Patent Abstract:
A wellhead has, instead of a conventional Christmas tree, a spool tree in which a tubing hanger is landed at a predetermined angular orientation. As the tubing string can be pulled without disturbing the tree, many advantages follow, including access to the production casing hanger for monitoring production casing annulus pressure, and the introduction of larger tools into the well hole without breaching the integrity of the well.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 11/078,121 filed Mar. 10, 2005 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,945, Ser. No. 11/077,587 filed Mar. 10, 2005, Ser. No. 10/844,871 filed May 13, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,991,039, and Ser. No. 10/366,173 filed Feb. 13, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,660, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/657,018 filed Sep. 7, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,547,008, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/092,549 filed Jun. 5, 1998 now abandoned, which is a divisional continuing application of Ser. No. 08/679,560 filed Jul. 12, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,119, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/204,397 filed Mar. 16, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,707, which claims the benefit of PCT application PCT/US93/05246 filed on May 28, 1993, which claims the priority of European Patent Office application 92305014 filed on Jun. 1, 1992, all of the above hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Conventionally, wells in oil and gas fields are built up by establishing a wellhead housing, and with a drilling blow out preventer stack (BOP) installed, drilling down to produce the well hole whilst successively installing concentric casing strings, which are cemented at the lower ends and sealed with mechanical seal assemblies at their upper ends. In order to convert the cased well for production, a tubing string is run in through the BOP and a hanger at its upper end landed in the wellhead. Thereafter the drilling BOP stack is removed and replaced by a Christmas tree having one or more production bores containing actuated valves and extending vertically to respective lateral production fluid outlet ports in the wall of the Christmas tree. 
     This arrangement has involved problems which have, previously, been accepted as inevitable. Thus any operations down hole have been limited to tooling which can pass through the production bore, which is usually no more than five inch diameter, unless the Christmas tree is first removed and replaced by a BOP stack. However this involves setting plugs or valves, which may be unreliable by not having been used for a long time, down hole. The well is in a vulnerable condition whilst the Christmas tree and BOP stack are being exchanged and neither one is in position, which is a lengthy operation. Also, if it is necessary to pull the completion, consisting essentially of the tubing string on its hanger, the Christmas tree must first be removed and replaced by a BOP stack. This usually involves plugging and/or killing the well. 
     A further difficulty which exists, particularly with subsea wells, is in providing the proper angular alignment between the various functions, such as fluid flow bores, and electrical and hydraulic lines, when the wellhead equipment, including the tubing hanger, Christmas tree, BOP stack and emergency disconnect devices are stacked up. Exact alignment is necessary if clean connections are to be made without damage as the devices are lowered into engagement with one another. This problem is exacerbated in the case of subsea wells as the various devices which are to be stacked up are run down onto guide posts or a guide funnel projecting upwardly from a guide base. The post receptacles which ride down on to the guide posts or the entry guide into the funnel do so with appreciable clearance. This clearance inevitably introduces some uncertainty in alignment and the aggregate misalignment when multiple devices are stacked, can be unacceptably large. Also the exact orientation will depend upon the precise positions of the posts or keys on a particular guide base and the guides on a particular running tool or BOP stack and these will vary significantly from one to another. Consequently it is preferable to ensure that the same running tools or BOP stack are used for the same wellhead, or a new tool or stack may have to be specially modified for a particular wellhead. Further “misalignment” can arise from the manner in which the guide base is bolted to the conductor casing of the wellhead. 
     In accordance with the present invention, a wellhead comprises a wellhead housing; a spool tree fixed and sealed to the housing, and having at least a lateral production fluid outlet port connected to an actuated valve; and a tubing hanger landed within the spool tree at a predetermined angular position at which a lateral production fluid outlet port in the tubing hanger is in alignment with that in the spool tree. 
     With this arrangement, the spool tree, takes the place of a conventional Christmas tree but differs therefrom in having a comparatively large vertical through bore without any internal valves and at least large enough to accommodate the tubing completion. The advantages which are derived from the use of such spool tree are remarkable, in respect to safety and operational benefits. 
     Thus, in workover situations the completion, consisting essentially of the tubing string, can be pulled through a BOP stack, without disturbing the spool tree and hence the pressure integrity of the well, whereafter full production casing drift access is provided to the well through the large bore in the spool tree. The BOP can be any appropriate workover BOP or drilling BOP of opportunity and does not have to be one specially set up for that well. 
