Abstract: A liner string for a wellbore includes a liner hanger assembly (LHA) and a liner hanger deployment assembly (LHDA) releasably attached to the LHA. The LHDA includes a central bore and a running tool moveable from a locked position to an unlocked position, the running tool including a flow path in communication with the central bore. The liner string further includes a chamber disposed between the LHDA and LHA, wherein the chamber is in selective fluid communication with the flow path. Wherein, when the flow path is closed, the chamber is isolated from the central bore, and when the flow path is open, the flow path provides fluid communication between central bore and chamber.

Abstract: An anchor catcher tool can support tubing in casing. The tool is a slimline tool that can be set and unset with a partial (quarter) turn of a mandrel using a setting mechanism, such as a J-slot and pin arrangement. Uphole and downhole cages of the tool carry opposing slips. When set, the slips engage opposing cone faces to wedge against the casing and prevent movement of the tool. Excluded gas can flow up the annulus to the surface through aligned longitudinal flow paths on the exterior of the tool's components. To do this, a sleeve floating on the mandrel has the cone faces thereon and is longitudinally engaged with cages, which float on the mandrel and carry the slips. The sleeve keeps longitudinal channels on the cages and longitudinal divisions of the cone faces aligned with one another to produce the flow paths for annular flow.

Abstract: A downhole pump used for a reciprocating pump includes a barrel and a plunger. The barrel couples to a tubing string and has a standing valve. The plunger couples to a rod string and has a traveling valve. One or both of the valves can include an assembly comprising a housing and an insert. The insert allowing for flow therethrough has a ball stop and a ball passage. Positioned in the housing, one end of the insert engages a tapered sidewall in the housing. The insert is secured with metallic material metallurgically affixed between the insert and the housing. For example, brazing material can be brazed at the end of the insert to metallurgically affix the insert in the passage. A ball is positioned in the insert, and a seat is positioned adjacent an end of the insert. The assembly is then incorporated into components of the pump.

Abstract: A packer assembly includes a mandrel and a packing element disposed about the mandrel. Upper and lower recovery sleeves are disposed about the mandrel and extend between the mandrel and respective upper and lower ends of the packing element. The upper and lower recovery sleeves each have a recovery profile embedded within the packing element. Upper and lower backup assemblies are movably disposed about the respective upper and lower recovery sleeves, adjacent to the respective upper and lower ends of the packing element. The packer assembly includes at least one release mechanism. When setting the packer assembly in a bore, the packing element is axially compressed between the upper and lower backup assemblies to contact the bore wall, and the upper and lower backup assemblies splay outwards. Upon release, the packing element and backup assemblies retract, thereby facilitating retrieval of the packer assembly from the bore.

Abstract: A downhole assembly includes a tubular body having a bore and a downhole tool connected to the tubular body. The downhole assembly also includes a sensor assembly having a carrier and a sensor. A sensor adapter is used to couple the sensor assembly to the tubular body. The sensor adapter includes an adapter body disposed in the bore of the tubular body; an adapter shaft for connection with the carrier; and a plurality of channels formed between the adapter shaft and the adapter body.

Abstract: A completion string for running gas-lift operations in a hydrocarbon well has a bypass string with a central bore for flowing production fluids to the surface and an annular passageway for flowing gas-lift gas downwards to a gas-lift assembly in the wellbore.

Abstract: A tubular is prepared for downhole use to include integrated centralizer feature disposed thereon. Blade elements are disposed about a surface of the tubular. An interconnection, such as a band, connected between the blade elements can be used to wrap them circumferentially about the tubular. The blade elements are then affixed to the surface of the tubular to produce the integrated centralizer features by coating a spray welding material over at least a portion of the plurality of blade elements and over at least an adjacent portion of the surface of the tubular. The blade elements can be hollow vanes or fins so they are collapsible when a restriction is encountered downhole to avoid a stuck pipe situation.

Abstract: A long-stroke pumping unit includes a tower; a counterweight assembly movable along the tower; a crown mounted atop the tower; a sprocket supported by the crown and rotatable relative thereto; and a belt. The unit further includes a motor having a stator mounted to the crown and a rotor torsionally connected to the sprocket; and a sensor for detecting position of the counterweight assembly. The pumping unit may include a dynamic control system for controlling a speed of a motor.

Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for making armored cables. An example method for making an armored cable includes forming a strip stock into an armor tubing; welding a seam of the armor tubing in a welding zone; inserting at least one of a first optical fiber or a first wire into a first end of a first guide tube, wherein: the first guide tube extends through the welding zone; the first guide tube protects the at least one of the first optical fiber or the first wire during the welding of the seam; and the first guide tube is not part of the armored cable after the making of the armored cable; and supporting the first guide tube within the armor tubing by a plurality of support legs such that the first guide tube does not contact the armor tubing.

Abstract: A plug for use in a wellbore has a piston that is movable on a body. A control valve is disposed in communication between the wellbore and a piston chamber and can capture wellbore pressure in the piston chamber. A closure on the body can transition from a closed condition to an open condition relative to the port in response to the movement of the piston. A fixture releasably holds the closure in the closed condition on the body. The fixture releases in response an increased pressure differential on the piston above an initial pressure differential between the captured chamber pressure and the wellbore pressure.

