Patents Examined by Kenneth L. Thompson
  • Patent number: 11028660
    Abstract: A downhole impact apparatus operable to impart an impact to an object within a wellbore. The impact apparatus may include a housing, a first chamber within the housing, a second chamber within the housing, and a piston assembly slidably disposed within the housing. The piston assembly may include a first piston slidably disposed within the first chamber and dividing the first chamber into a first volume and a second volume, a second piston slidably disposed within the second chamber, and a shaft connecting the first and second pistons. The first volume may be open to a space external to the housing and the second volume may be fluidly isolated from the space external to the housing. Relative movement between the piston assembly and the housing ends with the impact. The second chamber may be configured to contain a fluid to prevent relative movement between the piston assembly and the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Impact Selector International, LLC.
    Inventor: James Patrick Massey
  • Patent number: 11008854
    Abstract: An apparatus (10) for downhole data acquisition and/or monitoring is configured to be disposed within a completion (12) and comprises a hanger (36) configured to latch into a control line spool (38), a retrofit valve (40) for location within the subsurface safety valve (16) of the completion (12), and a sensing arrangement (42) including an optical fiber line (44). In use, the apparatus (10) is configured to be run into the completion (12) and is operable to provide data acquisition and/or monitoring capability in the well, including up or near total depth and in particular but not exclusively in the region of the well subjected to an intervention operation, such as a chemical injection operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: Weatherford U.K. Limited
    Inventors: Martin Oliphant, Keith Adams
  • Patent number: 11009623
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer-readable medium to perform operations including: generating a grid representation of a reservoir model comprising a simulation well, the grid comprising a plurality of grid-blocks, wherein the simulation well is centered in grid-block (i) of the plurality of grid-blocks; simulating, using the grid representation, grid-block pressures for the plurality of grid-blocks over a plurality of time steps; calculating an equivalent radius (ro*) for a grid-block (i+1), wherein the grid-block (i+1) is adjacent to the grid-block (i); and calculating, based on the equivalent radius and a grid-block (i+1) pressure, a shut-in bottom-hole pressure (SBHP) for the simulation well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventor: Babatope Kayode
  • Patent number: 11008810
    Abstract: A rotary valve can include a housing, a manifold with multiple flow paths can be fixedly mounted to the housing. A rotary actuator with a first surface can be rotatably mounted within the housing, and a valve seat with a second surface can be fixedly attached to the manifold, where the second surface can sealingly engage the first surface. The rotary actuator can include a gap that selectively aligns with respective ones of valve seat ports as the rotary actuator rotates relative to the valve seat, thereby selectively pressurizing one or more actuators. A system and method can include a rotary valve that selectively causes pads to extend at a predetermined orientation in the wellbore to steer a drill bit. The azimuthal orientation of a rotary actuator of the valve can determine which pads are extended and which are retracted as the drill bit rotates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Daniel Winslow, Larry Chambers, Neelesh Deolalikar
  • Patent number: 11008826
    Abstract: An inflatable packer assembly can include an inflatable seal element having an internal inflation chamber, a flow passage extending longitudinally through the inflatable packer assembly, a flow restrictor between sections of the flow passage, and a flow controller that selectively permits and prevents fluid communication between the inflation chamber and each of the flow passage sections. The flow controller changes from a deflate configuration to an inflate configuration in response to an increase in flow rate through the flow passage. A method can include connecting an inflatable packer assembly in a tubular string, so that a longitudinal flow passage of the tubular string extends through the inflatable packer assembly, and a flow restrictor restricts flow between sections of the flow passage, and inflating an inflatable seal element of the inflatable packer assembly while fluid flows between the flow passage sections via the flow restrictor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: Weatherford Technology Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Justin R. Scruggs
  • Patent number: 11002104
    Abstract: Plug assemblies for plugging a wellbore tubular and methods relating thereto are disclosed. In an embodiment, the plug assembly includes a central axis and a seal sub including a plurality of axially extending fingers and a tapered outer surface. In addition, the plug assembly includes a sealing element coupled to the axially extending fingers of the seal sub. Further, the plug assembly includes a slip sub including a tapered inner surface, and a plurality of axially extending fingers. The fingers of the slip sub each include one or more teeth. The seal sub is configured to be at least partially inserted within the slip sub so that the tapered outer surface engages with the tapered inner surface, and axial advance of the tapered inner surface within the tapered outer surface is to radially expand the fingers of the slip sub to engage with an inner surface of the tubular.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: National Oilwell Vareo, L.P.
