US-12618300-B2 - Wellhead sealing systems and methods

US12618300B2US 12618300 B2US12618300 B2US 12618300B2US-12618300-B2

Abstract

A seal assembly for sealing between a casing string and a wellhead housing is provided. In one embodiment, a system includes a seal assembly ( 80 ) received within a bore ( 48 ) of a wellhead housing ( 20 ). The seal assembly can include an elongate body ( 82 ), an inner seal ( 86 ) positioned within the elongate body to seal between the elongate body and a well casing ( 46 ), and a setting ring ( 88 ) positioned within the elongate body to apply a setting load to the inner seal to energize the inner seal between the elongate body and the well casing. The system can also include a running tool ( 100 ) having an end received within the elongate body of the seal assembly, and a piston setting assembly ( 110 ) including a piston ( 112 ) and a push sleeve ( 114 ) for setting the inner seal via the setting ring. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.

Inventors

Dennis P. Nguyen
Stuart Robinson

Assignees

CAMERON INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231215

Claims (17)

1 . A system comprising: a seal assembly configured to be received within a bore of a wellhead housing, the seal assembly including: an elongate body having a bore to receive an end of a well casing within the wellhead housing; an inner seal positioned within the elongate body to seal between the elongate body and the well casing when the seal assembly is received within the bore of the wellhead housing; and a setting ring positioned within the elongate body to apply a setting load to the inner seal to energize the inner seal between the elongate body and the well casing; a running tool having a bore and an end that is sized to be received within the elongate body of the seal assembly; a piston setting assembly including a piston and a push sleeve, wherein the push sleeve is sized to be received in the bore of the running tool, includes an end configured to be received within the elongate body of the seal assembly, and is configured to be driven by the piston to push the setting ring and cause the setting ring to apply the setting load to the inner seal; and a seal flange tool configured to be fastened to an end of the wellhead housing, wherein the seal flange tool includes a body with an arcuate slot configured such that, following receipt of the running tool within the wellhead housing and fastening of the seal flange tool to the end of the wellhead housing, the arcuate slot is axially aligned with an upper surface of the running tool.
2 . The system of claim 1 , comprising a stud configured to be received by the running tool and extend through the arcuate slot of the seal flange tool to facilitate rotation of the running tool within the wellhead housing by applying force to the stud to cause the stud to travel within the arcuate slot.
3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the body of the seal flange tool includes a recess configured to receive the piston of the piston setting assembly and includes a hydraulic fluid port to allow hydraulic control fluid to be pumped into the recess to control movement of the piston.
4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inner seal includes an inner seal ring and an outer seal ring that share a tapered mating interface such that, during energization of the inner seal, movement of the outer seal ring and the inner seal ring relative to one another along the tapered mating interface causes the outer seal ring to be pushed radially outward and the inner seal ring to be pushed radially inward.
5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the outer seal ring includes an outer face, and wherein the inner seal ring includes an inner circumferential ridge protruding from an inner face of the inner seal ring.
6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the outer face includes a stop surface configured to limit radial expansion of the outer seal ring and increase a compressive force on the inner seal ring during energization.
7 . The system of claim 6 , wherein the outer seal ring includes an outer circumferential ridge protruding from the outer face of the outer seal ring.
8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the inner circumferential ridge protrudes radially inward from the inner face by a first distance, the outer circumferential ridge protrudes radially outward from the outer face by a second distance, and the second distance is less than fifteen percent of the first distance.
9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the inner seal is an elastomer seal.
10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the seal assembly includes an outer seal positioned to seal between the elongate body and the wellhead housing when the seal assembly is received within the bore of the wellhead housing.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the outer seal includes an inner seal ring and an outer seal ring that share a tapered mating interface such that, during energization of the outer seal, movement of the outer and inner seal rings of the outer seal relative to one another along their shared tapered mating interface causes the outer seal ring of the outer seal to be pushed radially outward and the inner seal ring of the outer seal to be pushed radially inward.
12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the outer seal includes elastomer.
13 . The system of claim 1 , comprising a slip assembly configured to be received within the bore of the wellhead housing and to receive an end of the elongate body.
14 . The system of claim 1 , comprising the wellhead housing, wherein the seal assembly is installed within the bore of the wellhead housing.
