Retrofitting an electric operated well completion system into already installed well completion

Abstract

A wet mate-able downhole coupler comprises ae female coupler, and a male coupler. Typically, the female coupler is installed first as part of a well completion string, where later the male coupler with a string of tubulars connected to its lower end is landed into the female coupler. The female coupler is connected to one or several electric cables and / or hydraulic tubes placed outside the wellbore tubulars or as integrated components in the wellbore tubulars, where such lines are routed to the surface of the well, or the so-called Xmas tree. Between the female coupler and the Xmas tree there may be sensors and / or valves connected to said cables and / or hydraulic lines.

Description

[0001] RETROFITTING AN ELECTRIC OPERATED WELL

[0002] COMPLETION SYSTEM INTO ALREADY INSTALLED WELL

[0003] COMPLETION

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] The present disclosure generally relates to retrofitting a well completion system with hydraulically and / or electrically operated devices, where the retrofit system is landed into and powered by a wet mate coupler placed in the wellbore above the completion zone i.e., proximate a reservoir formation.

[0006] Oil and gas producing wellbores, and wells used for water injection, frequently have sensors and valves mounted in the reservoir section of the wellbore. It is known in the art that these sensors and valves fail after some time downhole. Therefore, a method is needed to retrofit sensors and valves without having to retrieve the already installed, and frequently impossible to retrieve, well completion.

[0007] Also, in some instances, a wellbore may not have sensors and / or valves installed in the reservoir section of the wellbore, where it is concluded later that such are required. Again, the already installed well completion may not be retrieved.

[0008] SUMMARY

[0009] The present disclosure sets forth a wet mate-able downhole coupler, where this coupler consists of an outer unit, the female coupler, and an inner unit, the male coupler. Typically, the female coupler is installed first as part of a well completion string, where later the male coupler, with a string of tubulars connected to its lower end is landed into the female coupler. The female coupler is connected to one or several electric cables and / or hydraulic tubes placed outside the wellbore tubular or as integrated components in the wellbore tubulars, where these are routed to the surface of the well or to the so-called Xmas (Christmas) tree. Between the female coupler and the Xmas tree there may be sensors and / or valves connected to said cables and / or hydraulic lines.

[0010] The female coupler of the present disclosure can be coupled to cable(s) and / or hydraulic lines placed externally, or integrated into the tubulars connected to the lower end of the female coupler. In case of failure to the electric device(s) or the cable(s) below the female coupler, a disconnect module in the female coupler, either integrated in the female coupler, or as a separate tubular component below the female coupler, can physically disconnect the cable(s). This disconnect may be operated hydraulically or mechanically.

[0011] When a male coupler with tubulars and sensor(s) and / or valve(s) connected to the lower end is to be installed into the female coupler, a protective device is first retrieved from the female coupler to give access to the female coupler's electric and / or hydraulic coupling areas.

[0012] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates a wellbore installed upper tubular with a female coupler and tubulars connected to its lower end.

[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates a male coupler with a tubular section that may have sensor(s) and / or valve(s) connected to its lower end, landed into a female coupler. The pre-installed well completion system may no electric and / or hydraulic lines

[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates the same as FIG. 2 but based on a pre-installed well completion system with no electric and / or hydraulic lines.

[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates the female coupler as described in FIG. 1.

[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates the female and male coupler as described in FIG. 2.

[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates the female and male coupler as described in FIG. 3.

[0019] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] All illustrations in the drawings are for the purpose of describing selected implementations of a system according to the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 1 illustrates a wellbore installable upper tubular string 13 with a female coupler 10 located at its lower end. Further wellbore tubulars 11 are connected to the lower end of the female coupler 10. One or several cable(s) and / or hydraulic line(s) 13A are placed externally on the upper tubular string 13 above the female coupler 10. Alternatively, one or several cable(s) 13A may be incorporated into the tubular string 13.

[0022] The electric cable(s) and / or hydraulic line(s) 13 A are terminated in and pass through the female coupler 10 to the further wellbore tubulars 11 mounted below the female coupler 10. Internal contact areas of the female coupler 10 are isolated from wellbore fluids with a retrievable protection device 10A. FIG. 1 thus represents an initial completion of a well drilled through a reservoir formation (not shown). FIG. 2 illustrates a male coupler 10B with a tubular section 15 that may have sensor(s) and / or valve(s) 16 connected to its lower end. The sensors and / or valves may be operated through any suitable combination of electric and / or hydraulic lines 12. The male coupler 10B is run into the upper tubular string 13 and is landed into the female coupler 10. The pre-installed well completion system may have electric and / or hydraulic lines, shown at 17.

[0023] A retrofit tubular string with sensor(s) and / hydraulic operated valve(s) is connected to the male coupler 1 OB landed into the female coupler 10. Now these sensors and / or valves 16 may be operated through the coupler system, wherein the coupler system comprises the female connector 10 and the male connector 10B. Thus, FIG. 2 shows a retrofit smart completion system 14 A.

[0024] In case of electric failure on any of the sensor(s) 16 or cable(s) 17 below the female coupler 10, a disconnect device (see FIG. 4) or module in or below the female coupler 10 may be activated hydraulically or mechanically, disconnecting the cable(s) 17 or line(s) below the female coupler 10.

[0025] FIG. 3 illustrates the same configuration as shown in FIG. 2 but is based on a preinstalled well completion system having no originally installed electric and / or hydraulic lines. Such lines are provided by the retrofit completion system 14A. In this sutuation, the disconnect module (FIG. 4) is not required.

