Smith International, Inc.

Praful C Desai

Charles H Dewey

John Edward Campbell

Shantanu N Swadi

John H Furse

Madapusi K Keshavan

Bruce H McGarian

Iain Michael Cooper

Robert J Utter

James E Saylor, Iii

Malcolm Perschke

Glenn L Allison

Thomas Helbert

Randall Louis Hebert

Harshad Patil

A J Dach, Iii

Lawrence Barr

Anton J Dach, Iii

Marc Henderson

Joeseph V Hebert

Trygve Berthelsen

A downhole tool for increasing a diameter of a wellbore disposed within a subterranean formation. The downhole tool includes an underreamer having a plurality of cutter blocks moveably coupled thereto that move radially-outward from a refracted state to an expanded state. The cutter blocks cut the subterranean formation to increase the diameter of the wellbore from a first diameter to a second diameter when in the expanded state. A formation weakening tool may be coupled to the underreamer. The formation weakening tool weakens a portion of the subterranean formation positioned radially-outward therefrom.

Downhole tool for increasing a wellbore diameter

A steerable drill bit may be used to drill a lateral borehole from a primary wellbore. The steerable drill bit may be part of a bottomhole assembly that also includes a directional control system. A deflection member, such as a whipstock, may be anchored in the primary wellbore. When the bottomhole assembly approaches the deflection member, the directional control system may steer the steerable drill bit to reduce and potentially eliminate contact between the steerable drill bit and a ramped surface of the deflection member. By restricting contact between the deflection member and the steerable drill bit, cutting elements of the steerable drill bit may obtain an increase in cutting efficiency and/or effective life.

Sidetracking system and related methods

A coring system and method enable a single-trip operation for setting a deflector assembly, deploying a coring assembly and obtaining a core sample from a borehole drilled in a wellbore. The coring assembly has a barrel with a bore for collecting the core sample and has a coring bit coupled to an end portion of the barrel. The deflector system is arranged to deflect the coring bit into a side wall of the wellbore to drill the borehole therein. The deflector system includes a deflector and a collar. The collar, coupled to the deflector, restricts upward movement of the coring assembly relative to the deflector assembly. The collar may also be used as a retrieval device to engage the coring assembly and permit removal of the coring assembly and the deflector assembly as well as the core sample after the core sample has been obtained.

Coring bit to whipstock systems and methods

A rigless abandonment system including a surface vessel having an attached lifting device and a moonpool. The system further includes a cutting module configured to connect to a subsea wellhead, the cutting module having a wellhead connector having an actuatable lock and release mechanism, a motor assembly, and a cutter. An umbilical line connects the cutting module to the surface vessel, wherein the lifting device is used to raise and lower the cutting module connected to the surface vessel through the moonpool. A method for performing rigless casing cutting and wellhead removal operations, the method includes positioning a surface vessel above a subsea wellhead, where the surface vessel has a moonpool and a lifting device. The method further includes providing a cutting module, and deploying the cutting module through the moonpool, wherein the cutting module is connected to the surface vessel by an umbilical line.

Rigless abandonment system

A drilling apparatus includes a tubular body including an upper connection and a lower connection with a drill bit disposed thereon, and an axial borehole therethrough, wherein the upper connection is configured to attach to a drillstring, primary cutter blocks coupled to the tubular body and configured to selectively expand radially therefrom. The drilling apparatus further includes backup cutter blocks coupled to the tubular body and configured to selectively expand radially therefrom, and an activation system configured to selectively expand and collapse the primary and backup cutter blocks in response to changes in weight applied to the primary and backup cutter blocks.

Optimized reaming system based upon weight on tool

A method of milling a window through a casing in a primary well bore and drilling a sidetracked well bore into a formation including running a drilling assembly including a body having an axis defined therethrough, a piston that is movable within a cavity formed in the body, a stationary cutting structure coupled to the body, and a movable cutting structure coupled to the body, milling a window through the casing in a first trip into the primary well bore, drilling the sidetracked well bore in the first trip into the primary well bore, applying a differential pressure across the piston, and moving the movable cutting structure from the collapsed position to the expanded position. The movable cutting structure is coupled to the piston and is movable between a collapsed position and an expanded position.

Expandable window milling bit and methods of milling a window in casing

A method of selectively actuating a downhole tool, wherein the downhole tool includes a tubular body with an axial borehole therethrough and at least one component, includes increasing a flow rate of a circulating fluid in the axial borehole of the downhole tool to reach a specified circulating fluid pressure, detecting an increased circulating fluid pressure in the borehole of the tool with at least one sensor, actuating a motor to operate a pump, and sending a fluid to operate a sliding sleeve. The method further includes operating the sleeve disposed in the axial borehole to open an actuation chamber port in response to the increased circulating fluid pressure in the borehole of the tool, thereby filling an actuation chamber with the drilling fluid, and moving the at least one expandable component radially outward.