    Inventors: John Chrysostom Wolf, Aju Abraham, Brian Paul Brubaker
  • Patent number: 10989188
    Abstract: A valve module comprising: a cylindrical canister containing a valve assembly for a high pressure pump, wherein the valve assembly comprises a valve body and a valve seat, wherein the valve module provides a fluid flow path from an inlet to an outlet of the valve module from one side of the valve seat along a central axis of the valve module to the other side of the valve seat along the central axis and between the valve body and the valve seat when the valve assembly is in an open configuration, and does not provide the fluid flow path when the valve assembly is in a closed configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Jim Basuki Surjaatmadja, Timothy H. Hunter, Robert Pipkin, Thomas M. Logan
  • Patent number: 10987707
    Abstract: The group of inventions relates to the oil-and-gas extraction industry, in particular to equipment for removing deposits of asphaltenes, resins, paraffins, hydrates, calcium salts, etc. from tubing strings of oil and gas wells without extracting said tubing strings from the wells. This instrument can also be used for cleaning water-extracting wells and other wells. The internal surface of a tubing string is cleaned by a combined action (ultrasonic, mechanical, heat) on contaminants. Owing to the fact that operation of a well does not stop, dirt atomized by the combined action is raised to the surface and removed from the well by a stream of fluid. A system for ultrasonic cleaning of a tubing string consists of an ultrasonic generator and a downhole ultrasonic scraper, which comprises a converter converting electrical vibrations into mechanical vibrations, which is placed into a protective casing and is connected to a vibration transformer, which boosts the amplitude of vibrations of ultrasonic transducers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: ILMASONIC-SCIENCE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY
    Inventors: Alexandr Alexeevich Saltykov, Yuriy Alexeevich Saltykov, Andrey Alexandrovich Rukhman
  • Patent number: 10975672
    Abstract: A technique facilitates mitigation of shock loads. Subterranean communication systems may comprise components susceptible to various shock loads. A shock mitigation system is physically coupled with the subterranean communication system to mitigate such shock loads. The shock mitigation system comprises components selected to enable reduction of various effects of shock loads, e.g. shock loads resulting from perforating procedures, which could otherwise be detrimental to continued operation of the subterranean communication system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christian C. Spring, Allan Goldberg, Sheryl Raezer, Christophe Rayssiguier
  • Patent number: 10968730
    Abstract: A method of optimizing drilling ramp-up is provided herein. More specifically, a method of ramping up a drilling operation from a static condition (0, 0) to optimum drilling parameter values (WOB*, RPM*) is provided. The method includes identifying a set of drilling control variables used in forming the wellbore. Examples include weight-on-bit (WOB) and rate of penetration (RPM). The method additionally includes selecting desired control variable values for a first identified drilling stage. The values may be generically referred to as (V1, V2). The method also includes increasing the drilling control variables from (0, 0) to pre-defined drilling control variable values (V1, V2). Preferably, V1 is a WOB value while V2 is a rotation speed value (RPM). The method also comprises monitoring a performance index (PI), wherein (PI) is a combination of torque (TQ) and penetration rate (RPM).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
    Inventors: Lei Wang, Gregory S. Payette, Jeffrey R. Bailey, Jeff H. Moss
  • Patent number: 10968715
    Abstract: An actuation assembly to actuate a component of a mineral extraction system, where the actuation assembly includes an actuator configured to generate a force in a direction, a lever assembly coupled to the actuator, where the lever assembly is configured to rotate about a fulcrum in response to application of the force, and a piston coupled to the lever assembly, where the piston is configured to move in the direction in response to rotation of the lever assembly about the fulcrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ian McDaniel, Jesse Garcia
  • Patent number: 10954764
    Abstract: Provided are oil recovery compositions and processes for enhancing oil recovery from a carbonate reservoir. A process for enhancing oil recovery includes injecting a first slug of an aqueous solution having a salinity in the range of about 5,000 ppm TDS to about 7,000 ppm TDS and sulfate ions in the range of about 500 ppm to about 5000 ppm. After injection of the first slug, the process includes injecting a second slug of an aqueous solution having a salinity in the range of about 5,000 ppm TDS to about 7,000 ppm TDS, calcium ion concentrations in the range of about 100 ppm to about 1000 ppm, and magnesium ions in the range of about 200 ppm to about 2000 ppm. A third slug of seawater or produce water may then be injected as chase water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Subhash C. Ayirala, Ammar AlShehri, Sultan Enezi, Ali Al-Yousef
  • Patent number: 10954741
    Abstract: The invention provides an expanding and/or collapsing apparatus and a method of use. The apparatus comprises a plurality of elements assembled together to form a ring structure oriented in a plane around a longitudinal axis. The ring structure is operable to be moved between an expanded condition and a collapsed condition by movement of the plurality of elements. The plurality of elements is operable to be moved between the expanded and collapsed conditions by sliding with respect to one another in the plane of the ring structure, in a direction tangential to a circle concentric with the ring structure. Applications of the invention include oilfield devices, including anti-extrusion rings, plugs, packers, locks, patching tools, connection systems, and variable diameter tools run in a wellbore.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Gareth Edward George Brown
