Vetco Gray Inc.

Other

Abb Vetco Gray Incorporated

Lars-Petter Sollie

Stephen Paul Fenton

Francisco Dezen

Gawain Langford

Jarle Michaelsen

Jon E Hed

Andrew Davidson

Nils Arne Soelvik

An assembly for landing a tubing hanger in a subsea well includes a riser extending from a subsea wellhead assembly to a vessel at the surface of the sea. A tubing hanger having a string of tubing suspended therefrom is lowered through the riser with a string of conduit, and the tubing hanger lands within the subsea wellhead assembly. A sensor is positioned adjacent the subsea wellhead assembly to monitor the axial position of the tubing hanger within the subsea wellhead assembly. The sensor also communicates the axial position of the tubing hanger to the surface. A locking mechanism is carried by the tubing hanger and is selectively operable to lock the tubing hanger in place relative to the subsea wellhead assembly when the tubing hanger reaches a predetermined axial location.

Orientation-less ultra-slim well and completion system

A subsea wellhead assembly has a tubing annulus path that extends partly through the tubing hanger and partly through the wellhead housing. A tubing hanger tubing annulus passage extends through part of the tubing hanger from a lower port on the lower end of the tubing hanger to an upper port on the exterior surface of the tubing hanger below the tubing hanger seal. A wellhead housing tubing annulus passage within the sidewall of the wellhead housing has a lower end at the bore below the tubing hanger seal and an upper end at the bore above the tubing hanger seal. A valve is mounted to the wellhead housing and accessible by an ROV from the exterior for opening and closing the inner wellhead housing tubing annulus passage.

Tubing hanger and wellhead housing with mating tubing annulus passages

An inline well fluid separator is movable for pigging operations. The separator assembly has a housing with an inlet port and an outlet port. A separation unit is carried within the housing. The separation unit has an operational position in alignment with the ports to cause well fluid to flow through the separation unit. The separation unit will move to a storage position within the housing outside of the flow path to enable a pipeline pig to pass.

Piggable separation system

Subsea wells are drilled and completed with an offshore floating platform in a manner that allows simultaneous work on more than one well. A first well is drilled and casing. Then a tubing hanger is run through a drilling riser and landed in the wellhead housing. Then, with the same floating platform, the drilling riser is disconnected and moved to a second well. While performing operations on the second well, the operator lowers a production tree from the floating platform on a lift line, and connects it to the first wellhead housing. An ROV assisted subsea plug removal tool is used for plug removal and setting operations required through the production tree.

Drilling and producing deep water subsea wells

Piggable separation system and method

A subsea well system has a flowline jumper that extends between components on the sea floor. The jumper has connectors on each end for connecting to the two components and has a curved portion. At least a portion of the jumper is buoyant to cause it to assume a vertical arcuate configuration when installed. One end of the jumper has a connector that has a mandrel that guides into a mating socket formed on the end of an arm. The arm is mounted to a ring that can be rotated to various orientations.

Flowline jumper for subsea well

An outer wellhead housing has an external locator member initially oriented in a desired direction. An inner wellhead housing lands in the outer wellhead housing. A BOP orientation spool with an external orientation member and an internal orientation member lands on the inner wellhead housing and orients via the external locator member. A tubing hanger with an orientation member and associated tubing hanger running tool with another orientation member lower through the BOP orientation spool and orient as they land in the inner wellhead housing. A production tree with an orientation member on a lower end lands on the inner wellhead housing. The orientation member of the production tree engages the orientation member of the tubing hanger to rotate the tree to a desired orientation.

Orientation system for a subsea well

A subsea wellhead assembly has a tree that connects internally to the bore of wellhead housing. The tree has a lower end that has a lock member that is moved radially outward into engagement with a profile in the bore of the wellhead housing. The tree is a monobore, having a production passage but no tubing annulus passage extending through it. The tubing hanger has a tubing annulus passage and a production passage. A valve is mounted in the tubing hanger for controlling flow through the tubing annulus passage.

Internal connection of tree to wellhead housing

Subsea wells are drilled and completed with an offshore floating platform in a manner that allows simultaneous work on more than one well. A first well is drilled and cased. Then a tubing hanger is run through a drilling riser and landed in the wellhead housing. Then, with the same floating platform, the drilling riser is disconnected and moved to a second well. While performing operations on the second well, the operator lowers a production tree from the floating platform on a lift line, and connects it to the first wellhead housing. An ROV assisted subsea plug removal tool is used for plug removal and setting operations.  Seabed separation is configured upstream of a production choke valve.

A subsea well system has a flowline jumper that extends between components on the sea floor. The jumper has connectors on each end for connecting to the two components. At least a portion of the jumper is buoyant and sufficiently flexible to cause it to assume a vertical arcuate configuration when installed. One end of the jumper has a connector that has a mandrel that guides into a mating socket formed on the end of an arm. The arm is mounted to a ring that can be rotated to various orientations.

A plug retrieval and installation tool is used with a subsea well having a production tree, a tubing hanger, a passage that extends vertically through the tubing hanger and the tree, and a plug located within a plug profile in the passage within the tubing hanger. The plug retrieval device has a housing and connector that is lowered on a lift line onto the upper end of the tree. An axially extensible stem in the housing is driven by drive mechanism into the production passage of the tubing hanger. A retrieval member mounted to the stem engages the plug and pulls it upwardly in the passage while the stem is being moved upward. The connector, drive mechanism and retrieval member are powered by an ROV.

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

Lars-Petter Sollie