On demand actuation system

A mill for milling a window through metal casing in a well bore that includes a body having a plurality of blades; a plurality of cylindrically bodied cutting elements on said blades; and a plurality of diamond enhanced elements having a non-planar diamond working surface on said blades; wherein said cutting elements initiate cutting into said casing and mill said window into said well bore.

Milling system and method of milling

A tubular body with an axial bore includes an upper connection attached to a drillstring and a lower connection with a drill bit disposed thereon. Primary and backup cutter blocks are coupled to the tubular body and configured to selectively expand radially therefrom. An activation system within the tubular body is configured to selectively expand and collapse the primary and backup cutter blocks in response to changes in weight applied to the primary and backup cutter blocks.

A method of milling a window through a casing in a primary well bore and drilling an enlarged sidetracked well bore comprises running into the primary well bore a drilling assembly comprising at least one cutting apparatus adapted to drill an enlarged borehole, milling a window through the casing, and drilling the enlarged sidetracked well bore, wherein the milling and drilling steps are performed in one trip into the primary well bore. A drilling assembly comprises at least one cutting apparatus operable to drill an enlarged borehole, wherein the drilling assembly is operable to mill a window through a casing in a primary well bore and drill an enlarged sidetracked well bore through the window in one trip into the primary well bore.

A cutting device for downhole operations includes a first cutting structure, and a second cutting structure, wherein at least the second cutting structure is selectively presentable for operation. A method of performing a downhole cutting operation comprises running into a well bore a cutting device including a plurality of cutting structures, performing a first cutting operation with a first cutting structure of the cutting device, moving the first cutting structure to selectively present a second cutting structure of the cutting device, and performing a second cutting operation with at least the second cutting structure. The method may further include aligning movable cutting structures of the cutting device to allow the second cutting structure to be selectively presented.

Cutting device with multiple cutting structures

Methods of removing casing from a wellbore, the method including disposing a drilling tool assembly in a wellbore, the drilling tool assembly including a cutting device, a spearing device, and a jarring device. The methods further including activating the cutting device, cutting a first casing segment, deactivating the cutting device and activating a spearing device. The method further including engaging the spearing device with the first casing segment, activating the jarring device to free the first casing segment, and removing the first casing segment from the wellbore.

Methods of making multiple casing cuts

A cutting device for downhole operations comprises a first cutting structure, and a second cutting structure, wherein at least the second cutting structure is selectively presentable for operation. A method of performing a downhole cutting operation comprises running into a well bore a cutting device comprising a plurality of cutting structures, performing a first cutting operation with a first cutting structure of the cutting device, selectively presenting a second cutting structure of the cutting device, and performing a second cutting operation with at least the second cutting structure. The method may further comprise aligning the cutting device to allow the second cutting structure to be selectively presented.

A downhole tool includes a tubular body having an upper connection and a lower connection and an axial borehole therethrough, wherein the upper and lower connections are configured to connect to a drilling assembly. The downhole tool further includes at least one expandable component coupled to the tubular body and configured to selectively extend radially therefrom and an actuation mechanism configured to selectively extend the at least one component in response to a change in a circulating fluid pressure in the axial borehole.

The side tracking system includes a window mill having a full diameter cutting surface and a reduced diameter tapered cutting surface and a whipstock having a ramp engaging the reduced diameter cutting surface. The materials of the whipstock have a first cutablity and the materials of the casing have a second cutability. The reduced diameter cutting surface contacts the whipstock ramp at a first contact area and the full diameter cutting surface contacts the wall of the casing at a second contact area. As weight is applied to the mill, there is a first contact stress at the first contact area and a second contact stress at the second contact area. A cutability ratio is the first cutability divided by the second cutability and a contact stress ratio is the first contact stress divided by the second contact stress. The mill cuts the casing rather than the whipstock by maintaining the product of the cutability ratio and the contact stress ratio less than one. Preferably the height of the reduced diameter cutting surface is greater than the height of the full diameter cutting surface. The ramp includes a plurality of surfaces having different angles whereby the rate of deflection of the mill by the whipstock varies as the mill is lowered into the borehole. In particular, the ramp of the whipstock includes two surfaces having steep angles, one steep angled surface causing the mill to punch through the wall of the casing and the second steep angle surface moving the center of the mill across the wall of the casing.

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Kingwood, TX, United States of America

Praful C Desai