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-11732559-B2
Application number	US-202217583155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2022
Priority date	Sep 27, 2019
Publication date	Aug 22, 2023
Grant date	Aug 22, 2023

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 oil recovery from an existing wellbore previously operated for primary production and in which a tubing string is installed, the wellbore having a plurality of wellbore intervals isolated from one another by isolation devices deployed in spaced-apart relation to each other within an annulus defined between the tubing string and the wellbore, and where a valve assembly in installed in multiple wellbore intervals, 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, the method comprising:
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 a 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 the second valve to enter the reservoir at corresponding wellbore intervals and promote recovery of oil via at least one adjacent production well.

2. A method for oil recovery from an existing wellbore previously operated for primary production and in which a tubing string is installed, the wellbore having a plurality of wellbore intervals isolated from one another by isolation devices deployed in spaced-apart relation to each other within an annulus defined between the tubing string and the wellbore, and where a valve assembly having at least a first valve and a second valve operable between an open configuration and a closed configuration is installed in multiple wellbore intervals, the method comprising:
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 a 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 the second valve to enter a surrounding reservoir at corresponding wellbore intervals and promote recovery of oil via at least one adjacent production well.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the open configuration is adapted to establish fluid communication between the tubing string and the surrounding reservoir via respective fluid passages, and the closed configuration is adapted to prevent fluid flow into the surrounding reservoir, and wherein the fluid passage of at least one of the first and the second valves is 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 surrounding reservoir is restricted.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising, after injecting the at least one injection fluid for a period of time, adjusting the configuration of at least one of the first valve and the second valve in at least one wellbore interval to change the selected openness thereof based on at least one of a change in a previously determined operational parameter and a further determined operational parameter.

5. The method of claim 4 , 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.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the change in the determined operational parameter comprises modifying a type or a property of the injection fluid.

7. The method of claim 2 , 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.

8. The method of claim 2 , 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.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein fluid communication between adjacent valves along the same wellbore interval is established along the annulus, in the surrounding reservoir, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 2 , wherein a single injection fluid is injected over time or different injection fluids are alternated over time.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the injection fluid is water and the method is operated as a water flooding operation.

12. A method for oil recovery from an existing well in which a tubing string is installed, the well having a plurality of wellbore intervals isolated from one another by isolation devices deployed in spaced-apart relation to each other within an annulus defined between the tubing string and a wellbore, and where a valve assembly having at least a first valve and a second valve respectively operable between an open configuration and a closed configuration is installed in multiple wellbore intervals, the method comprising:
determining at least one operational parameter comprising at least one property of a fluid, or at least one characteristic of the wellbore intervals, or a combination thereof;
comparing the at least one determined operational parameter with at least one desired operational parameter to define a valve openness,
based on the at least one determined operational parameter and the at least one desired operational parameter, for each wellbore interval, selectively operating each one of the first and the second valves between the open and the closed configurations to provide the valve openness for each valve assembly in the corresponding wellbore interval;
operating the well to have fluid pass through at least one of the first valve and the second valve between a surrounding reservoir and the tubing string at corresponding wellbore intervals and promote oil recovery.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein operating the well comprises injecting at least one injection fluid down the tubing string to pass through at least one of the first valve and the second valve to enter the surrounding reservoir from the tubing string to promote oil recovery via at least one adjacent production well.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein operating the well comprises recovering production fluid components that pass through at least one of the first valve and the second valve to enter the tubing string from the surrounding reservoir to form a combined production fluid within the tubing string.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of producing

Assignees

• Ncs Multistage Inc

Inventors

• Johnson Timothy
• Werries Michael
• Laun Lyle

Classifications

• E21B43/14 Primary

  Obtaining from a multiple-zone well · 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

• E21B43/162

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

• E21B43/168

  Injecting a gaseous medium · CPC title

• E21B43/20

  Displacing by water · CPC title