Abstract: A computer chassis comprising a chassis base and first and second drawers removably engaged with the chassis base. An interface board is mounted to the first drawer so as to couple to a first electrical component when the first electrical component is located in the first drawer. The second drawer has a connector mounted so as to couple to a second electrical component when the second electrical component is located in the second drawer. The connector engages the interface board so as to couple the first electrical component to the second electrical component when the first and second electrical components are located in the respective first and second drawers.

Abstract: A string of pipe is stored in a body of water for working over a subsea well. The string is stored in a substantially linear configuration having controlled curvatures along its length with radii that are not smaller than the minimum yielding radius of curvature of the pipe material. The string may be made up from individual segments of threaded pipe. One end of the string is inserted into the well using a pipe drive assembly connected with the wellhead. The opposite end of the string is connected to a line that extends to a surface facility. The string may be rested on the bottom of the sea or may be floated on the water surface or may be suspended with buoyancy devices in various orientations between the sea bottom and the water surface. The pipe string may be stored within a tubular sleeve or may be disposed directly in the seawater.

Abstract: A string of pipe formed by the connection together of multiple joints of shorter pipe segments is stored in the water space adjacent an offshore drilling rig. The pipe string bends from the drilling rig floor in a semicircular arc and enters the water adjacent the drilling rig. A curving guide is used to direct the pipe string movement. A platform extension from the corner of the drilling rig is provided to position a work area above the point at which the pipe enters the water. Multiple guides may be employed for simultaneously running two strings of pipe. The string may be stored in one or more long sections or in a single continuous string. The major portions of the string or long pipe sections may be stored below the surface of the water. Provision is made for pumping fluids through the pipe string, and/or the pipe sections, to the well. The string may be stored in a sleeve.

Abstract: A power tong system is used to make up and break out threaded pipe connections. Rotary power tongs are connected to an integral backup tong through an extendable hydraulic cylinder and rod. A brake is secured to the rotary tong to selectively hold the pipe stationary relative to the rotary tong. When rotation of the pipe by the rotary tong ceases, the brake is applied, and the cylinder and rod are actuated to angularly displace the power tongs and the backup tong to apply a torque force to the pipe connection disposed between the power tongs and the backup. A resulting torque force is obtained that is greater than the maximum torque that can be exerted by the rotary tong acting alone. The system may also be deployed to apply and hold precise torque forces on the pipe connections. When used to obtain a makeup torque below the maximum rated rotary tong output, the rotary tong is regulated to limit its torque output.

Abstract: Pipe used in drilling and/or completing wells is stored in long rectilinear segments or strings in the space adjacent a drilling rig being used to construct a well. The pipe is introduced into the well, or extracted from the well, in long segments made up of multiple individual pipe sections. In one embodiment, long rectilinear segments of pipe are bent into a curve that extends from the rig to the space surrounding the rig, where the pipe re-assumes its rectilinear shape. The curve radius is greater than the pipe's yielding bending radius. On a water-based rig, the pipe is received in the water surrounding the rig where it may be stored, tested, inspected, reassembled, treated, and/or otherwise processed. The pipe may be received within a long pipe storage sleeve that is buoyed laterally at or below the water surface or it may be secured to a guy line anchored between the rig and the water bottom.

Abstract: A sheet of paper is provided with pressure-sensitive adhesive on areas of its front and rear surfaces. In a preferred form, the sheet is provided as a pad of similar sheets that may be removed from the pad one sheet at a time. The adhesive on the rear of the sheet is employed to secure the sheet to a first object. The adhesive on the front of the sheet is employed to secure a second object to the sheet. An area of the sheet face free of adhesive may be employed for a written message. A modified sheet is provided with cuts formed in an adhesive area of the sheet so that the cut area of the paper may move away from the plane of the sheet to adhere to irregular surfaces. The cut sheet may have adhesive on one or both sides. Where the adhesive is applied to both sheet sides, pressure-sensitive adhesive on the back of the uncut side of the sheet is used for adhering the sheet to a smooth surface.