Abstract: A plug assembly having valve chamber chargeable with pressure from above or below the plug assembly. The charged chamber is used to selectively move an external sleeve to open fluid communication between the tubular above and below the plug assembly.

Abstract: A bottom hole assembly (BHA) includes a whipstock having a latch release mechanism and a milling tool having a plurality of blades and a lock mechanism. The BHA also includes a collar coupled to the whipstock and disposed about a portion of the milling tool, wherein the blades of the milling tool abut the collar. The milling tool is releasably coupled to the whipstock by the interaction of the latch release mechanism and the lock mechanism.

Abstract: An acoustic telemetry tool can include string connectors at respective opposite ends of the acoustic telemetry tool, a tubular outer housing extending longitudinally between the connectors, an inner mandrel extending longitudinally between the connectors, an annular chamber formed radially between the outer housing and the inner mandrel, and an acoustic telemetry assembly positioned in the annular chamber. In one acoustic telemetry tool, the outer housing is configured to transmit mechanical loads between the connectors, but the inner mandrel is configured to not transmit mechanical loads between the connectors. In another acoustic telemetry tool, the outer housing and the inner mandrel are configured to transmit mechanical loads between the connectors. In another tool, there may be multiple sets of outer housings, inner mandrels and acoustic telemetry assemblies.

Abstract: Methods and systems for logging a wellbore having a casing using ultrasonic logging are described. Traditional ultrasonic logging involves using a piezoelectric transducer that is spaced from the inner surface of the casing by a least a distance referred to as the “far-field” distance. Logging in the “far-field,” as traditionally done, avoids destructive interference. The methods and systems described herein allow logging in the “near-field.” Logging in the near-field using the described methods and systems overcomes several difficulties associated with acoustic logging, particularly in attenuative, dispersive, and deviated environments.

Abstract: An electrical ride-through (ERT) unit is configured to apply a voltage to a drive circuit during disruptions of line voltage to the drive circuit. The ERT unit includes a capacitor on an ERT circuit that is prevented from applying the voltage to the drive circuit during normal operation of the drive circuit and applies the voltage to the drive circuit during a voltage drop on the drive circuit.

Abstract: A multistage cementing assembly is used for cementing casing in a borehole. A subsurface tool on the casing holds a subsurface plug therein using a temporary retainer. The subsurface plug is located in a subsurface location below one or more stage tools or cementing collars on the casing. First stage cement passing down the casing can pass through a passage of the subsurface plug to flow out of a float valve. A wiper plug passed through the casing behind the cement is then engaged with the subsurface plug. Pressure buildup can release the two plugs as a unit from the temporary retainer. Before reaching the float valve, a deformable ring on the subsurface plug can engage in a locator ring on the casing to indicate the plug unit's location during operations. Eventually, additional stages can be cemented using the one or more stage tools uphole on the casing.

Abstract: A tool counts the number of radial restrictions or seats in a series of frac valves along a completion string. At a pre-selected count, the tool radially expands a landing mechanism and lands on the next-reached frac valve.

Abstract: A fiber optic cable conducts optical fiber to downhole gauges in a wellbore. Cable connections are used to protect splicing of the optical fiber between cable sections and the gauges. The cable connection includes adjoining tubes, which have passages for the optical fiber. The tubes are nested together and enclose the splicing of the optical fiber. A cable-end tube is affixed to a section of the cable with the passage overlaying a jacket of the cable, and a gauge-end tube is affixed to an end of the downhole gauge with the passage overlaying the end of the downhole gauge. At least one spanning tube has ends that are affixed nested inside the passages of the adjoining ones of the tubes. The cable connections allow the cable and gauges to be wound on a spool or reel for installing into the wellbore.

Abstract: A cementing operation cements casing in a borehole. A bottom plug pumped down the casing ahead of cement lands at a float valve. Circulation of the cement is established through the bottom plug to a shoe track downhole from the float valve. A top plug pumped down the casing behind the cement lands on the bottom plug. An internal component of the float valve is released by building-up pressure in the casing behind the internal component up to a release threshold. The internal component can latch at the shoe. At least some of the cement in the shoe track is displaced from the casing's shoe to the borehole by pumping the plugs and the internal component to the shoe. With the cement displaced out of the shoe track, the time required to drill out the assembly can be greatly reduced.

Abstract: A method can include determining that measured outputs of first and second sensors are correlated, calculating a second sensor output based on the measured first sensor output, and in response to a loss of the measured second sensor output or a failure of an item of equipment, controlling a drilling operation based on the calculated second sensor output. A control system can include a statistical model that determines a correlation between measured outputs of first and second sensors, and calculates a calculated second sensor output based on the measured first sensor output, a controller that controls the drilling operation, and a hydraulics model that determines how the drilling operation should be controlled to achieve a desired objective, and determines, based on the calculated second sensor output, how the drilling operation should be controlled, in response to a loss of the measured second sensor output or an equipment failure.