Abstract: Methods and systems for acquiring data in a wellbore. The method includes deploying an instrument connected to an instrument line into a drill string, through a sealed entry port formed in a drilling device coupled to the drill string, the drill string being at least partially within the wellbore, the wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation. The method also includes transmitting a signal from a source and through the formation. The signal is sensed by the instrument in the drill string. The method further includes determining one or more formation characteristics based on the signal sensed by the instrument, and performing one or more drilling processes using the drill string, while transmitting the signal, determining the one or more formation characteristics, or both.

Abstract: A downhole tool coupling system, comprising a drive stem, a sleeve, and a plurality of locking clamps. The sleeve is longitudinally movable relative to the drive stem. The locking clamps are at least partially encompassed by the sleeve. The locking clamps are adjustable between an open position and a locked position. The sleeve is oriented relative to the locking clamps to adjust the locking clamps from the open position to the locked position as the sleeve moves longitudinally from an upper position to a lower position. Each locking clamp has an interior recessed region configured to clamp the drive stem to a tool stem when in the locked position.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving the production efficiency of a well and preventing gas lock. The apparatus is a downhole pump and comprises a barrel, a reciprocating plunger and a body having a plurality of inlet valves. The apparatus does not require outlet valves. The body and inlet valves are positioned above the barrel and plunger, thus eliminating gas lock. Fluids enter the body through the valves and, during upstrokes of the plunger, are forced up the tubing string to the surface equipment. Modularity of the components permits pump components to be changed as the productivity of the well fluctuates and also allows production of more fluids with a smaller casing. The invention prevents gas lock by permitting gasses to escape between a sliding valve and a valve rod connected to the plunger. Additionally, an exit valve sealably engages the valve rod, which forms an aperture. During operation of the pump, the gasses escape through the aperture in the valve rod and rise up the tubing string.

Abstract: A drill bit may include a bit body and at least two cones assemblies including at least two drive cylinders having at least two cones. The at least two cone assemblies are mounted on the bit body. The drill bit may also include an indexing mechanism coupled to the bit body and configured to rotate and lock at least one drive cylinder. A method of operating the drill bit may include providing fluid to the drill bit, rotating the drill string to drill formation, moving the indexing mechanism an axial distance within a central chamber of the drill bit, rotating the at least two indexable structures as the indexing mechanism moves, and locking the at least two indexable structures.

Abstract: A wellhead assembly has a tubular wellhead body with a wellhead axial bore and a wellhead radial bore. A hanger has a hanger axial bore and a hanger radial port. A tube moving mechanism moves a tube in the wellhead radial bore between a retracted position, an intermediate position and an extended position. The tube has an inner end that is recessed in the wellhead radial bore while in the retracted position, that protrudes a first distance into the wellhead axial bore while in the intermediate position, and which protrudes a second distance into engagement with the hanger radial port while in the extended position. A landing shoulder on the hanger above the radial port lands on an inner portion of the tube while the tube is in the intermediate position.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a downhole plug and abandonment system (100) for a well (105), comprising a first well tubular metal structure (101a) having a wall, a second well tubular metal structure (101b) having a wall, the second well tubular metal structure being arranged inside the first well tubular metal structure, the well tubular metal structures having longitudinal extensions and being arranged in a borehole (104) of a well, a packer (350) arranged between the first well tubular metal structure and the second well tubular metal structure defining an annular space (351) above the packer, a first plug (106) arranged in the second well tubular metal structure dividing the second well tubular metal structure into a first part (107) and a second part (108), the first part being closest to a top of the well, and a cement plug (270) arranged in the first part on top of the packer and the plug. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a downhole plug and abandonment method.

Abstract: An assembly for forming a lateral wellbore includes a mill having a bore and a plurality of blades; a whipstock having an inclined surface for guiding movement of the mill, the mill releasably connected to the whipstock; and a tubing disposed in the bore of the mill and the whipstock. In one example, at least one of the plurality of blades is disposed in a slot formed in the whipstock.

Abstract: A hydraulic drilling system and method for drilling a borehole from a wellbore are disclosed. The system comprises a whipstock that is selectively rotatable about the central long axis of the work string, for repositioning the whipstock exit radially, without extracting the whipstock or the workstring from the wellbore. The system includes an extendable and contractible second work string for absorbing any axial forces on the work string. The system may also include a positional measurement device and the distal end of the drill tubing may be selectively steerable. The system may be used to drill a plurality of boreholes from the same wellbore. In one aspect of the method, an earth measurement device and/or an earth manipulation device is placed downhole.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include a method of replacing valve operation methods during fracturing operations including installing a first operator on a first valve of a first fracturing tree. The method also includes installing a second operator on a second valve of a second fracturing tree, the second fracturing tree being adjacent the first fracturing tree. The method also includes removing the first operator from the first valve, the first valve maintaining a position on the first fracturing tree after the first operator is removed. The method further includes removing the second operator from the second valve, the second valve maintaining a position on the second fracturing tree after the second operator is removed. The method also includes installing the first operator on the second valve after the first operator is removed from the first valve and after the second operator is removed from the second valve.

Abstract: A subsurface safety valve system for a wellbore is described. The system can include a tubular housing disposed within the wellbore having a cavity running in a longitudinal direction therethrough. The system can also include an electromagnetic device configured to receive electric power to create a magnetic field, and a flapper operative to open and close the cavity in response to the electric power received by the electromagnetic device. The flapper may open in response to the electric power exceeding a first electric power value and remain open in response to the electric power exceeding a second electric power value which is lower than the first electric power value.

