WELL CONDUIT LINING METHOD AND SYSTEM
A method of performing an operation in a well having a conduit includes deploying a tube liner having a lay-flat state into a tubular structure positioned in the well. Fluid is injected into the tube liner to radially expand the tube liner to conform to a tubular wall surface of the tubular structure and thereby provide a protected portion of the conduit within the tubular structure.
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The disclosure relates generally to a method and a system for protecting well tubulars from corrosive fluids downhole.
BACKGROUNDTubulars are installed in wells to provide a conduit from the well to the surface and to support the wall of the well. However, once the well starts producing water, corrosion of these tubulars becomes a concern. In order to prevent corrosion of well tubulars, several methods are used, such as injecting chemical inhibitors into the well, lining the tubulars with protective coatings, and lining the tubulars with high grade alloys such as chromium or nickel based alloys. However, these methods are either inefficient or relatively expensive in terms of cost and logistics.
SUMMARYA method of performing an operation in a well having a conduit includes deploying a tube liner having a lay-flat state into a tubular structure that is positioned in the well. The method includes injecting fluid into the tube liner to radially expand the tube liner to conform to a tubular wall surface of the tubular structure and thereby provide a protected portion of the conduit within the tubular structure. The tube liner may have an unstretched full diameter in a round state that is larger than an inner diameter of the tubular structure. Injecting fluid into the tube liner may include transforming the tube liner from the lay-flat state to a round state. Deploying the tube liner may include providing a continuous lay-flat tubing on a spool, spooling out the continuous lay-flat tubing into the tubular structure, terminating the spooling out when a select length of the continuous lay-flat tubing has been deployed into the tubular structure, and securing the select length of the continuous lay-flat tubing deployed into the tubular structure at a surface above the well. Spooling out the continuous lay-flat tubing may include attaching a dissolvable weight to an end of the continuous lay-flat tubing that is fed into the tubular structure. Alternatively, spooling out the continuous lay-flat tubing may include coupling a tractor to an end of the continuous lay-flat tubing that is fed into the tubular structure and operating the tractor to move along the tubular structure. The tube liner may be a lay-flat tubing made of a film material. The film material may comprise a thermoplastic polymer. The thickness of the film material may range from 0.25 mil to 10 mil. The film material may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C. Alternatively, the tube liner may be a lay-flat tubing made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material. The fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C. The well may penetrate an injection zone, and the method may include conveying fluid into the injection zone by pumping fluid through the protected portion of the conduit.
A system for performing an operation in a well includes a tubular structure disposed in the well to provide at least a portion of a conduit in the well. The tubular structure has a tubular wall surface. The system includes a spool carrying a continuous lay-flat tubing. The spool is disposed at a surface above the well. The spool is operable to deploy at least a portion of the continuous lay-flat tubing into the tubular structure in the well. The system includes a pump positioned to inject fluid into the at least a portion of the continuous lay-flat tubing disposed inside the tubular structure. The continuous lay-flat tubing may be made of a film material comprising a thermoplastic polymer. The film material may have a thickness in a range from 0.25 mil to 10 mil. The film material may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C. Alternatively, the continuous lay-flat tubing may be made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material. The flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C.
An injection well system includes a well penetrating one or more subsurface formations and a tubular structure disposed in the well to provide at least a portion of a conduit in the well. The tubular structure has a tubular wall surface. The system includes a tube liner having a lay-flat state disposed inside the tubular structure. The system includes a pump in fluid communication with the tube liner. The pump is operable to inject fluid into the tube liner, where a pressure of the fluid radially expands the tube liner to conform to the tubular wall surface, thereby providing a protected portion of the conduit within the tubular structure. The tube liner may have an unstretched full diameter in a round state that is larger than an inner diameter of the tubular structure. The tube liner may be a lay-flat tubing made of a film material comprising a thermoplastic polymer. The film material may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C. Alternatively, the tube liner may be a lay-flat tubing made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material, which may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C. The tubular structure may comprise a casing.
The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary of the invention and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation of the invention.
