US-12624596-B2 - Apparatus for forming lateral bores in subsurface rock formations, wellbore string and methods

Abstract

Various apparatus, a wellbore string incorporating the apparatus, and a computer-implemented method are described, whereby in various examples at least one flexible elongate member is guided from a wellbore string toward a wall of the wellbore for forming at least one lateral bore in a subsurface rock formation for stimulating the formation. The apparatus in such examples has at least one controllable body which is controllable, based upon a detected downhole configuration of the controllable body and/or the wellbore string, to be positioned with respect to the wellbore string for providing at least one exit through which the flexible elongate member is extractable from the wellbore string for extracting the flexible elongate member through the exit in a desired and/or preferred direction.

Inventors

• Maximilian Leinenbach

Assignees

• Fishbones AS

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20220603

Priority Date

20210603

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An apparatus for guiding at least one flexible elongate member from a wellbore string toward a wall of a wellbore, wherein the flexible elongate member is configured for forming at least one lateral bore in a subsurface rock formation for stimulating the formation, the apparatus being configured to be connected to the wellbore string, the apparatus comprising: a housing configured to be connected to a section of the wellbore string; a controllable body rotatably arranged inside the housing; means for detecting a downhole circumferential position or downhole configuration of the controllable body within the wellbore, in use; and a motor; wherein the controllable body is rotatable with respect to the housing via the motor, based upon the detected downhole circumferential position or detected downhole configuration of the controllable body, into a position in which an exit part of the controllable body is aligned with a window of the housing, such that the aligned exit part and window together provide at least one exit through which the flexible elongate member is extractable from an inside of the wellbore string in a desired and/or preferred direction toward the wall of the wellbore.
2. 2 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controllable body is a sleeve, and the exit part is an exit port.
3. 3 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a plurality of windows along a circumference of the housing, and the controllable body is operable to be rotated to obtain alignment with one of the plurality of windows for providing the at least one exit for the flexible elongate member through the window in the desired or preferred direction.
4. 4 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising at least one sensor for determining a circumferential position of the controllable body within the wellbore.
5. 5 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising at least one determiner for determining an amount of required movement of the controllable body for positioning the controllable body with respect to the wellbore string for providing the at least one exit in the desired or preferred direction.
6. 6 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the determiner is configured to be operable for determining the position of the controllable body relative to a position of the window of the housing inside of which the controllable body is positioned and/or determining the window which allows or most closely allows extraction of the flexible elongate member in the desired or preferred direction and/or determining the movement of the controllable body required to provide the at least one exit through said window.
7. 7 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the motor is an electric motor for moving the controllable body with respect to the at least one housing for providing the exit for extracting the flexible elongate member in the desired or preferred direction.
8. 8 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , which further comprises at least one battery for supplying electrical power to the electric motor.
9. 9 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising a controller for controlling and operating the electric motor based upon the detected configuration of the controllable body for moving the controllable body with respect to the wellbore string for obtaining the at least one exit for the elongate member from the wellbore string.
10. 10 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the controllable body is a sleeve arranged to rotate within a housing and the housing has a gear ring, and the electric motor is mounted to the sleeve and operable to rotate a pinion gear member which is arranged to engage with the gear ring to rotate the sleeve about a longitudinal axis of the wellbore string with respect to the housing for positioning the sleeve.
11. 11 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the controllable body is a sleeve arranged to rotate within a housing, and wherein the sleeve incorporates any one or more of: a battery for supplying power for the electric motor; a controller for controlling the movement of the motor; a sensor for detecting the configuration such as the rotational orientation of the sleeve; a determiner for determining the movement of the sleeve; and electrical circuitry for operating the motor, the sensor, and/or the determiner.
12. 12 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the electric motor is arranged to turn at least one gear member for rotating the controllable body circumferentially with respect to the wellbore string.
13. 13 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 12 , wherein controllable body is configured to be coupled rotatably through the gear member to the wellbore string.
14. 14 . A wellbore string including multiple flexible elongate members and incorporating at least one apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , the at least one apparatus being connected to the wellbore string.
15. 15 . The wellbore string as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the controllable body comprises at least one port for supporting and guiding the flexible elongate member upon exiting from the wellbore string.