     Preferably, there are complementary guide means on the tubing hanger and spool tree to rotate the tubing hanger into the predetermined angular position relatively to the spool tree as the tubing hanger is lowered on to its landing. With this feature the spool tree can be landed at any angular orientation onto the wellhead housing and the guide means ensures that the tubing string will rotate directly to exactly the correct angular orientation relatively to the spool tree quite independently of any outside influence. The guide means to control rotation of the tubing hanger into the predetermined angular orientation relatively to the spool tree may be provided by complementary oblique edge surfaces one facing downwardly on an orientation sleeve depending from the tubing hanger the other facing upwardly on an orientation sleeve carried by the spool tree 
     Whereas modern well technology provides continuous access to the tubing annulus around the tubing string, it has generally been accepted as being difficult, if not impossible, to provide continuous venting and/or monitoring of the pressure in the production casing annulus, that is the annulus around the innermost casing string. This has been because the production casing annulus must be securely sealed whist the Christmas tree is fitted in place of the drilling BOP, and the Christmas tree has only been fitted after the tubing string and hanger has been run in, necessarily inside the production casing hanger, so that the production casing hanger is no longer accessible for the opening of a passageway from the production casing annulus. However, the new arrangement, wherein the spool tree is fitted before the tubing string is run in provides adequate protected access through the BOP and spool tree to the production casing hanger for controlling a passage from the production casing annulus. 
     For this purpose, the wellhead may include a production casing hanger landed in the wellhead housing below the spool tree; an isolation sleeve which is sealed at its lower end to the production casing hanger and at its upper end to the spool tree to define an annular void between the isolation sleeve and the housing; and an adapter located in the annular space and providing part of a passage from the production casing annulus to a production casing annulus pressure monitoring port in the spool tree, the adapter having a valve for opening and closing the passage, and the valve being operable through the spool tree after withdrawal of the isolation sleeve up through the spool tree. The valve may be provided by a gland nut, which can be screwed up and down within a body of the adapter to bring parts of the passage formed in the gland nut and adapter body, respectively, into and out of alignment with one another. The orientation sleeve for the tubing hanger may be provided within the isolation sleeve. 
     Production casing annulus pressure monitoring can then be set up by method of completing a cased well in which a production casing hanger is fixed and sealed by a seal assembly to a wellhead housing, the method comprising, with BOP installed on the housing, removing the seal assembly and replacing it with an adapter which is manipulatable between configurations in which a passages from the production casing annulus up past the production casing hanger is open or closed; with the passage closed, removing the BOP and fitting to the housing above the production casing hanger a spool tree having an internal landing for a tubing hanger; installing a BOP on the spool tree; running a tool down through the BOP and spool tree to manipulate the valve and open the passage; inserting through the BOP and spool tree an isolation sleeve, which seals to both the production casing and spool tree and hence defines between the sleeve and casing an annular void through which the passage leads to a production caning annulus pressure monitoring port in the spool tree; and running a tubing string down through the BOP and spool tree until the tubing hanger lands in the spool tree with lateral outlet ports in the tubing hanger and spool tree for production fluid flow, in alignment with one another. 
     According to a further feature of the invention the spool tree has a downwardly depending location mandrel which is a close sliding fit within a bore of the wellhead housing. The close fit between the location mandrel of the spool tree and the wellhead housing provides a secure mounting which transmits inevitable bending stresses to the housing from the heavy equipment, such as a BOP, which projects upwardly from the top of the wellhead housing, without the need for excessively sturdy connections. The location mandrel may be formed as an integral part of the body of the spool tree, or may be a separate part which is securely fixed, oriented and sealed to the body. 
     Pressure integrity between the wellhead housing and spool tree may be provided by two seals positioned in series one forming an environmental seal (such as an AX gasket) between the spool tree and the wellhead housing, and the other forming a production seal between the location mandrel and either the wellhead housing or the production casing hanger 
     During workover operations, the production casing annulus can be resealed by reversing the above steps, if necessary after setting plugs or packers down hole. 
     When production casing pressure monitoring is unnecessary, so that no isolation sleeve is required, the orientation sleeve carried by the spool tree for guiding and rotating the tubing hanger down into the correct angular orientation may be part of the spool tree location mandrel itself 
     Double barrier isolation, that is to say two barriers in series, are generally necessary for containing pressure in a well. If a spool tree is used instead of a conventional Christmas tree, there are no valves within the vertical production and annulus fluid flow bores within the tree, and alternative provision must be made for sealing the bore or bores through the top of the spool tree which provide for wire line or drill pipe access. 
