The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 20, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 15, 1999
David D. Hearn, Anchorage, AK (US);
Atlantic Richfield Company, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for drilling a lateral from a primary wellbore having a short radius-of-curvature. The lateral is drilled by a downhole drilling unit which differs from prior art units of this type in that instead of connecting the drill bit directly to the downhole motor, a length of flexible drill pipe is used to connect the bit to the rotary power output of the motor. This length of flexible drill pipe below the downhole motor allows much larger build-up angles (e.g. 1-3° per foot) which, in turn, reduces the time and expense for short-radius laterals and increase the accuracy of placement of the lateral within the zone of interest (e.g. production formation).