SELECTIVE MULTI-STAGE CEMENTING OF CASING
An apparatus and a method for cementing a casing in various elevations is disclosed. A casing string having at least one cementing valve is lowered into a borehole. In the closed position, the valve prevents fluid communication between the interior and exterior of the casing. In the opened position, the valve allows fluid communication between the interior and the exterior of the casing so that cement is pumped therethrough to cement the borehole adjacent the valve at the borehole elevation where the valve is located. Opening of the valve is effected by landing on the valve an opening dart having a unique profile corresponding to the valve and applying pressure on the dart to move a sleeve in the valve to a first position exposing radial ports in the casing. The valve is closed by landing a dart on the opening dart and applying pressure thereon to move the sleeve to a second position to close the ports.
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This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of the U.S. provisional application No. 62/561,114 filed on Sep. 20, 2017.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe field of the invention relates to the field of casing cementing and, more particularly, an apparatus and a method of cementing the casing in various zones in different elevations in a random order with sleeve valves having unique profiles that can be selectively opened and then closed without well intervention.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONIt is well known that cementing operations are done in a bottom up orientation where stage tools are opened and closed as the operations are moved up the hole by the use of cement wiper plugs. Selective placement of cement is possible with the use of a shifting tool on drill pipe. Casing inflation packers are required, however, to prevent the cementing hydrostatic head from breaking down the formation. Casing inflation packers can also be used to relieve excessive hydrostatics pressure or to isolate an area of the wellbore where cement is not desired. When cementing wiper plugs are used this is a bottom up operation and the plugs have to be drilled out to open the casing passage for completion or further drilling operations. Stage tools that require the use of shifting tools require the use of drill pipe whereby a substantial amount of time is required to run and retrieve the drill pipe.
The disadvantages of the prior art cementing methods and apparatus used therein is overcome by the present invention wherein an apparatus and a method are disclosed to cement in any desired sequence without the use of well intervention. The method is accomplished with sliding sleeve valves with unique profiles to accept darts with matching profiles. A selected valve receives a dart with a predetermined profile matching the unique valve profile to allow subsequent pressure buildup to shift the sleeve to an opened position wherein ports in the casing provide fluid communication between the interior and the exterior of the casing. After the well cementing operation through the opened ports is completed, a second dart lands on the first dart to effectively seal the valve to allow a second pressure buildup on the sleeve to shift the sleeve so that the ports are then closed. Thereafter both darts are blown through the sleeve to hole bottom.
Additional valves having unique profiles may be opened by darts having conforming profiles and closed by darts as described above to cement at different elevations. The method allows a random order of cementing without well intervention.
Another advantage of the tool used according to the present invention is that it may accommodate cementing operations either with the use of the darts, as described below, or with shifting tools.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate other aspects of the invention from a review of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the associated drawings while understanding that the full scope of the invention can be determined by the appended claims.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA casing string having at least one cementing valve that includes a slidable sleeve that closes and opens radial casing ports in the casing is lowered into a borehole. In the closed position, the sleeve closes the radial casing ports and prevents fluid communication therethrough. In the opened position, the sleeve opens the radial casing ports to allow fluid communication between the interior and the exterior of the casing.
The valve has a unique profile so that it can be sealingly engaged by an opening dart having a unique profile corresponding to the valve profile. The first dart is dropped into the valve and sealingly engages the valve. Pressure is applied on the opening dart to move the slidable sleeve to expose the radial casing ports to allow for the fluid communication between the interior and exterior of the casing. After the valve is opened, cement is pumped through the casing ports to the exterior of the casing at the borehole elevation where the valve is located. Following the completion of the cementing operation through the valve, a second dart lands on the opening dart to seal the valve. Pressure is applied on the second dart to move the sleeve to a second position to close the casing ports.
Additional similar valves having their own corresponding unique profiles may be located at various elevations above the valve to perform additional cementing at the corresponding elevation by being opened with darts having their own unique profiles corresponding to the unique profile of a specific valve being opened. Each of those valves is closed with a dart that lands on the opening dart to effect the closing of the specific valve, as described above.
For a detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings wherein:
According to the present invention, a casing string having at least one cementing valve that includes a slidable sleeve that closes and opens radial casing ports in the casing is lowered into a borehole. In the closed position, the valve closes the radial casing ports and prevents fluid communication therethrough. In the opened position, the valve opens the radial casing ports to allow fluid communication between the interior and the exterior of the casing. The valve has a unique profile so that it can be sealingly engaged by a first dart having a profile corresponding to the valve profile to effect opening of the valve as hereinafter described. A second dart lands on the first dart to seal the valve and effect closing of the valve. The valve is opened to pump cement through the casing ports to the exterior of the casing at the borehole elevation where the valve is located. Additional similar valves having their own corresponding unique profiles may be located at various elevations above the valve to perform additional cementing at the corresponding elevation by being opened with darts having their own unique profiles corresponding to the unique profile of a specific valve being opened. Each of those valves is closed with a dart that lands on the opening dart to effect the closing of the specific valve.
Referring now to
Cementing valve 22 is opened by virtue of an opening dart 28 that is directed downhole by free fall to engage cementing valve 22. Alternatively, dart 28 may be pumped downhole. Dart 28 has a unique profile which is shown in more detail in
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As shown in
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After cementing is completed, and the cementing valve or valves 22 are closed, the tools included to the downhole string may be locked in the closed position with a locking device such as a snap ring. The locking device may be appropriately designed so that it may unlocked by applying on it a force that is sufficiently high to unlock it and to allow for the further use of cementing valve 22 for further cementing operations. After the cementing operations, the tool may be locked again.
The tool described above may be used to perform cementing operations by either with the use of the darts, as described below, or with the use shifting tools, at the operators option.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention enables cementing of the casing art different elevations in any needed order using objects with unique profiles that register in a specific location of a cementing valve that has the mating profile. The cementing can be done without intervention using pressurized darts.
The above description is illustrative of the preferred embodiment and many modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention whose scope is to be determined from the literal and equivalent scope of the claims below:
Claims
1. A method for selectively cementing a casing, comprising:
- locating a first valve having a first valve unique profile in the casing;
- delivering a first object having a matching profile to the first valve unique profile for sealingly landing on the first valve;
- moving the first valve with said first object with pressure to open a first casing port through the casing, the first casing port extending from the interior of the casing to the exterior of the casing;
- flowing cement from the interior of the casing to the exterior of the casing through the first casing port; and
- closing the first casing port.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of closing the first casing port includes the steps of:
- delivering a second object for sealingly landing on the first valve; and
- moving the first valve with the second object with pressure to close the first casing port.
3. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:
- locating a second valve having a second valve unique profile in the casing;
- delivering a third object having a matching profile to the second valve unique profile for sealingly landing on the second valve;
- moving the second valve with the second object with pressure to open a second casing port through the casing, the second casing port extending from the interior of the casing to the exterior of the casing;
- flowing cement from the interior of the casing to the exterior of the casing through the second casing port; and
- closing the second casing port.
4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the step of closing the second casing port includes the steps of:
- delivering a fourth object for sealingly landing on the second valve; and
- moving the second valve with the fourth object with pressure to close the first casing port.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 18, 2018
Publication Date: May 23, 2019
Applicant: Meduna Investments, LLC (Cypress, TX)
Inventor: Lance Michael Rayne (Spring, TX)
Application Number: 16/133,696