Relief Well Injection Spool for High-Rate Dynamic Kill
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current well killing methods, particularly in offshore environments, often require multiple relief wells to achieve a dynamic kill, which is complex, time-consuming, and costly, and may not be feasible due to limited experience and regulatory constraints, leading to increased oil and gas release and higher production costs.
Innovation Solution
The relief well injection spool system enhances pumping capacity by allowing kill fluids to be pumped from remotely located support vessels, eliminating the need for additional casing strings and on-site pump installations, and enabling a single relief well to achieve a high-rate dynamic kill through additional inlets and valves that can be actuated remotely.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple relief wells are drilled to achieve a dynamic kill, then the reliability of well control is improved, but the device complexity and operational difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the pumping function into multiple independent sources by providing multiple inlets (first inlet and second inlet) that can receive kill fluid from different support vessels. This segmentation allows each vessel to contribute independently to the overall pumping capacity, achieving the reliability of multiple relief wells while maintaining operational simplicity through modular, independent connections.
2Power
If multiple relief wells are used for dynamic kill, then the pumping capacity is increased, but the loss of time and increased oil release occur
Solution Approach 1:
The invention enables preliminary positioning of multiple support vessels with kill fluid storage and pumping equipment before the dynamic kill operation begins. The inlets are pre-configured and ready to receive fluid from multiple sources simultaneously, eliminating the sequential setup time that would occur with multiple relief wells and allowing immediate high-rate pumping upon intersection.
3Productivity
If additional casing strings are installed to increase pumping capacity, then the productivity is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing pumping capacity vertically through additional casing strings, the invention adds capacity horizontally by incorporating multiple inlets that accept connections from separate support vessels. This dimensional shift from vertical stacking to horizontal expansion allows multiple pumping sources to feed into a single relief well without requiring complex multi-casing configurations.
4Ease of operation
If a single relief well is used, then the operational simplicity is maintained, but the pumping capacity is insufficient for prolific blowouts
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes a single relief well multi-functional by enabling it to simultaneously receive kill fluid from multiple support vessels through the multiple inlets. This allows one well to perform the function that would otherwise require multiple wells, maintaining operational simplicity while achieving the pumping capacity needed for prolific blowouts through coordinated multi-vessel support.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution increases the pumping capacity of a single relief well, reduces the need for multiple wells, lowers costs, and enhances safety by allowing a high-rate dynamic kill with a single relief well, thus addressing the challenges of complex and costly multi-well operations.
Implementation Method 1
The dynamic kill uses the increased hydrostatic head of a mixture of gas, oil, and mud in the blowing well together with the frictional pressure drop to increase the bottomhole pressure
Implementation Method 2
The ram body is selectively movable so as to open and close the bore
Data Source
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AI summary
A relief well injection spool (10) for use in killing a well has a body with a pair of inlets (22, 24) opening to a bore (20) on an interior of the body, a ram body (16) cooperative with the bore of the body so as to selectively open and close the bore, an upper connector (14) affixed to the body and adapted to connect the body to a lower end of a blowout preventer, and a wellhead connector (18) affixed to a lower end of the body. Each of the pair of inlets has a valve (26, 28, 34, 36) cooperative therewith. The upper connector (14) opens to the bore of the body. The wellhead connector (18) is adapted to connect to a relief well wellhead. The wellhead connector also opens to the bore of the body. A floating vessel can be provided so as to deliver a kill fluid into at least one of the pair of inlets.