Baker Hughes Corporation

Hughes Tool Company LLC

Marathon Oil Company

Brown Oil Tools, Inc.

Other

Mcmurry/hughes, Inc.

John Lindley Baugh

James W Montgomery

George Givens

Gary J Collins

Rod Bennett

Gerald D Lynde

James C Doane

Jason M Harper

Sidney K Smith, Jr

Michael W Holcombe

Michael A Carmody

Aubrey Clifton Mills

Steven C Owens

David E Rothers

George J Melenyzer

Leopoldo S Gomez

Kevin O Trahan

Doug J Murray

Robert S O'brien

Rick Peterson

Leopolodo S Gomez

Douglas James Murray

Roger W Fincher

Peter S Aronstam

Larry A Watkins

Elmer R Peterson

Benn A Voll

James Sonnier

John Todd Broome

Phillip H Manderscheid

Rodney D Bennett

Allen Sinor

Frank X Mooney

Conrad Gustav Weinig

Simon Angelle

Ken Dyson

Malcolm B Roach

Richard A Van Wormer

Timothy Wootan

Bennett M Richard

Robert Joe Coon

Edward T Wood

Paulo S Tubel

Robert O'Brien

Mark Kendall Adam

Peter J Fay

John Phillip Davis

Luis E Mendez

David Eugene Hirth

Albert A Mullins, Ii

Mark W Brockman

Rustom K Mody

Henry J Jordan, Jr

John Paul Davis

Arne Gunnar Larsen

Andy Tom

Steven L Jennings

Louis M Gambertoglio

Robert C Smith

Joseph E Vandevier

Darrin F Willauer

David G Forsyth

David Cameron

Robert Chapman Ross

James Fraser

Wilhelm E Benker

Hollis A Baugh

David L Nevels

Brian C Wood

David A Arce

Christopher L Gann

Paul Zutz

Kenneth Almond

Charles A Ledet

James Peterson

Christiaan D Krauss

Walter Myron

Anthony C Machala

Russell A Miller

John E Atwood

William M Koehler

James D Cox

David K Waterman

Melvin J Hardy

Charles Ledet

Joe Foster

Eric J Curley

William K Brown

James K Jackson

Edwin Schubrick

James Kenneth Whanger

James A Sonnier

A tool for dropping one or more balls and then one or more darts features a closable ball drop opening that works automatically after the ball release to minimize damage to the subsequently released dart. A retainer keeps the darts from coming back up above the dart launcher in the event of a pressure surge in the well. The dart launcher features a dedicated movable barrel for each dart that can be locked in a fully misaligned and fully aligned position with the casing or tubular. A handle is retained to the dart housing and can be manipulated to defeat the lock and rotate a given barrel. The darts may be inspected in their respective barrels before launch and the launch order is variable.

Cementing head

A sealing and gripping element for an expandable downhole tool features a ring supporting a sealing material with radially extending rings into the sealing material during run in. Expansion of the underlying ring brings the sealing material into contact with the surrounding tubular. It also forces the radially extending rings through the sealing material and into contact with the surrounding tubular. As a result the tips of the extending rings are blunted to create metal to metal seals on the surrounding tubular. Hardened inserts are also located within the sealing material for run in. Upon expansion of the underlying base ring, the inserts break through the sealing material and penetrate the surrounding tubular to enhance grip when high differential pressures are encountered.

Seal and slip assembly for expandable downhole tools

Disclosed herein is an inline valve. The inline valve includes, a housing, a choke member in operable communication with the housing, a portion of the choke member being substantially immobile relative to the housing and a portion of the choke member being mobile relative to the housing. The inline valve further includes, an actuator in operable communication with the movable portion of the choke member, the actuator selectively causing the choke member to deform radially.

Choke or inline valve

A device and system for improving efficiency of subterranean cutting elements uses a controlled oscillation super imposed on steady drill bit rotation to maintain a selected rock fracture level. In one aspect, a selected oscillation is applied to the cutting element so that at least some of the stress energy stored in an earthen formation is maintained after fracture of the rock is initiated. Thus, this maintained stress energy can thereafter be used for further crack propagation. In one embodiment, an oscillation device positioned adjacent to the drill bit provides the oscillation. A control unit can be used to operate the oscillation device at a selected oscillation. In one arrangement, the control unit performs a frequency sweep to determine an oscillation that optimizes the cutting action of the drill bit and configures the oscillation device accordingly. One or more sensors connected to the control unit measure parameters used in this determination.

