Apparatus system and method for installing and retrieving pipe in a well

Abstract

Pipe used in drilling and/or completing wells is stored in long rectilinear segments or strings in the space adjacent a drilling rig being used to construct a well. The pipe is introduced into the well, or extracted from the well, in long segments made up of multiple individual pipe sections. In one embodiment, long rectilinear segments of pipe are bent into a curve that extends from the rig to the space surrounding the rig, where the pipe re-assumes its rectilinear shape. The curve radius is greater than the pipe's yielding bending radius. On a water-based rig, the pipe is received in the water surrounding the rig where it may be stored, tested, inspected, reassembled, treated, and/or otherwise processed. The pipe may be received within a long pipe storage sleeve that is buoyed laterally at or below the water surface or it may be secured to a guy line anchored between the rig and the water bottom. In deepwater applications, long sections of the pipe are stored vertically in the water area between the surface drilling rig and the water bottom. The pipe may also be stored within vertically oriented storage sleeves. In a modified form of the invention, the long pipe sections are moved laterally for storage in the area between the rig and the water bottom without being first pulled to the water surface. The bottom of each stored section is made up or broken out at the subsea wellhead. The pipe section may also be stored within the riser.