15 . A method of installing a seal assembly in a wellhead housing, the method comprising: landing a seal assembly in a bore of a wellhead housing via a running tool, the seal assembly including: an elongate body having a bore to receive an end of a well casing within the wellhead housing, an inner seal positioned within the elongate body, and a setting ring positioned within the elongate body; landing a piston setting assembly in the wellhead housing, the piston setting assembly including a piston and a push sleeve; after landing the piston setting assembly in the wellhead housing, fastening a seal flange tool to the wellhead housing such that an arcuate slot in a body of the seal flange tool is axially aligned with an upper surface of the running tool; stroking the piston to apply a setting load to the inner seal via the push sleeve and the setting ring such that the setting load energizes the inner seal between the elongate body and the well casing; after applying the setting load to the inner seal, rotating the running tool to move a retaining ring against the setting ring; and removing the running tool and the piston setting assembly from the wellhead housing, wherein stroking the piston to apply the setting load to the inner seal via the push sleeve and the setting ring includes pumping hydraulic control fluid through a port in the body of the seal flange tool to move the piston; and wherein rotating the running tool to move the retaining ring against the setting ring includes applying force to a stud that extends from the running tool through the arcuate slot of the seal flange tool to move the stud along the arcuate slot and drive rotation of the running tool.
16 . The method of claim 15 , comprising: after applying force to the stud that extends from the running tool through the arcuate slot of the seal flange tool to move the stud along the arcuate slot, removing the stud from the running tool; positioning the stud at a different location of the running tool such that the stud extends through the arcuate slot; and after positioning the stud at the different location of the running tool, applying force to the stud to move the stud along the arcuate slot and drive further rotation of the running tool.
17 . The method of claim 15 , comprising setting an outer seal between the wellhead housing and the elongate body of the seal assembly.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is the National Stage Entry of International Application No. PCT/US2023/084293, filed Dec. 15, 2023, which claims priority to and benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/433,796 filed Dec. 20, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes. BACKGROUND This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the presently described embodiments. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present embodiments. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art. In order to meet consumer and industrial demand for natural resources, companies often invest significant amounts of time and money in finding and extracting oil, natural gas, and other subterranean resources from the earth. Particularly, once a desired subterranean resource such as oil or natural gas is discovered, drilling and production systems are often employed to access and extract the resource. These systems may be located onshore or offshore depending on the location of a desired resource. Further, such systems generally include a wellhead assembly mounted on a well through which the resource is accessed or extracted. These wellhead assemblies may include a wide variety of components, such as various housings, casings, valves, hangers, pumps, fluid conduits, and the like, that facilitate drilling or production operations. As will be appreciated, various tubular strings can be run into wells through wellhead assemblies. For instance, wells are often lined with casing that generally serves to stabilize the well and to isolate fluids within the wellbore from certain formations penetrated by the well (e.g., to prevent contamination of freshwater reservoirs). Such casing is frequently run into the well through a wellhead and then cemented into place. SUMMARY Certain aspects of some embodiments disclosed herein are set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of certain forms the invention might take and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Indeed, the invention may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to sealing between components in wellhead assemblies. In some embodiments, an emergency seal assembly is used to seal an annular space between a wellhead housing and a casing string that has become stuck while running the casing string into a well through the wellhead housing. The seal assembly can include an elongate body with an inner seal, for sealing between an inner surface of the elongate body and a casing string (or some other component received inside the elongate body), and an outer seal for sealing between an outer surface of the elongate body and a wellhead housing (or some other component surrounding the outer surface of the elongate body). The inner and outer seals may be metal seals or elastomer seals. In one embodiment, the inner seal is a metal seal that is set using a hydraulic setting tool and is locked in place by a rotational mechanism before the hydraulic setting tool is removed from the wellhead housing. Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation to various aspects of the present embodiments. Further features may also be incorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements and additional features may exist individually or in any combination. For instance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more of the illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of the above-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in any combination. Again, the brief summary presented above is intended only to familiarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of some embodiments without limitation to the claimed subject matter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features, aspects, and advantages of certain embodiments will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein: FIG. 1 generally depicts various components, including one or more tubular strings and associated hangers, that can be installed at a well in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 is a section view of a wellhead assembly having a slip assembly, a seal assembly for sealing between a casing string and an inner surface of a wellhead housing, a running tool, and a piston setting assembly and seal flange tool for setting a seal of the seal assembly, in accordance with one em