Managed pressure cementing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9951600-B2
Application number	US-201615011750-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 1, 2016
Priority date	Nov 16, 2011
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A method of cementing a tubular string in a wellbore includes: deploying the tubular string into the wellbore; pumping cement slurry into the tubular string; launching a cementing plug after pumping the cement slurry; propelling the cementing plug through the tubular string, thereby pumping the cement slurry through the tubular string and into an annulus formed between the tubular string and the wellbore; and controlling flow of fluid displaced from the wellbore by the cement slurry to control pressure of the annulus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for operating a wellbore, comprising:
performing a drilling operation by injecting fluid to the wellbore having a tubular string disposed therein to circulate the fluid in a path including a bore of the tubular string and an annulus between the tubular string and a wall of the wellbore, and while performing the drilling operation:
drilling through a formation while a bottomhole pressure is at a target bottomhole pressure;
increasing the bottom hole pressure from the target bottomhole pressure to an expected pressure while drilling through the formation, wherein the expected pressure is a pressure expected during cementing of the formation exposed to the wellbore;
measuring a difference between an injection flow rate and a return flow rate in the path to detect leak and determine whether the formation withstands the expected pressure; and
returning the bottomhole pressure to the target bottomhole pressure after maintaining the bottomhole pressure at the expected pressure while drilling through a depth or drilling for a period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the expected pressure is greater than or equal to a bore pressure and less than a fracture pressure of the formation exposed to the wellbore.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tubular string is a drill string having a drill bit, and performing the drilling operation further comprises rotating the drill bit.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein increasing the bottomhole pressure is performed periodically.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein increasing the bottomhole pressure comprises choking a return flow of the fluid.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining the expected pressure for a desired period of time.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid is injected into the bore of the tubular string and returned through the annulus between the tubular string and the wall of the wellbore.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid is injected into the annulus between the tubular string and the wall of the wellbore and returned through the bore of the tubular string.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wellbore is a subsea wellbore.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reducing the expected pressure when the return flow rate is less than the injection flow rate; and
modifying parameters for cementing operation according to the reduced expected pressure.

11. A method for operating a wellbore, comprising:
performing a drilling operation by injecting fluid to the wellbore having a tubular string disposed therein to circulate the fluid in a path including a bore of the tubular string and an annulus between the tubular string and a wall of the wellbore, and while performing the drilling operation:
drilling through a formation while a bottomhole pressure is at a target bottomhole pressure;
increasing the bottom hole pressure from the target bottomhole pressure to an expected pressure while drilling through the formation, wherein the expected pressure is a pressure expected during cementing of the formation exposed to the wellbore; and
measuring a difference between an injection flow rate and a return flow rate in the path;
reducing the expected pressure when the return flow rate is less than the injection flow rate; and
performing a cementing operation at the reduced expected pressure.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein reducing the expected pressure comprises modifying properties of cementing slurry corresponding to the expected pressure.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein reducing the expected pressure comprises pumping return fluid during the cementing operation using a returns pump.

14. A method for cementing a wellbore, comprising:
injecting cement slurry into the wellbore having a tubular string disposed therein;
injecting chase fluid to pump the cement slurry into an annulus formed between the tubular string and the wellbore;
performing a mass balance between the chase fluid and fluid displaced from the wellbore;
controlling flow of fluid displaced from the wellbore using results of the mass balance;
after injecting the cement slurry, circulating indicator fluid across a wellhead of the wellbore; and
comparing a flow rate of the indicator fluid into the wellhead to a flow rate of the indicator fluid from the wellhead.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein controlling flow of fluid displaced from the wellbore is performed by a programmable logic controller.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein performing a mass balance comprises:
measuring a flow rate of the chase fluid;
measuring a mass flow rate of the fluid displaced from the wellbore; and
comparing the measured fluid rates.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein measuring a mass flow rate of the fluid displaced from the wellbore comprises:
diverting the displaced fluid from a bore of a pressure control assembly connected to the wellhead of the wellbore through a mass flow meter of the pressure control assembly.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the wellbore is a subsea wellbore, and the mass flow meter is a subsea mass flow meter.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein injecting the cement slurry comprises injecting the cement slurry through a bore of the tubular string, and injecting the chase fluid comprises injecting the chase fluid through the bore of the tubular string.

20. The method of claim 14 , further comprising monitoring curing of the cement slurry using one or more cement sensors on the tubular string.

Assignees

• Weatherford Tech Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Hannegan Don M
• Pena Cesar
• Pavel David
• Grayson Michael Brian
• Boutalbi Said
• Cooper Todd Douglas
• Dunn Timothy P
• Zamora Jr Frank

Classifications

• E21B33/13 Primary

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

• E21B33/14

  for cementing casings into boreholes · CPC title

• E21B33/143

  for underwater installations · CPC title

• E21B33/16

  using plugs for isolating cement charge; Plugs therefor {(stage cementing E21B33/146; spacer compositions C09K8/424)} · CPC title

• E21B47/0005 Primary

  Fixed Constructions · mapped topic