Single Trip Casing Expansion and Cementing for Monobore Drilling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current drilling and completion methods are inefficient as they require multiple trips for casing or liner installation, cementing, and expansion, lacking the ability to combine these functions in a single trip effectively, especially in forming a monobore.
Innovation Solution
A system that advances a tubular string with a bottom hole assembly during drilling, allowing for simultaneous cementing and expansion, with the option to expand top-down or bottom-up, using a swage or inflatable tools, and incorporating steering tools and sensors for precise control and orientation, enabling the creation of a monobore with adjustable chokes for pressure management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple trips are used for casing installation, cementing, and expansion, then each function can be performed separately, but drilling efficiency is reduced and operational time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines drilling, casing installation, cementing, and expansion operations into a single integrated trip. The drilling assembly includes a drill bit for drilling, a casing string for installation, a cementing system for cement injection, and an expansion mechanism for tubular expansion, all operable simultaneously or sequentially during one trip, eliminating the need for multiple separate trips and thereby improving drilling efficiency while reducing operational time.
Solution Approach 2:
The drilling assembly is designed as a multi-functional system that can perform drilling, casing installation, cementing, and expansion operations. The assembly includes components that enable each of these functions: a drill bit for drilling, a casing string for installation, a cementing system for cement injection, and an expansion mechanism for tubular expansion, allowing a single assembly to execute multiple operations that traditionally required separate trips.
2Reliability
If cementing is performed before expansion, then cement bonding is enhanced, but cement usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic approach where the sequence of cementing and expansion can be adjusted based on operational requirements. The system allows cementing to be performed before expansion to enhance bonding when reliability is prioritized, or expansion to be performed first to reduce cement usage when quantity is the concern, providing operational flexibility to optimize the trade-off between cement bonding quality and cement consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A tubular string is advanced with a bottom hole assembly as the hole is drilled and reamed in a desired direction with the aid of directional drilling equipment adjacent the bit. When the advanced tubular forms the desired lap to the existing tubular, the assembly can be configured to cement the tubular and expansion can then be accomplished to fill the annular space and enhance the cement bonding. The expansion equipment can create a bottom bell on the expanded tubular and expand the top end into a bell of the existing tubular so that a monobore is created as the process is repeated with each added string. Numerous variations are contemplated for each single trip including but not limited to the direction of expansion, whether cementing or expansion occurs first, reforming folded tubing in the hole as well as the nature of the expansion tool and pressure control when drilling.