16. 16 . The wellbore string as claimed in claim 14 , the controllable body being operable to reconfigure the wellbore string between a first, non-oriented configuration, wherein the body has an arbitrary position with respect to the wellbore string, and a second, oriented configuration, wherein the controllable body is positioned with respect to the wellbore string for allowing the elongate member to exit from the wellbore string in a desired or preferred direction, wherein the controllable body is configured to be positioned in response to actuation based upon the detected configuration within the wellbore, whereby during actuation an end portion of the flexible elongate member to be deployed is located in an exit port of the controllable body, such that upon positioning the controllable body from the first configuration to obtain the second configuration the end of the elongate members are moved with the controllable body.
17. 17 . The wellbore string as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the elongate member is provided with at least one pressure surface or other member for permitting pressure to be exerted by fluid in the wellbore string for urging the elongate member along the wellbore string and extracting a penetrating end of the elongate member through the at least one exit provided by the positioned controllable body.
18. 18 . A method of positioning an exit for extracting at least one flexible elongate member from the wellbore string of claim 14 in a desired or preferred direction in the subsurface.
19. 19 . A computer program which, when executed by a computer device, causes the computer device to determine the position of the at least one exit for the flexible elongate member in the method of claim 18 .
20. 20 . A computer device for use in the method of claim 18 , the computer device including the computer program of claim 19 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is the U.S. national stage application of International Application PCT/NO2022/050127, filed Jun. 3, 2022, which international application was published on Dec. 8, 2022, as International Publication WO 2022/255883 in the English language. The International Application claims priority of Norwegian Patent Application No. 20210699, filed Jun. 3, 2021. The international application and Norwegian application are both incorporated herein by reference, in entirety. FIELD The present invention relates to wellbore operations, and in particular, to apparatus deployable downhole in a wellbore for forming small-diameter lateral bores that extend laterally and penetrate a subsurface formation through a wall of the wellbore for thereby stimulating the formation and facilitating the production of oil and gas from the subsurface. BACKGROUND In the oil and gas exploration and production industry, wellbores are constructed which extend into the Earth's subsurface. These may typically be several kilometers in length. Such a wellbore is typically completed using downhole completion equipment comprising screens, gravel pack, isolation packers, and production tubing. Upon operating the well, hydrocarbon fluids may enter the wellbore from a surrounding geological formation through the screen and travel up toward surface along the wellbore, inside the production tubing. The section(s) of the wellbore through which the hydrocarbon enters the wellbore is generally herein referred to as the production section(s). Some reservoir formations, for instance when comprising low-permeability rocks such as carbonates, may require stimulation to encourage fluid from the reservoir rock into the wellbore. The published patent documents U.S. Pat. No. 8,322,409 (Fishbones A S) and U.S. Ser. No. 10/174,557 (Fishbones A S) describe solutions for forming lateral bores by jetting or drilling, which may provide suitable stimulation of the reservoir formation. In these solutions, a wellbore tubing string can be deployed in the main bore of the wellbore. When located in the section to be stimulated for production, flexible elongate members in the form of long thin tubular “needle” pipes or tubes (which may extend radially by up to 10 m for example) can be extracted and urged laterally from the tubing to form multiple lateral bores of small diameter (e.g. 1 to 2 cm diameter) in the reservoir formation, thereby stimulating the formation for facilitating the production of hydrocarbons. Formation fluids may then enter and be guided by the lateral bores into the main bore of the wellbore. By stimulating the formation in this way, greater production rates may be obtained from the wellbore. In some wells however, the far reaches of wellbores may extend horizontally into the reservoir along very thin reservoir formation beds. In such circumstances, correct penetration of the formation by the elongate members may be a challenge, and the inventors have for example noted that tapping, e.g. of water and/or gas, in unwanted zones near the pay zone in the subsurface can be a particular risk. In general, it is noted that it may be beneficial or desirable to stimulate thin reservoir beds or particular regions of the subsurface with further accuracy, precision, and/or reliability to target the reservoir rocks to be stimulated. At least one object of the invention is to obviate or at least mitigate one or more drawbacks of prior art. SUMMARY According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for guiding at least one flexible elongate member from a wellbore string toward a wall of the wellbore for forming at least one lateral bore in a subsurface rock formation for stimulating the formation, the apparatus being configured to be incorporated in the wellbore string and comprising at least one controllable body which is controllable, based upon a detected downhole configuration of the controllable body and/or the wellbore string, to be positioned with respect to the wellbore string for providing at least one exit through which the flexible elongate member is extractable from the wellbore string for extracting the flexible elongate member through the exit in a desired and/or preferred direction. The controllable body may comprise at least one exit port for permitting the flexible elongate member to extend through a structure of the controllable body. The structure may be a wall structure. The exit port may be a wall port. The controllable body may comprise at least one exit part for supporting and/or guiding the flexible elongate member through the exit. The exit part may be an exit port extending through a wall structure of the controllable body. The controllable body may be rotatable for positioning the body with respect to the string. The controllable body may be movable in any other suitable manner to bring controllable body to a suitable position with respect to the string for providing the e