Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company

Rasgas Company Limited

John K Montgomery

Pavlin B Entchev

Stuart Ronald Keller

David A Baker

Zhihua Wang

Bruce A Dale

William A Sorem

Paul Matthew Spiecker

Dennis H Petrie

Martin V Smith

Larry Mercer

John H Jackson

Nancy M Krahel

Robert S Williamson

A bridge plug arrangement includes a plug having an upper end and a bottom end. The bridge plug arrangement also optionally includes a cylindrical seat. The bridge plug arrangement further includes a tubular member. The tubular member may be part of a casing string. The tubular member is configured to receive the plug and, when used, the seat. The plug and/or the seat may be fabricated from a frangible material. Also disclosed is a method for diverting fluids in a wellbore using the bridge plug arrangement. The method may include landing the plug onto the seat within the wellbore below a subsurface zone of interest. Treatment fluids are then injected into the wellbore, where they are diverted through perforations and into a formation. The plug and/or seat is then optionally broken into a plurality of pieces through use of a downward mechanical force.

Systems and methods of diverting fluids in a wellbore using destructible plugs

Drill bits are provided. The drill bits are of the fixed-cutter, rotary-type. The drill bits have a plurality of blades having cutting elements disposed therealong. Junk slots are formed between the respective blades. A knife opening is formed in at least two of the junk slots. Preferably, the knife openings are disposed substantially transverse to a longitudinal axis of the drill bit. The drill bit also has one or more ribbon cutters. The ribbon cutters cyclically protrude through knife openings in the junk slots in order to facilitate the fragmentation of cuttings ribbons moving through the junk slots during a drilling operation.

Methods and apparatus for controlling cutting ribbons during a drilling operation

Methods for installing tubulars into a highly deviated wellbore may include a) drilling the well to the planned total depth of the interval, b) placing a first fluid into the wellbore below a prescribed measured depth in the high-angle portion of the wellbore, c) placing a second fluid into the wellbore above the prescribed measured depth, d) plugging the distal port ion of the tubular with a lower plug and an upper plug, e) as the tubular is run into the wellbore, placing a lightweight fluid into the plugged section of tubular and a heavy fluid above the plugged section of tubular, and f) running the tubular into the wellbore to the planned total depth. The first fluid has a density that causes the portion of the tubular that extends into the first fluid to become substantially neutrally buoyant, and the second fluid has a density less than the first fluid.

Method for running tubulars in wellbores

A method of managing lost returns in a wellbore includes contacting a filter cake with a treating fluid to remove metallic weighting agents from the filter cake, wherein the filter cake is disposed on a face of a formation fracture in the wellbore. The method also includes contacting the filter cake with a proppant slurry, wherein the proppant slurry contacts the filter cake concurrently with the treating fluid or after the treating fluid contacts the filter cake. This method may include increasing the filter cake permeability and may utilize a barite removal agent, such as a chelation agent. At least one related wellbore management method creates a fracture in the wellbore and props open the fracture to increase wellbore integrity to utilize higher weight drilling fluids and prevent fractures from forming further down the wellbore.

Managing lost returns in a wellbore

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

John K Montgomery