The following is a description of the figures in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, identical reference numbers identify similar elements or acts. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not necessarily drawn to scale, and some of these elements may be arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility. Further, the particular shapes of the elements as drawn are not necessarily intended to convey any information regarding the actual shape of the particular elements and have been solely selected for ease of recognition in the drawing.
In the following detailed description, certain specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various disclosed implementations and embodiments. However, one skilled in the relevant art will recognize that implementations and embodiments may be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well known features or processes associated with the hydrocarbon production systems have not been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring descriptions of the implementations and embodiments. For the sake of continuity, and in the interest of conciseness, same or similar reference characters may be used for same or similar objects in multiple figures.
In one example, tube liner 100 is a lay-flat tubing made of a film material. Because the tube liner is made of a film material, the tube liner is not self-supporting. By not self-supporting, we mean that the tube liner is not rigid along its axial axis and is not rigid in the radial direction (i.e., a direction perpendicular to the axial axis). As a result, if the tube liner is placed on its side, the tube liner will collapse into a flattened state, which is the lay-flat state. Likewise, if the tube liner is placed on its end, the tube liner will collapse into a heap. In one example, a thickness of the film material may be in a range from 0.25 mil (0.00635 mm) to 10 mil (0.245 mm). In another example, a thickness of the film material may be in a range from 0.25 mil (0.00635 mm) to 5 mil (0.127 mm). In yet another example, a thickness of the film material may be in a range from 0.25 mil (0.00635 mm) to 2 mil (0.0508 mm). Preferably, the film material is a strong material that does not tear easily despite being very thin. Preferably, the film material is resistant, i.e., is not easily degraded, by acids and alkalis, such as could be encountered in a well environment. In one example, the film material is made of a thermoplastic polymer. Examples of suitable thermoplastic polymers for the film material include, but are not limited to, polyamides, such as nylon, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Preferably the film material can withstand high temperatures, such as temperatures that could be encountered downhole in a well, e.g., temperatures in a range from 70° C. to 120° C. The tube liner may be made by extrusion of molten material between a shaped ring or other suitable process known in the art for making a tubular shape from a film material.
In another example, tube liner 100 may be a lay-flat tubing made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material. The fiber and thermoplastic are in a single layer. Such material can be found in manufacture of lay-flat hose. One example of a lay-flat hose that may serve as lay-flat tubing is manufactured by extruding a thermoplastic material, such as thermoplastic polyether based polyurethane (TPU), through a cylindrical woven jacket made from high tenacity filament polymer reinforcement. A wall thickness of this flexible composite material may be around 4 mm, with a temperature rating of about 70° C. In one example, for downhole use, the flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material of tube liner 100 may have a temperature rating of at least 70° C.
Wall 104 of tube liner 100 has a length L (in
To line a tubular wall surface of a tubular well structure, tube liner 100 is deployed in a lay-flat state into the tubular well structure. Once a sufficient length of tube liner 100 has been deployed into the tubular well structure, tube liner 100 is then radially expanded by fluid pressure to conform wall 104 of tube liner 100 to the tubular wall surface of the tubular well structure. In one implementation, particularly if tube liner 100 is made of film material, the unstretched full diameter d (in
Returning to
In some cases, as illustrated in
If the tubular structure to be lined is in an inclined or highly deviated well, a downhole tractor may be used to pull continuous lay-flat tubing 106 into the tubular structure. For illustrative purposes,
Returning to
The well lining method and system described may provide advantages. Tube liner 100 can be easily installed inside a tubular structure, such as casing 112, in a well without complicated equipment. When tube liner 100 conforms to a tubular wall surface of the tubular structure in the well, tube liner 100 protects the tubular wall surface from corrosive fluids while providing a conduit for flow of fluid between the well and the surface. This eliminates the need to install a separate tubing inside the tubular structure for passage of fluids that may be corrosive. Tube liner 100 can be made of relatively inexpensive material. Tube liner 100 can be installed in a tubular that is already in a well, which removes the complicated logistics for lining the tubular in the shop prior to installing the tubular in the well.