[0026] FIG. 4 illustrates in more detail the female coupler 10 as described in FIG. 1. An electric cable 13A is shown connected to the upper end of the female coupler, 10 where such cable 13 A is routed to an inner contact ring 10C within the female coupler 10, and from there to a cable 17 connected to the lower end of the female coupler 10. A disconnect device 10D for the electric conductor 12 is illustrated as an integrated module in the female coupler 10. Also, a protective sleeve 10A is illustrated installed in the female coupler 10.

[0027] Those skilled in the art will understand that several electric wires and / or hydraulic lines may be implemented, similar to illustrated on the drawing.

[0028] FIG. 5 illustrates the female 10 and male 10B coupler as described in FIG. 2, where an insert tubular string 15 is connected to a male coupler 10B, wherein the male coupler 10B is landed into the female coupler 10. An electric cable 17 routed from the lower end of the male coupler 10B along the tubular string 15 below the male coupler 10B is also shown.

[0029] Those skilled in the art will understand that several electric wires and / or hydraulic lines may be implemented, similar to what is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and / or 5.

[0030] The electric cable 12 shown mounted externally on the originally installed tubulars 11 below the female coupler 10 may be disconnected by the disconnect module 10D illustrated in the female coupler 10, below the internal contact ring 10C.

[0031] FIG. 6 illustrates the female 10 and male 10B coupler as described in FIG. 3 in more detail, wherein the pre-installed well tubulars 11 (existing completion) below the female coupler 10 do not have any electrical cable or hydraulic lines mounted or implemented. An insert tubular string 15 has a male coupler 1 OB at its the upper end. The insert tubular string 15 is inserted into the pre-installed well tubulars 11 until the male coupler 10B is landed into the female coupler 10. Electrically and or hydraulically operated devices, e.g., sensor(s) and / or valve(s) 17 mounted onto the insert tubular string 15 can be operated from the surface end of the well, e.g., at the Xmas tree by making suitable electrical and / or hydraulic connection to the surface or Xmas tree end of the lines 13 A extending from the female coupling 10.

[0032] In light of the principles and example embodiments described and illustrated herein, it will be recognized that the example embodiments can be modified in arrangement and detail without departing from such principles. The foregoing discussion has focused on specific embodiments, but other configurations are also contemplated. In particular, even though expressions such as in “an embodiment," or the like are used herein, these phrases are meant to generally reference embodiment possibilities, and are not intended to limit the disclosure to particular embodiment configurations. As used herein, these terms may reference the same or different embodiments that are combinable into other embodiments. As a rule, any embodiment referenced herein is freely combinable with any one or more of the other embodiments referenced herein, and any number of features of different embodiments are combinable with one another, unless indicated otherwise. Although only a few examples have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible within the scope of the described examples. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims.

Claims

Claims:What is claimed is:

1. A completion system, comprising. a well tubular string having a female coupler disposed at a selected position along the well tubular string, the female coupler having at least one electrical or hydraulic contact, the well tubular string comprising at least one electrical or hydraulic line extending from the female coupler to a surface of a well; a male coupler arranged to be disposed in and mate with the female coupler, the male coupler comprising an insertable tubular string connected thereto, the male coupler having at least one electrical or hydraulic contact mateable with the at least one electrical or hydraulic contact in the female coupler; and wherein the insertable tubular string comprises at least one electrically or hydraulically operated device disposed apart from the male coupler, the insertable tubular string comprising at least one of an electrical or hydraulic line extending from the male coupler to the at least one electrically or hydraulically operated device.

2. The completion system of claim 1 further comprising a protector disposed in the female coupler.

3. The completion system of claim 1 further comprising a disconnect module disposed on the female coupler, wherein the disconnect module is arranged to disconnect an electrical or hydraulic line disposed on a well tubular completion string extending from the female coupler to a reservoir formation.

4. The completion system of claim 3 wherein the disconnect module is hydraulically operated.

5. The completion system of claim 3, wherein the disconnect module is mechanically operated.

6. The completion system of claim 3, where the disconnect module comprises a separate unit mounted below the female coupler.

7. The completion system of claim 1 wherein the at least one electrically or hydraulically operated device comprises a sensor.

8. The completion system of claim 1 wherein the at least one electrically or hydraulically operated device comprises a valve.

9. The completion system of claim 1 wherein the female coupler is disposed within the well tubular string, wherein part of the well tubular string extends from each side of the female coupler.

10. The completion system of claim 9 wherein the tubular string extending from each side of the female coupler comprises at least one of an electrical line or hydraulic line.

11. A method for completing a well, comprising: inserting a tubular string in the well, the tubular string comprising a female coupling disposed at a selected position within the tubular string wherein a first portion of the tubular string extends to surface from the female coupling and a second portion of the tubular string extends in an opposed direction from the female coupling, the female coupling comprising at least one electrical or hydraulic line extending to a surface end of the tubular string; inserting a male coupling into the tubular string until the male coupling lands in the female coupling, the male coupling comprising at least one mating contact cooperatively engaging the female coupling, the male coupling comprising an insertion string extending therefrom, the insertion string comprising at least one electrical or hydraulic line extending along at least part of the insertion string; and operating at least one device on or in the insertion string using the at least one electrical or hydraulic line extending along the insertion string.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising operating a disconnect module on the female coupling when the tubular string extending in the opposed direction includes at least one of an electrical or hydraulic line to disconnect the at least one electrical or hydraulic line from communication with a device at the surface end of the tubular string.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the disconnect module is operated hydraulically.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the disconnect module is operated mechanically.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the at least one device comprises a sensor or a valve.

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