     In accordance with a further feature of the invention, at least one vertical production fluid bore in the tubing hanger is sealed above the respective lateral production fluid outlet port by means of a removable plug, and the bore through the spool tree being sealed above the tubing hanger by means of a second removable plug. 
     With this arrangement, the first plug, takes the function of a conventional swab valve, and may be a wireline set plug. The second plug could be a stopper set in the spool tree above the tubing hanger by, e.g., a drill pipe running tool. The stopper could contain at least one wireline retrievable plug which would allow well access when only wire line operations are called for. The second plug should seal and be locked internally into the spool tree as it performs a barrier to the well when a BOP or intervention module is deployed A particular advantage of this double plug arrangement is that, as is necessary to satisfy authorities in some jurisdictions, the two independent barriers are provided in mechanically separate parts, namely the tubing hanger and its plug and the second plug in the spool tree. 
     A further advantage arises if a workover port extends laterally through the wall of the spool tree from between the two plugs; a tubing annulus fluid port extends laterally through the wall of the spool tree from the tubing annulus; and these two ports through the spool tree are interconnected via an external flow line containing at least one actuated valve. The bore from the tubing annulus can then terminate at the port in the spool tree and no wireline access to the tubing annulus bore is necessary through the spool tree as the tubing annulus bore can be connected via the interplug void to choke or kill lines, i.e. a BOP annulus, so that downhole circulation is still available. It is then only necessary to provide wireline access at workover situations to the production bore or bores. This considerably simplifies workover BOP and/or riser construction. When used in conjunction with the plug at the top of the spool tree, the desirable double barrier isolation is provided by the spool tree plug over the tubing hanger, or workover valve from the production flow. 
     When the well is completed as a multi production bore well, in which the tubing hanger has at least two vertical production through bores each with a lateral production fluid flow port aligned with the corresponding port in the spool tree, at least two respective connectors may be provided for selective connection of a single bore wire line running tool to one or other of the production bores, each connector having a key for entering a complementary formation at the top of the spool tree to locate the connector in a predetermined angular orientation relatively to the spool tree. The same type of alternative connectors may be used for providing wireline or other running tool access to a selected one of a plurality of functional connections, e.g. electrical or hydraulic couplings, at the upper end of the tubing hanger 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The development and completion of a subsea wellhead in accordance with the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIGS. 1 to 8  are vertical axial sections showing successive steps in development and completion of the wellhead, the Figure numbers bearing the letter A being enlargements of part of the corresponding Figures of same number without the A; 
         FIG. 9  is a circuit diagram showing external connections to the spool  3 ; 
         FIG. 10  is a vertical axial section through a completed dual production bore well in production mode; 
         FIGS. 11 and 12  are vertical axial sections showing alternative connectors to the upper end of the dual production bore wellhead during work over; and, 
         FIG. 13  is a detail showing the seating of one of the connectors in the spool tree. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       FIG. 1  shows the upper end of a cased well having a wellhead housing  20 , in which casing hangers, including an uppermost production casing hanger  21  for, for example, 9⅝″ or 10¾″, production casing is mounted in conventional manner  FIG. 1  shows a conventional drilling BOP  22  having rams  23  and kill and choke lines  24  connected to the upper end of the housing  20  by a drilling connector  25 . 
