly.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein, when one of the wellbore intervals has a rise in injectivity, at least one of the first and second valves installed along the corresponding wellbore interval is displaced to a more restricted configuration to reduce the flowrate into the corresponding interval.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein fluid communication between adjacent valves along the same wellbore interval is established along the annulus, in the surrounding reservoir, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the horizontal well has been fractured via plug-and-perf.

14. A method for oil recovery, the method comprising:
running a tubing string into an existing well previously operated for primary production, to define an annulus between the tubing string and a wellbore, and defining a plurality of wellbore intervals isolated from one another along the well defined by isolation devices deployed in spaced-apart relation to each other within the annulus;
for multiple wellbore intervals, installing a corresponding valve assembly along the tubing string, the valve assembly comprising at least a first valve and a second valve to define a multivalve interval, each valve being operable in at least one of an open configuration for establishing fluid communication between the tubing string and the surrounding reservoir via respective fluid passages and a closed configuration for preventing fluid flow into the surrounding reservoir, the fluid passage of at least one of the first and second valves being elongated and configured such that the open configuration of the corresponding valve is a choked configuration where fluid flowrate from the tubing string into the reservoir is restricted;
determining at least one operational parameter comprising at least one property of an injection fluid, or at least one characteristic of the wellbore intervals, or a combination thereof;
based on the at least one determined operational parameter, for each wellbore interval selectively operating the first valve and the second valve in the open or closed configuration to provide an selected openness for each valve assembly in the corresponding wellbore interval;
injecting at least one injection fluid down the tubing string so as to pass through at least one of the first valve and second valve to enter the reservoir at corresponding wellbore intervals and promote recovery of oil via at least one adjacent production well.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein a single injection fluid is injected over time or different injection fluids are alternated over time.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising, after injecting the injection fluid for a period of time, adjusting the configuration of at least one of the valve assemblies in a corresponding wellbore interval to change the selected openness thereof based on a change in the determined operational parameter.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the change in the determined operational parameter comprises an increase in injectivity, and the change to the selected openness comprises reducing the openness to increase the resistance to flow via the valve assembly.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first and second valves of the multivalve interval each comprise a corres

Assignees

• Ncs Multistage Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Timothy
• Werries Michael
• Laun Lyle

Classifications

• E21B2200/02

  Down-hole chokes or valves for variably regulating fluid flow · CPC title

• E21B34/14

  operated by movement of tools, e.g. sleeve valves operated by pistons or wire line tools {(E21B34/066 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• E21B43/14 Primary

  Obtaining from a multiple-zone well · CPC title

• E21B43/20

  Displacing by water · CPC title

• E21B43/162

  Injecting fluid from longitudinally spaced locations in injection well · CPC title