Patented
Introduction
Piston Well Services Inc. has all with patents and patents pending, a new "live well servicing platform". This consists of three primary areas of continuing development; The first part includes a method and configuration of snubbing and lubricating pipe and or BHAs into wells with surface pressures up to 5000 p.s.i.. Secondly, a method and configuration for inserting coupled steel and plastic / composite coil tubing into low-pressured wells. Thirdly, the platform includes a method and configuration that eliminates ram to ram staging procedures to while snubbing at pressures as high as 15K.
Concentric Space-Maker Rig Assist
The Concentric Space-Maker Rig Assist has been designed specifically to accommodate all conventional snubbing and under-balanced drilling operations. The basic system includes the employment of a concentric telescopic cylinder, an annular B.O.P. or stripping head, single gate blowout preventor, hydraulic cylinders and pipe grippers (slips). The rig assist unit is installed in conjunction with the rig's blowout preventors for snubbing pipe / bottom-hole assemblies. This advanced system eliminates the need for extended lubricating spools and stripping ram-type preventors in used to day in most live well servicing applications.
The combined height of a 13-foot unit employing our patented concentric system (8' effective stroke) will provide up to 22' of lubricating space, by simply telescoping up the jack. In order to achieve this employing conventional snubbing equipment, it would require spools and snubbing unit to be stacked up in excess of 25 feet above the rig’s B.O.Ps.
One very important aspect of the Space-Maker System is the tubing (pipe) or BHA does not MOVE IN A CLOSED B.O.P.
1.) The lower B.O.P. (typically gate-type safety rams or annular) and upper slips are closed.
2.) Any pressure is bled off above the B.O.P.
3.) The upper B.O.P. and stationary slips are opened.
4.) The upper B.O.P. and stationary slips attached to the top of the concentric spool are then extended up over top the coupling, tubing hanger or section of BHA intended to be inserted into the well.
5.) The upper B.O.P. and stationary slips are closed.
6.) The pressure is equalized between the upper and lower B.O.P.s.
7.) The lower B.O.P. is opened.
8.) The concentric spool is contracted holding the pipe stationary in the upper B.O.P. and slips while the tubing is being forced into the well.
This configuration greatly reduces risks associated with ram failure, making basic staging and snubbing procedures considerably safer. Through the employment of upper and lower annulars, the configuration of the BHA is almost never a contention. By eliminating the installation of work spools and additional B.O.P.s in most applications live well operations can be performed without adding undesirable working heights thus dramatically increasing productivity, reducing overall costs along with an added new dimension to the single most important factor, SAFETY. We feel this new patented system will eventually be incorporated into most live-well applications through a form of licensing. We have named our Concentric System the “SPACE-MAKER”.
Piston Injection System
With the Piston Injection System and the use of standard coupled tubing, nitrogen is used to hydraulic tubulars into a well to a pipe-heavy position (depending on the application any fluid can be used and reused from well to well). A piston assembly is installed on the end of the pipe, lowered into the blowout preventor stack, equalized and snubbed into the well bore using one stroke of a snubbing unit. Nitrogen or fluid is then injected into the B.O.P. stack on top of the piston, creating an artificial string weight, which subsequently pulls the tubing string into the well. Once the first joint has been started in, the rig operator simply lowers the tubing into the well from start to finish, simulating running in on a dead well. When tubing string has reached a pipe heavy state, the nitrogen or fluid injection is stopped, allowing the tubing to be lowered into the well under its own weight ( would be displaced back to a tank for reuse prior to the stripping procedure). This system saves costs by reducing manpower and redundant equipment by allowing rig personnel to maintain their respective positions on the rig floor operating their own tongs, heavy slips and elevators through the entire operation.
Plastic / Composite Coil Tubing
Piston Well Service's Piston Injection System is for installing plastic and composite coil tubing into wells against well pressure. This system employs a piston and nitrogen system, along with a modified pressure control configuration to assist in the installations. With the Piston Injection System the tubing is pulled straight into the well, resolving buckling, residual coil memory, friction and depth measurement complications inherent with conventional installations. The tubing is subject only to tensile strength and collapse properties. The intent is to maintain a constant well pressure while the displacement below the piston is flowed up the tubing (if necessary), thus preventing any potential for collapse. Inherently, plastic coil tubing has much greater pulling and internal burst values than the inverse, buckling and collapse. Depth measurement and friction from the tubing remaining in a residual semi-coiled state against the walls of the casing have been eliminated as the tubing is always in tension while being pulled in the well. Once landed, the coil tubing could be set in tension, creating new possibilities for other remedial operations to take place. Piston Well Services Plastic Coil Tubing Units will work independently, without service rigs or snubbing units, along with the additional benefits and cost savings by the use of plastic production tubing. These factors combined should make Piston Well Services a viable alternative completion service not to be overlooked. Although much work is yet to be done, we are excited about the prospect of working with oil companies to further develop and employ this new system on all low pressure single zone well completions where work strings and complicated bottom-hole assemblies are not warranted.
Coil Tubing and Coil Tubing Drilling Applications
Piston's patented Concentric Snubbing System also makes an ideal deployment tool for installations and retrieval of long bottom-hole assemblies on coil tubing drilling applications where lubricating height and BHA configuration are problematic. Coil tubing drilling companies are building elaborate systems to facilitate lubricating their BHA's in one piece. We believe this may not be necessary in many cases.
Complex structures like the one pictured above, facilitate long bottom-hole-assemblies may soon become a thing of the past with Piston's Concentric Snubbing System. Custom solutions from 7 1/16" x 3000 / 5000 to 4 1/16" x 10000 psi working pressure are available.
A concentric unit can be rigged in place of the giant lubricators and masts that are currently being used for these applications. A unit could effectively snub or lubricate into a live well any length of tool string. The only two prerequisites are that there is no annulus to tubing communication after the first section has been swallowed and snubbed into the well. The second would be to supply a 6" nominal section of tool or crossover sub to seal on with a lower annular as the concentric unit swallows and deploys each successive section using two annular preventors. With the tools in the well, the CT injector would then operate from atop of the snubbing unit at 6 or 7 meters in the air instead of 20-30m. This could save the oil companies a lot of time and money on these very expensive applications."
The concentric system can also be used to deploy wellhead isolation tools for coil tubing fracing applications, adding yet another dimension to this multi-purpose technology.
Please
contact us for more information.
Also see our Rig Assist #3.
Differential Pressure Relief System
Piston Well Services has patented a viable solution for snubbing high pressure wells. This system effectively eliminates conventional ram to ram staging of tool joints. For more information please contact Kelly Funk
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