Abstract: A system and method for fracturing a well can comprise a base pipe comprising an insert port capable of housing a stop ball partially within the chamber of it, and a sliding sleeve. The sliding sleeve can comprise a first sleeve with an in inner surface. That inner surface can comprise a void. The first sleeve can be maneuverable into two positions. In the first position, the void can rest on a surface of the base pipe not comprising an insert port. Such positioning can prevent a stop ball from exiting the chamber of the base pipe. In the second position, the void can rest over an insert port. Such positioning can allow the stop ball to the chamber of the base pipe and to enter the void.

Abstract: Methods and systems for acquiring data in a wellbore. The method includes deploying an instrument connected to an instrument line into a drill string, through a sealed entry port formed in a drilling device coupled to the drill string, the drill string being at least partially within the wellbore, the wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation. The method also includes transmitting a signal from a source and through the formation. The signal is sensed by the instrument in the drill string. The method further includes determining one or more formation characteristics based on the signal sensed by the instrument, and performing one or more drilling processes using the drill string, while transmitting the signal, determining the one or more formation characteristics, or both.

Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems include a nested drill bit assembly, including an inner drill bit nested within an opening of an outer drill bit. The inner drill bit is removably coupled to the outer drill bit and the inner drill bit being co-axially positioned within the outer drill bit and accessible from a first end of the outer drill bit.

Abstract: Embodiments include drilling a wellbore in a hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and the wellbore includes a radio frequency antenna destination portion that is configured to receive a radio frequency antenna; forming a low dielectric zone in the hydrocarbon-bearing formation proximate to the radio frequency antenna destination portion with a cavity based process or a squeezing based process; positioning the radio frequency antenna into the radio frequency antenna destination portion such that the radio frequency antenna is proximate to the low dielectric zone; dielectric heating the hydrocarbon-bearing formation with the radio frequency antenna such that the low dielectric zone increases dissipation of energy from the radio frequency antenna into the hydrocarbon-bearing formation; and extracting hydrocarbons from the heated hydrocarbon-bearing formation. The material has a dielectric constant of less than or equal to 20, a loss tangent of less than or equal to 0.4, and a porosity of less than or equal to 5%.

Abstract: A rotary cutting tool, which may be a reamer for enlarging an underground borehole or a mill to remove tubing by cutting into the inside wall of the tubing, has a plurality of cutter assemblies distributed azimuthally around a longitudinal axis of the tool, wherein each cutter assembly includes a supporting structure bearing a sequence of cutters which extends axially along the tool with leading surfaces facing in a direction of rotation of the tool. The cutters of each sequence are positioned at a plurality of circumferential positions such that no more than three cutters of the sequence are aligned on any line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tool. In an overlapping arrangement, a plurality of cutters in the sequence may have a leading face circumferentially behind the leading face but ahead of the trailing end of at least one other cutter.

Abstract: A setting tool for setting frac plugs and the like can include a mandrel having a chamber for housing expandable gas and a gas port in fluid communication with the chamber; a firing head secured to the mandrel for igniting a power charge to generate pressurized gas within the chamber; a barrel piston housing the mandrel and connected to a sleeve for setting the frac plug; and an expansion region defined between the mandrel and the barrel piston and receiving the pressurized gas which exerts force to cause a stroke of the barrel piston over the mandrel as the expansion region expands axially. The setting tool can include various features, such as certain gas bleed systems, an enhanced shear screw assembly, a bleed port and plug assembly, a scribe line, a particular gas port configuration, a liquid escape conduit, no-shoulder barrel configuration, and/or a low-force design for frac plugs.

Abstract: A mud screen manifold in which a saver sub chamber, a screen chamber and a mud inlet chamber are formed in a body. A hollow saver sub is provided, suitable for insertion into the saver sub chamber after connection to a screen cage. When a shaped flange on the saver sub is received into a correspondingly shaped recess formed in the saver sub chamber, a mud flow inlet is in fluid flow communication with a cutout in the saver sub via the mud inlet chamber, and the saver sub is in fluid flow communication with the screen chamber via fluid flow through the screen cage. Contact seals prevent fluid flow from leaking around the screen cage. The mud inlet chamber, the saver sub and the saver sub cutout preferably cooperate to form a smooth-walled passageway for fluid flow communication between the mud inlet chamber and the screen cage.

Abstract: A drilling jar in an oil and gas drilling operation or fishing operation includes a control unit having one or more transceivers configured to communicate wirelessly with a surface control unit. The control unit is configured to receive an activation signal from the surface control unit, and cause to activate the drilling jar in response to the activation signal. The wireless transceivers may communicate using any wireless communication technology, including but not limited to Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and BLE. A method for operating a drilling jar includes receiving, by a control unit comprising one or more transceivers configured to communicate wirelessly with a surface control unit, an activation signal from the surface control unit, and causing to activate the drilling jar in response to the activation signal.

Abstract: A well telemetry system supplies power to downhole sensor nodes employed for obtaining telemetry data in oil wells. The nodes are held in the cement that lines the well and surround the casing. At the surface, an AC power unit is connected to the casing and geological structure that surrounds the cement. Power to nodes is supplied using an AC resonant circuit that generates standing waves of electrical power on the casing. Power from the standing waves is delivered to the nodes which are located at antinodes of the standing wave. The nodes are held in cement that surround the casing, with one of their two electrodes connected to the casing and the other connected to the cement or to geological structure.

Abstract: A Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) cutter for a rotary drill bit is provided with an integrated sensor and circuitry for making measurements of a property of a fluid in the borehole and/or an operating condition of the drill bit. A method of manufacture of the PDC cutter and the rotary drill bit is discussed.