  • Patent number: 10947829
    Abstract: A hydraulic fracturing system includes a pump, an electrically powered motor for driving the pump, a trailer on which the pump and motor are mounted, and a transformer that steps down electricity for use by the motor. Electrical output from the transformer connects to a series of receptacles mounted onto a housing around the transformer. A similar set of receptacles is provided on the trailer and which are electrically connected to the motor. Power cables equipped with plugs on their opposing ends insert into the receptacles to close an electrical circuit between the transformer and pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: U.S. Well Services, LLC
    Inventor: Jared Oehring
  • Patent number: 10947818
    Abstract: A detection system for use with a pipeline network having a fluid flowing therethrough. The fluid contains an ingredient that deposits on the interior walls of the pipeline network. The detection system is interposed within the pipeline network and comprises a first fluid path and a second fluid path. A material is distributed throughout the interior of the second fluid path that is capable of inducing and accelerating the deposition of the fluid ingredient on the walls of the second fluid path. A sensor exposed to the second fluid path monitors changes in the path indicative of deposit build-up. The sensor communicates with a control system. The control system directs a chemical injector to introduce chemical inhibitors into the pipeline network to inhibit ingredient deposition on the walls of the pipeline network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Inventor: Qiliang Wang
  • Patent number: 10927802
    Abstract: A hydraulic fracturing system for fracturing a subterranean formation is disclosed. In an embodiment, the system can include a plurality of electric pumps fluidly connected to a well associated with the subterranean formation and powered by at least one electric motor, and configured to pump fluid into a wellbore associated with the well at a high pressure; at least one generator electrically coupled to the plurality of electric pumps so as to generate electricity for use by the plurality of electric pumps; a gas compression system fluidly coupled to the at least one generator so as to provide fuel for use by the at least one generator; and a combustible fuel vaporization system gaseously coupled to the gas compression system so as to provide at least one of vaporized fuel or gasified fuel, or a combination thereof, to the gas compression system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: U.S. Well Services, LLC
    Inventors: Jared Oehring, Brandon N. Hinderliter
  • Patent number: 10920563
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for horizontal drilling under a body of water or other obstacle impassable by foot is disclosed. The apparatus includes a locator box, a horizontal drill rig with a drill head, a transmitter operably coupled to the drill head, a suspension assembly extending over the obstacle above a bore hole line, and a remote control device paired with the locator box capable of wirelessly sending instructions and wirelessly receiving data from the locator box. The locator box is operably coupled to the suspension assembly that allows it to be positioned at any point along the suspension assembly. In the present method, the locator box follows along the drilling path, roughly at the level of the drill head, in order to accurately read information about the position, pitch, and temperature of the drill head, without requiring an operator to follow the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Inventor: Timothy B. Mower
  • Patent number: 10920540
    Abstract: A method for reducing noise produced by well operations includes obtaining a list of equipment performing the well operations in an open-air environment. The method further includes obtaining a mapping between engine rotations-per-minute (“RPM”), load, and noise produced by a combination of the equipment. The method further includes selecting a set point comprising gear number and engine speed, respectively for each engine, that minimizes the noise produced for the combination of the equipment based on the mapping. The method further includes adjusting each engine driving the well operations to operate at the respective set point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Stanley Vernon Stephenson, Kenneth Ray Coffman
  • Patent number: 10920497
    Abstract: A bladeless polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bit includes a head having a plurality of knots protruding from a drilling face of the head. Each of the plurality of knots includes a single cutter. Each of the cutters is arranged about a central axis of the head such that each cutter has a unique radial position and angular position relative to the central axis. The head defines at least one fluid port extending through the drilling surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: ULTERRA DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES, L.P.
    Inventors: Mitchell Rothe, Ben Chrest
  • Patent number: 10920517
    Abstract: An unbalanced sub-assembly includes a turbine and a shaft coupled to the turbine at a first end of the shaft. The unbalanced sub-assembly is capable of rotating and imparting a vibration to the casing in response to a fluid being passed through the casing. A rupture disc is positioned on one end of the unbalanced sub assembly. The rupture disc is configured to rupture above a specified differential pressure threshold caused by fluid flowing through the vibration assembly. The rupture disc is capable of allowing the fluid to bypass the unbalanced sub assembly when the rupture disc is in a ruptured state. The rupture disc directs fluid through the unbalanced sub assembly when the rupture disc is in an un-ruptured state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Victor Carlos Costa de Oliveira, Dean S. Porter, Khaled K. Abouelnaaj