     As seen in more detail in  FIG. 1A , the usual mechanical seal assemblies between the production casing hanger  21  and the surrounding wellhead housing  20  have been removed and replaced through the BOP with an adapter  26  consisting of an outer annular body part  27  and an inner annular gland nut  28  which has a screw threaded connection to the body  27  so that it can be screwed between a lowered position shown on the right hand side of  FIG. 1A , in which radial ducts  29  and  30 , respectively in the body  27  and nut  28 , are in communication with one another, and a raised position shown on the left hand side of  FIG. 1A , in which the ducts are out of communication with one another. The duct  29  communicates through a conduit  31  between a depending portion of the body  27  and the housing  20 , and through a conduit  32  passing through the production casing hanger  21 , to the annulus surround the production casing. The duct  30  communicates through channels  33  formed in the radially inner surface of the nut  28 , and hence to a void to be described. The cooperation between the gland nut  28  and body  27  of the adapter therefore acts as a valve which can open and close a passage up past the production casing hanger from the production casing annulus. After appropriate testing, a tool is run in through the BOP and, by means by radially projecting spring lugs engaging in the channels  33 , rotates the gland nut  28  to the valve closed position shown on the right hand side on  FIG. 1A . The well is thus resealed and the drilling  10 P  22  can temporarily be removed. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 2A , the body of a tree spool  34  is then lowered on a tree installation tool  35 , using conventional guide post location, or a guide funnel in case of deep water, until a spool tree mandrel  36  is guided into alignment with and slides as a close machined fit, into the upper end of the wellhead housing  20 , to which the spool tree is then fixed via a production connector  37  and bolts  48 . The mandrel  36  is actually a separate part which is bolted and sealed to the rest of the spool tree body. As seen particularly in  FIG. 2A  a weight set AX gasket  39 , forming a metal to metal environmental seal is provided between the spool tree body and the wellhead housing  20 . In addition two sets of sealing rings  40  provide, in series with the environmental seal, a production fluid seal externally between the ends to the spool tree mandrel  36  to the spool tree body and to the wellhead housing  20 . The intervening cavity can be tested through a test part  40 A. The provision of the adapter  26  is actually optional, and in its absence the lower end of the spool tree mandrel  36  may form a production seal directly with the production casing hanger  21 . As is also apparent from reasons which will subsequently become apparent, the upper radially inner edge of the spool tree mandrel projects radially inwardly from the inner surface of the spool tree body above, to form a landing shoulder  42  and at least one machined key slot  43  is formed down through the landing shoulder. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , the drilling BOP  22  is reinstalled on the spool tree  34 . The tool  44  used to set the adapter in  FIG. 1 , having the spring dogs  45 , is again run in until it lands on the shoulder  42 , and the spring dogs  45  engage in the channels  33 . The tool is then turned to screw the gland nut  28  down within the body  27  of the adapter  26  to the valve open position shown on the right hand side in  FIG. 1A . It is now safe to open the production casing annulus as the well is protected by the BOP 
     The next stage, shown in  FIGS. 4 and 4A , is to run in through the BOP and spool tree on an appropriate tool  44 A a combined isolation and orientation sleeve  45 . This lands on the shoulder  42  at the top of the spool tree mandrel and is rotated until a key on the sleeve drops into the mandrel key slot  43 . This ensures precise angular orientation between the sleeve  45  and the spool tree  44 , which is necessary, and in contrast to the angular orientation between the spool tree  34  and the wellhead casing, which is arbitrary. The sleeve  45  consists of an external cylindrical portion, an upper external surface of which is sealed by ring seals  46  to the spool tree  34 , and the lower external surface of which is sealed by an annular seal  47  to the production casing hanger  21 . There is thus provided between the sleeve  45  and the surrounding wellhead casing  20  a void  48  with which the channels  33 , now defined radially inwardly by the sleeve  45 , communicate. The void  48  in turn communicates via a duct  49  through the mandrel and body of the spool tree  34  to a lateral port. It is thus possible to monitor and vent the pressure in the production casing annulus through the passage provided past the production casing hanger via the conduits  32 ,  31  the ducts  29  and  30 , the channels  33 , shown in  FIG. 1A , the void  48 , the duct  49 , and the lateral port in the spool tree. In the drawings, the radial portion of the duct  49  is shown apparently communicating with a tubing annulus, but this is draftsman&#39;s license and the ports from the two annuli are, in fact, angularly and radially spaced. 
     Within the cylindrical portion of the sleeve  45  is a lining, which may be fixed in the cylindrical portion, or left after internal machining of the sleeve. This lining provides an orientation sleeve having an upper/edge forming a cam  50 . The lowermost portion of the cam leads into a key slot  51 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 5 ,  6  and  6 A a tubing string of production tubing  53  on a tubing hanger  54  is run in through the BOP  22  and spool tree  34  on a tool  55  until the tubing hanger lands by means of a keyed shoulder  56  on a landing in the spool tree and is locked down by a conventional mechanism  57 . The tubing hanger  54  has a depending orientation sleeve  58  having an oblique lower edge forming a cam  59  which is complementary to the cam  50  in the sleeve  45  and, at the lower end of the cam, a downwardly projecting key  60  which is complementary to the key slot  51 . The effect of the cams  50  and  59  is that, irrespective of the angular orientation of the tubing string as it is run in, the cams will cause the tubing hanger  54  to be rotated to its correct angular orientation relatively to the spool tree and the engagement of the key  60  in the key slot  51  will lock this relative orientation between the tubing hanger and spool tree, so that lateral production and tubing annulus fluid flow ports  61  and  62  in the tubing hanger  54  are in alignment with respective lateral production and tubing annulus fluid flow ports  63  and  64  through the wall of the spool tree. Metal to metal annulus seals  65 , which are set by the weight of the tubing string, provide production fluid seals between the tubing hanger  54  and the spool tree  34 . Provision is made in the top of the tubing hanger  54  for a wireline set plug  66 . The keyed shoulder  56  of the tubing hanger lands in a complementary machined step in the spool tree  34  to ensure ultimate machined accuracy of orientation between the tubing hanger  54  and the spool tree  34 . 