Abstract: Methods for locating an oil-water interface in a petroleum reservoir include taking resistivity and pressure measurements over time and interpreting the measurements. The apparatus of the invention includes sensors preferably arranged as distributed arrays. According to a first method, resistivity and pressure measurements are acquired simultaneously during a fall-off test. Resistivity measurements are used to estimate the radius of the water flood front around the injector well based on known local characteristics. The flood front radius and fall-off pressure measurements are used to estimate the mobility ratio. According to a second method, resistivity and pressure measurements are acquired at a variety of times. Prior knowledge about reservoir parameters is quantified in a probability density function (pdf). Applying Bayes' Theorem, prior pdfs are combined with measurement results to obtain posterior pdfs which quantify the accuracy of additional information.

Abstract: A primary pipe gripping mechanism and a backup, secondary pipe gripping mechanism are carried in a single tapered slip bowl. The primary gripping mechanism employs smooth surface pipe dies that set against and grip and hold the pipe without damaging the pipe surface. After the primary mechanism is set, toothed dies in the secondary gripping are automatically engaged with the pipe with only a minimal pipe gripping force. Accidental slippage of the pipe through the smooth dies sets the toothed dies down against a wedging surface to grip and hold the pipe to stop its downward movement. A resilient biasing device is used to urge the toothed dies away from the pipe before the smooth dies are set. Movement of the pipe relative to the already set, smooth dies automatically causes the toothed dies to set and grip the pipe to thereby limit the incidence of pipe damage to those situations in which pipe slippage occurs through the primary gripping mechanism.

Abstract: A sheet of paper is provided with pressure-sensitive adhesive on areas of its front and rear surfaces. In a preferred form, the sheet is provided as a pad of similar sheets that may be removed from the pad one sheet at a time. The adhesive on the rear of the sheet is employed to secure the sheet to a first object. The adhesive on the front of the sheet is employed to secure a second object to the sheet. An area of the sheet face free of adhesive may be employed for a written message. A modified sheet is provided with cuts formed in an adhesive area of the sheet so that the cut area of the paper may move away from the plane of the sheet to adhere to irregular surfaces. The cut sheet may have adhesive on one or both sides. Where the adhesive is applied to both sheet sides, pressure-sensitive adhesive on the back of the uncut side of the sheet is used for adhering the sheet to a smooth surface.

Abstract: Inception of hydrocarbon extraction from a reservoir causes the oil-water interface to warp and cusp toward the extraction gates along a well. This invention proposes time-lapse DC/AC measurements with an array of permanently deployed sensors in order to detect and estimate the change in geometry and proximity of the oil-water interface as a result of production, and therefore as a function of time. The estimation is carried out with a parametric inversion technique whereby the shape of the oil-water interface is assumed to take the form of a three-dimensional surface describable with only a few unknown parameters. A nonlinear optimization technique is used to search for the unknown parameters such that the differences between the measured data and the numerically simulated data are minimized in a least-squares fashion with concomitant hard bound physical constraints on the unknowns.

Abstract: Hydraulic tongs, used to screw oilfield tubulars together, are equipped with torque control means which enable the tongs to rotate the tubulars and then gradually apply torque until a preselected torque value is reached, hold the torque at this value a desired period of time and then release the torque. In one form of the invention, a tong control restricts the power of the tong motor to enable low torque rotation while limiting the maximum torque which can be produced by the tong motor. A hydraulic cylinder placed in the tongs' restraining line is controlled to shorten, hold or extend the line. When the line is shortened, the tongs are pulled in a direction which increases the torque to a value above the maximum torque produced by the tong motor. The system allows heavy, powerful tongs to be used to accurately apply and hold a wide variety of selected torque values.

Abstract: Disclosed is a holder which may be used for mounting equipment, such as sensing apparatus, within an otherwise closed environment. The holder is anchored and sealed to a landing device and may extend a mounting section into the interior of such a container. The mounting section is releasably attached to a seal section of the holder, which is selectively oriented by cooperation between an orienting device, fixed to the seal section, and a contoured surface within the landing device. The seal section is connected to an anchor section of the holder by a projection of the seal section into the anchor section. A washer spring operates as a clutch between the seal and anchor sections.