Methods and appartus for use in oil and gas well completion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017234100-A1
Application number	US-201515502966-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 14, 2015
Priority date	Aug 15, 2014
Publication date	Aug 17, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A first aspect of the invention provides a gas or oil well tubing having an annular packer mounted thereon, wherein the annular packer is formed from an eutectic alloy. By prefabricating the annular packer on the tubing it can be placed in situ from the outset and thus can be active by melting at any time to form a eutectic seal quickly and easily. An annular packer with by-pass conduits is also provided to enable cement to be pumped past the annular packer when it is in situ. The annular packer is further provided with conduit clearance means to clear cement from within the conduits.

First claim

1 . A gas or oil well tubing having an annular packer mounted thereon, wherein the annular packer is formed from an eutectic or other bismuth based alloy.

2 . The tubing of claim 1 , wherein the annular packer comprises with one or more conduits running substantially parallel to the tubing.

3 . The tubing of claim 2 , wherein the conduits are provided as channels in the inner and/or outer circumferential surface of the annular packer.

4 . The tubing of claim 2 , wherein the conduits are provided as through holes in the main body of the annular packer.

5 . The tubing of any of the preceding claims, wherein the annular packer is mounted on the inner surface of the tubing.

6 . The tubing of claim 5 , wherein the tubing is a well casing or well lining.

7 . The tubing of any of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the annular packer is mounted to the outer surface of the tubing.

8 . The tubing of claim 7 , wherein the annular packer comprises multiple component parts which are combinable to form the complete annulus when mounted on the tubing.

9 . The tubing of claim 7 or 8 , further comprising a drilling tool mounted to the leading end thereof.

10 . A gas or oil well casing or lining drilling tool comprising the tubing of claim 9 .

11 . Use of the tubing of any of claims 1 to 8 in the formation of a liner hanger, wherein the annular packer configured to form an annular seal with a surrounding tubing that is strong enough to provide a weight bearing function, and whereby preferably the annular seal is sufficient to bear the weight of the liner without the need for other forms of retaining means.

12 . A method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing, said method comprising:
providing a length of tubing; and mounting a eutectic/bismuth alloy annular packer to the tubing.

13 . The method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing of claim 12 , wherein the annular packer is provided in the form of multiple component parts and the step of mounting the annular packer to the tubing involves securing the component parts together around the circumference of the tubing to complete the annulus.

14 . The method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing of claim 12 , wherein the annular packer is formed within the tubing by:
providing a melted eutectic/bismuth based alloy within the tubing and allowing it to cool; and drilling a hole through the alloy along the central axis of the tubing.

15 . The method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing of claim 12 , wherein the annular packer is formed within the tubing by:
locating a blocking tube concentrically within the tubing; providing a melted eutectic/bismuth alloy within the annular space between the tubing and the blocking tube; allowing the alloy to cool; and removing the blocking tube from within the cooled alloy to leave a void.

16 . The method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing of any of claim 12 , 13 , 14 or 15 , further comprising providing multiple conduits in the annular packer.

17 . The method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing of claim 16 , wherein the conduits are provided in the form of channels in the inner and outer surface of the annular packer.

18 . The method of manufacturing a gas or oil well tubing of claim 16 , wherein the conduits are provided in the form of through holes running through the main body of the packer.

19 . A method of sealing a leak in a completed oil/gas well using the tubing according to any of claims 1 to 9 by heating the annular packer in situ to melt the alloy and seal the leak.

20 . The method of sealing a leak in a completed oil/gas well of claim 19 , wherein a heating tool is deployed down the well to apply heat to the annular packer and cause it to melt.

21 . The method of sealing a leak in a completed oil/gas well of claim 19 , wherein the tubing further comprises heating means that can be activated remotely to melt the alloy.

22 . The method of sealing a leak in a completed oil/gas well of claim 21 , wherein the heating means are provided by a chemical heat source.

23 . A thermally deformable annular packer formed from an eutectic or bismuth based alloy and configured to be mounted to a gas or oil well tubing, said packer comprising:
one or more conduits oriented at least substantially parallel to the central axis of packer so as to permit the flow of fluid through the packer when the packer is mounted on a gas or oil well tubing; and one or more resiliently biased conduit clearance means located adjacent to said one or more conduits, wherein said clearance means are biased towards said conduits.

24 . The annular packer of claim 23 , wherein the conduit clearance means are held away from the conduit by alloy, such that when the alloy is melted the conduit clearance means can move towards said conduits under the biasing force.

25 . The annular packer of claim 23 , or 24 , wherein the conduit clearance means comprise one or more ring springs mounted in recesses in either the inner, the outer or both the inner and outer surfaces of the annular packer.

26 . The annular packer of claim 23 , 24 or 25 , wherein said conduits run through the middle or main body of the packer.

27 . The annular packer of any of claims 23 to 26 , wherein the annular packer is formed from multiple stackable components.

28 . The annular packer of claim 27 , wherein the stackable components are provided with alignment means to ensure that said conduits of each of the components align to provide an unbroken pathway through the annular packer.

29 . The annular packer of claim 27 or 28 , further comprising one or more sealing means configured to form a seal between the conduits of stacked components.

30 . The annular packer of any of claims 23 to 29 , further comprising one or more sealing means mounted on the inner surface, the outer surface or both the inner and outer surface of the packer to facilitate the formation of a seal between the annular packer and adjacent well tubing.

31 . The annular packer of any of claims 23 to 30 mounted in or on well tubing.

32 . A gas or oil tubing collar or pup joint, said joint having tubing engagement means that connectably engage a first well tubing to a second well tubing; and further comprising one or more eutectic or bismuth based alloy rings mounted adjacent to the tubing engagement means.

33 . The joint of claim 32 , wherein each of the alloy rings is mounted within a recess in the joint.

34 . The joint of claim 32 or 33 , further comprising a temporary plug, in the form of a burst disc, provided within a tubing portion of the pup joint.

Assignees

• Bisn Tec Ltd
• Bisn Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Carragher Paul

Classifications

• E21B17/042

  Threaded · CPC title

• E21B33/122 Primary

  Multiple string packers · CPC title

• E21B36/008

  using chemical heat generating means · CPC title

• E21B23/06

  for setting packers · CPC title

• E21B33/1212 Primary

  including a metal-to-metal seal element · CPC title