       FIG. 7  shows the final step in the completion of the spool tree. This involves the running down on drill pipe  67  through the BOP, an internal isolation stopper  68  which seals within the top of the spool tree  34  and has an opening closed by an in situ wireline activated plug  69 . The BOP can then be removed leaving the wellhead in production mode with double barrier isolation at the upper end of the spool tree provided by the plugs  66  and  69  and the stopper  68 . The production fluid outlet is controlled by a master control valve  70  and pressure through the tubing annulus outlet ports  62  and  64  is controlled by an annulus master valve  71 . The other side of this valve is connected, through a workover valve  72  to a lateral workover port  73  which extends through the wall of the spool tree to the void between the plugs  69  and  66 . With this arrangement, wireline access to the tubing annulus in and downstream of a tubing hanger is unnecessary as any circulation of fluids can take place through the valves  71  and  72 , the ports  62 ,  64  and  73 , and the kill or choke lines of any BOP which has been installed. The spool tree in the completed production mode is shown in  FIG. 8 . 
       FIG. 9  shows valve circuitry associated with the completion and, in addition to the earlier views, shows a production fluid isolation valve  74 , a tubing annulus valve  75  and a cross over valve  76 . With this arrangement a wide variety of circulation can be achieved down hole using the production bore and tubing annulus, in conjunction with choke and kill lines extending from the BOP and through the usual riser string. All the valves are fail/safe closed if not actuated. 
     The arrangement shown in  FIGS. 1 to 9  is a mono production bore wellhead which can be accessed by a single wireline or drill pipe, and the external loop from the tubing annulus port to the void between the two plugs at the top of the spools tree avoids the need for wireline access to the tubing annulus bore. 
       FIG. 10  corresponds to  FIG. 8  but shows a 5½ inch×2⅜ inch dual production bore wellhead with primary and secondary production tubing  53 A and  53 B. Development and completion are carried out as with the monobore wellhead except that the spool tree  34 A and tubing hanger  54 A are elongated to accommodate lateral outlet ports  61 A,  63 A for the primary production fluid flow from a primary bore  80  in the tubing hanger to a primary production master valve  70 A, and lateral outlet ports  62 A,  64 A for the secondary production fluid flow from a secondary bore  81  in the tubing hanger to a secondary production master valve  70 B. The upper ends of the bores  80  and  81  are closed by wireline plugs  66 A and  66 B. A stopper  68 A, which closes the upper end of the spool tree  34 A has openings, in alignment with the plugs  66 A and  66 B, closed by wireline plugs  69 A and  69 B. 
       FIGS. 11 and 12  show how a wireline  77  can be applied through a single drill pipe to activate selectively one or other of the two wireline plugs  66 A and  66 B in the production bores  80  and  81  respectively. This involves the use of a selected one of two connectors  82  and  83 . In practice, a drilling BOP  22  is installed and the stopper  68 A is removed. Thereafter the connector  82  or  83  is run in on the drill pipe or tubing until it lands in, and is secured and sealed to the spool tree  34 A.  FIG. 13  shows how the correct angular orientation between the connector  82  or  83  and the spool tree  34 A, is achieved by wing keys  84 , which are guided by Y-shaped slots  85  in the upper inner edge of the spool tree, first to bring the connectors into the right angular orientation, and then to allow the relative axial movement between the parts to enable the stabbing function when the wireline connector engages with its respective pockets above plug  66 A or  66 B. To ensure equal landing forces and concentricity on initial contact, two keys  84 A and  84 B are recommended. As the running tool is slowly rotated under a new control weight, it is essential that the tool only enters in one fixed orientation. To ensure this key  84 A is wider than key  843  and its respective Y-shaped slots. It will be seen that one of the connectors  82  has a guide duct  86  which leads the wireline to the plug  66 B whereas the other connector  83  has a similar guide duct  87  which leads the wireline to the other plug  66 A

Technology Classification (CPC): 4