Expanding wellbore junction
An expanding wellbore junction system, apparatus and methods are provided for forming a sealed wellbore intersection in a subterranean well. In one described method, an expandable wellbore junction is expanded within an under-reamed cavity in a wellbore. Intersecting tubular legs of the wellbore junction are then drifted using a drifting apparatus. A deflection device may be used to direct a drift of the drifting apparatus into a selected one of the wellbore junction legs.
1. An expandable wellbore junction system, comprising:
a wellbore junction assembly including:
an expandable wellbore junction having multiple intersecting tubular legs, and
an orienting latch profile attached to the wellbore junction;
a drifting apparatus including a drift displaceable through at least one of the tubular legs of the wellbore junction, thereby reforming an interior geometry of the at least one of the tubular legs; and
a deflection device releasably secured to the drifting apparatus,
the drifting apparatus, and the deflection device releasably secured thereto, being insertable into and positionable in a predetermined radial orientation within the wellbore junction.
2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the drifting apparatus and the deflection device releasably secured thereto are radially oriented relative to the wellbore junction by engagement of the deflection device with the orienting latch profile.
3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the deflection device, when installed in the wellbore junction, is operative to deflect the drift to displace toward the at least one of the wellbore junction tubular legs.
4. An expandable wellbore junction system, comprising:
a wellbore junction assembly including:
an expandable wellbore junction having multiple intersecting tubular legs, and
an orienting latch profile attached to the wellbore junction; and
a drifting apparatus which includes a drift, a gripping structure and an axial extension device, the gripping structure anchoring the drifting apparatus to the wellbore junction assembly, and the extension device displacing the drift in at least one of the wellbore junction tubular legs,
the gripping structure being outwardly extended into gripping engagement with the wellbore junction assembly by a first predetermined pressure applied to the drifting apparatus, and
the extension device displacing the drift in response to a second predetermined pressure applied to the drifting apparatus; and
a deflection device releasably attached to the drifting apparatus, the deflection device being released for displacement of the drifting apparatus relative to the deflection device by application of a third predetermined pressure to the drifting apparatus.
5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the third pressure is less than each of the first and second pressure.
6. An expandable wellbore junction system, comprising:
a wellbore junction assembly including an expandable wellbore junction having multiple intersecting tubular legs, and an orienting latch profile attached to the wellbore junction,
the wellbore junction assembly being attached to a tubular string in a first wellbore and extending outwardly from the tubular string into an enlarged cavity formed in the first wellbore,
the wellbore junction being expanded outward within the cavity due to fluid pressure applied to the interior surface of the wellbore junction, the wellbore junction being cemented within the cavity, and at least first and second wellbores being formed through the wellbore junction tubular legs and through cement surrounding the wellbore junction in the cavity.