A method for completing and increasing the production rate from a cased well which may produce solids through perforations during production is provided. A gravel pack screen is placed in the well along with equipment in the tubing string to control flow from inside to outside the tubing below a production packer. The rig used to place the equipment may then be released from the well. The well is then hydraulically fractured. If the well is producing from a high permeability zone, the hydraulic fracture is preferably formed with the tip screen-out technique. The method can also be used in a well already containing production tubing without moving a rig on the well to remove the tubing from the well and can be used in a well not yet perforated by adding tubing-conveyed perforating apparatus below the screen.
A process and assembly for completing and providing sand control in a subterranean well and/or fracturing and preventing proppant flowback in a subterranean formation in a single trip. One or more perforating gun assemblies are juxtaposed and secured to one or more screen assemblies. Once positioned in a well adjacent a subterranean formation of interest, the explosive charges in each perforating gun assembly are detonated so as to penetrate the well and formation thereby initiating fracturing. The penetrations and the annulus defined between the well and screen assembly are then packed with gravel. Well fluid may be pressurized to in excess of the formation pressure prior to detonation of the explosive charges so as to enhance formation fracturing.
A wellbore (10) in an earth formation (12) having a casing (14) and a plurality of pay or production zones (32, 34, 36) provided in the formation. A coiled tubing string (18) from a reel (20) is injected by an injector (24) into the wellbore (10) for first perforating casing section (38) at each pay zone (32, 34, 36) in a single pass of the coiled tubing (18) as shown in FIG. 1. Next, the coiled tubing (18) is utilized for hydraulic fracturing each of the pay zones (32, 34, 36) individually from the lowermost pay zone (32) to the uppermost pay zone (36) in a single pass of the coiled tubing (18). Each pay zone (32, 34, 36) is isolated for the hydraulic fracturing. An upper packer (44 or 54) is provided above each of the pay zones for isolation and a lower packer (56) or sand plug (50) is utilized for isolating the lower or outermost end of each pay zone (32, 34, 36). Swab cups (58, 54A, 56A, 54B, 56B) are also utilized for isolation of pay zones.
Methods of forming through-tubing vent-screen tool completions in a well bore containing a producing zone are provided. The methods basically comprise placing the through-tubing vent-screen tool in the well bore adjacent to the producing zone, coating gravel to be placed in the well bore with a hardenable resin composition, combining the hardenable resin composition coated gravel with an aqueous carrier liquid, pumping the aqueous carrier liquid containing the coated gravel into the well bore between the producing zone and the tool to place hardenable resin composition gravel therein and allowing the hardenable resin composition to harden.
A method and apparatus are disclosed which allow isolation of a plurality of zones for treatment, particularly sand fracturing. The lowermost barrier can be pumped through tubing and anchored in cased or open holes. In the preferred embodiment, the pumped plug has a visco-elastic member which contains a particulate aggregate mixture, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,285. The visco-elastic material is subjected to a force which changes its shape so that the material obstructs the wellbore. The shape change also accomplishes dehydration of the material within the visco-elastic enclosure by virtue of fluid displacement, resulting from a volume reduction, hardening it so that a plug using the visco-elastic material is formed. Thereafter, a packer on the tubing string is set to isolate the zone for sand fracturing. The process can be repeated without tripping out of the hole as additional plugs are pumped through tubing and the process is repeated. At the conclusion of the fracturing, the various plugs, which are of simple and economical construction, can be readily milled out.
The invention comprises a tubing assembly for use in testing an unconsolidated open-hole portion of a well bore located below a cased portion of the well bore and a method of using the assembly. The tubing assembly comprises an elongated tubing string extending from a well surface into the unconsolidated open-hole portion of the open hole, an open-hole packer mounted on the tubing string for use in sealingly engaging the unconsolidated open-hole portion of the well bore, a casing packer mounted on the tubing string between the open-hole packer and the well surface for sealingly engaging the cased portion of the well bore and a sand control device connected to the tubing string below the openhole packer. The assembly may further comprise additional open-hole packers and sand control devices mounted on the tubing string. Segments of the tubing string may be retrievable. The assembly may have one or more tubing disconnects mounted to the tubing string to disconnect segments of the tubing assembly. The tubing string may further comprise a selective flow device for selectively controlling the flow of well fluids from the well bore into the tubing string.
