Retrivevable frac mandrel and well control stack to facilitate well completion, re-completion or workover and method of use
View Patent ↗A retrievable frac mandrel and a well control adapter are used to efficiently accomplish well completion, re-completion or workover. The retrievable frac mandrel is inserted in a tubing head spool of a well to be completed, re-completed or re-worked. The well control adapter is mounted to a top of the tubing head spool and seals off against a top of the retrievable frac mandrel. After well completion, re-completion or workover is completed, the frac mandrel can be retrieved from the tubing head spool without killing or plugging the well.
1. A retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter for facilitating completion, re-completion or workover of a cased well having a wellhead with a tubing head spool, comprising:
a frac mandrel having a central passage and a bottom end adapted to be received in the tubing head spool and to provide a high-pressure fluid seal with a seal bore of the tubing head spool;
a well control adapter that mounts to a top flange of the tubing head spool, the well control adapter comprising an axial seal bore that receives a top end of the frac mandrel and provides a high-pressure fluid seal around a smooth outer periphery of the top end of the frac mandrel, and an axial passage that has a diameter smaller than an outer diameter of the top end of the frac mandrel but at least as large as an internal diameter of the central passage of the frac mandrel; and
a V-type packing received in the axial seal bore to provide the high pressure fluid seal around the top end of the frac mandrel, the V-type packing being supported on respective top and bottom ends by a respective top metal ring and a bottom metal ring, and compressed, when the well control adapter is mounted to the top flange of the tubing head spool, by a packing compression sleeve that slides over the top end of the frac mandrel and rests on the top flange of the tubing head spool.
2. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the high-pressure fluid seal with the seal bore located above the bit guide of the tubing head spool comprises a plurality of O-ring grooves in a periphery of the bottom end of the frac mandrel, each of the O-ring grooves receiving a high-pressure O-ring that seals against the seal bore.
3. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the frac mandrel further comprises an annular groove engaged by lockdown screws for securing a tubing hanger in the tubing head spool, the lockdown screws locking the frac mandrel in the tubing head spool.
4. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the axial seal bore of the well control adapter further comprises two or more radial bores that receive pins which support the bottom metal ring, and the packing compression sleeve has an outer diameter small enough to bypass outer ends of the respective pins, so that when the well control adapter is lowered over the top end of the frac mandrel the packing compression sleeve forces the bottom metal ring upwardly to compress the V-type packing around the top end of the frac mandrel.
5. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the well control adapter further comprises test ports to permit an injection of high pressure fluid to test an integrity of the high-pressure fluid seal around the periphery of the top end of the frac mandrel prior to a frac operation.
6. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a well control stack mounted to a top of the well control adapter, the well control stack comprising a cross-flow tee and a high pressure valve.
7. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the central passage of the frac mandrel comprises backpressure plug threads for securing a backpressure plug to seal off the central passage.
8. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the well control adapter further comprises test ports to permit monitoring the integrity of the high-pressure fluid seal around the periphery of the top end of the frac mandrel during a frac operation.
9. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the central passage of the frac mandrel comprises an annular groove engaged by a hydraulic shear-off tubing plug to seal off the central passage.
10. The retrievable frac mandrel and well control adapter as claimed in claim 1 wherein the central passage of the frac mandrel comprises a smooth bore that is gripped by a through-tubing plug to seal off the central passage.