Drilling efficiency through beneficial management of rock stress levels via controlled oscillations of subterranean cutting levels

An expandable packer or anchor is disclosed. It features a gripping device integral to or mounted in a sleeve over the mandrel. Upon expansion, a sealing element engages an outer tubular and the gripping device, such as wickers on slips, preferably digs into the outer tubular. The expansion is preferably by pressure and can incorporate pressure intensifiers delivered by slick line or wire line. Release is accomplished by a release tool, which is delivered on slick line or wire line. It stretches the anchor or packer longitudinally, getting it to retract radially, for release. The release tool can be combined with packers or anchors that have a thin walled feature in the mandrel, to release by pulling the mandrel apart.

Expandable packer with anchoring feature

An expandable slip ring is used to secure attachment of an expanded tubular to a surrounding tubular. It features elongated generally axially oriented openings separated by narrow segments. As a swage is advanced within a tubular that has the slip ring outside it the narrow segments or tabs expand and can break but the ring is still held to its shape as the expansion progresses due to the integrity of other tabs that can subsequently break as the swage advances within the tubular that is surrounded by the slip ring. The integrity of the slip ring is enhanced for storage and run in while the expansion characteristics are more uniform as the ring retains some structural integrity during much of the expansion process.

Expandable slip ring

An expandable tubular pin and box connection is described having a feature of trapping the pin nose after preferably deforming the pin nose plastically in an outward direction away from the longitudinal axis of the connection. The box end is held away from the pin wall before expansion so that its tendency to curl inwardly upon expansion causes it to bend against the pin wall for sealing with it. The thread profile is also optimized to reduce flank separation as a result of expansion.

Expandable tubular connection

Casing is scored but not penetrated in one embodiment of a method that allows access to the formation without perforating or section milling the casing. In the run in condition the casing is impervious, to allow cement to be pumped through it to seal the annular space between the casing and the wellbore. After the cement is delivered and displaced through a shoe, the casing is expanded in the regions where it was scored to create openings that go against the wellbore wall. In between the expanded sections the cemented casing offers isolation between adjacent formations.

Cased hole perforating alternative

A packer includes one or more anchors for securing the packer in a wellbore and a pair of seal elements that form a fluid seal. The packer assembly is hydraulically set and, thus, it can be located at any desired position within the wellbore. The packer assembly is secured within the wellbore by a staged setting process through use of shear pins that have increasingly stepped shear values. Redundancy in packer sealing is provided by the use of two seal elements to establish fluid sealing. The design of the packer assembly also provides hydraulic isolation of the actuating portions of the packer assembly upon setting.

Hydraulic set permanent packer with isolation of hydraulic actuator and built in redundancy

Drilling efficiency through beneficial management of rock stress levels via controlled oscillations of subterranean cutting elements

A method of repairing tubulars downhole is described. A swage is secured to a force magnification tool, which is, in turn, supported by an anchor tool. Applied pressure sets the anchor when the swage is properly positioned. The force magnification tool strokes the swage through the collapsed section. The anchor can be released and weight set down on the swage to permit multiple stroking to get through the collapsed area. The swage diameter can be varied.

Method of repair of collapsed or damaged tubulars downhole

A one trip system for expanding a tubular that is solid or perforated or a screen comprises a downhole assembly that features a hydraulic anchor that can be set, released and repositioned to repeat the process. The anchor is small enough to go through the tubular or screen after initial expansion. The anchor's maximum extension is designed to avoid overstressing the already expanded tubular or screen. An expansion tool is hydraulically driven with the initial portion of the stroke delivering an enhanced force. The expansion tool initially supports the tubular or liner but subsequently releases during the first stroke, after the tubular or screen is fully supported.

Method and apparatus for one trip tubular expansion

A compliant swage has the ability to change shape to allow clearance of an obstruction while permitting expansion to go on in other areas removed from the obstruction. A series of segments move with respect to each other longitudinally to change overall size. The segments have an additional degree of freedom to change from a round profile of varying diameter to an oblong, elliptical, or an irregular shape so as to compensate in the portion that encounters an obstruction to let the swage pass while at the same time permitting the intended maximum expansion in other portions where conditions permit such expansion.

Compliant swage

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

John Lindley Baugh