The system shown in
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised that do not depart from the scope of the invention as described herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the accompanying claims.
Claims
1. A method of performing an operation in a well having a conduit, the method comprising:
- deploying a tube liner having a lay-flat state into a tubular structure that is positioned in the well; and
- injecting fluid into the tube liner to radially expand the tube liner to conform to a tubular wall surface of the tubular structure and thereby provide a protected portion of the conduit within the tubular structure.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the tube liner having the lay-flat state comprises selecting the tube liner having an unstretched full diameter in a round state that is larger than an inner diameter of the tubular structure.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein injecting fluid into the tube liner to radially expand the tube liner to conform to a tubular wall surface of the tubular structure comprises transforming the tube liner from the lay-flat state to a round state.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the tube liner having a lay-flat state into the tubular structure in the well comprises:
- providing a continuous lay-flat tubing on a spool;
- spooling out the continuous lay-flat tubing into the tubular structure;
- terminating the spooling out when a select length of the continuous lay-flat tubing has been deployed in the tubular structure; and
- securing the select length of the continuous lay-flat tubing deployed into the tubular structure at a surface above the well.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein spooling out the continuous lay-flat tubing into the tubular structure comprises attaching a dissolvable weight to an end of the continuous lay-flat tubing that is fed into the tubular structure.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein spooling out the continuous lay-flat tubing into the tubular comprises coupling a tractor to an end of the continuous lay-flat tubing that is fed into the tubular structure and operating the tractor to move along the tubular structure.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the tube liner having the lay-flat state into the tubular structure comprises deploying a lay-flat tubing made of a film material.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the film of material comprises a thermoplastic polymer.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the film of material has a thickness in a range from 0.25 mil to 10 mil.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the film of material has a thickness in a range from 0.25 mil to 5 mil.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein deploying the tube liner having the lay-flat state into the tubular structure comprises deploying a lay-flat tubing made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the well penetrates an injection zone, and further comprising conveying fluid into the injection zone by pumping fluid through the tubular structure conduit.
13. A system for performing an operation in a well, the system comprising:
- a tubular structure disposed in the well to provide at least a portion of a conduit in the well, the tubular structure having a tubular wall surface;
- a spool carrying a continuous lay-flat tubing disposed at a surface above the well, the spool operable to deploy at least a portion of the continuous lay-flat tubing into the tubular structure in the well; and
- a pump positioned to inject fluid into the at least a portion of the continuous lay-flat tubing disposed inside the tubular structure.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the continuous lay-flat tubing is made of a film material comprising a thermoplastic polymer, and wherein the film material has a thickness in a range from 0.25 mil to 10 mil.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the continuous lay-flat tubing is made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material.
16. An injection well system comprising:
- a well penetrating one or more subsurface formations;
- a tubular structure disposed in the well to provide at least a portion of a conduit in the well, the tubular structure having a tubular wall surface;
- a tube liner having a lay-flat state disposed inside the tubular structure; and
- a pump in fluid communication with the tube liner, the pump operable to inject fluid into the tube liner, wherein pressure of the fluid radially expands the tube liner to conform to the tubular wall surface and thereby provide a protected portion of the conduit within the tubular structure.
17. The injection well system of claim 16, wherein the tube liner has an unstretched full diameter in a round state that is larger than an inner diameter of the tubular structure.
18. The injection well system of claim 16, wherein the tube liner is a lay-flat tubing made of a film material comprising a thermoplastic polymer and having a thickness in a range from 0.25 mil to 10 mil.
19. The injection well system of claim 16, wherein the tube liner is a lay-flat tubing made of a flexible fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material.
20. The injection well system of claim 16, wherein the tubular structure comprises a casing.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 18, 2020
Publication Date: Sep 23, 2021
Applicant: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY (Dhahran)
Inventors: Wael O. Badeghaish (Dhahran), Mohamed Noui-Mehidi (Dhahran), Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Al Mulhem (Dhahran)
Application Number: 16/822,659