US 12,129,731 B2
Protecting wellhead equipment from treatment fluids
Mohammed E. Mukhlifi, Dammam (SA); Mansour A. Amer, Dammam (SA); Mohammed K. Muqri, Dhahran (SA); and Pandu Wirawan, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Apr. 27, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/730,727.
Prior Publication US 2023/0349257 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. E21B 33/03 (2006.01); E21B 33/068 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 33/068 (2013.01) [E21B 33/03 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
12. A method, comprising:
disposing a sleeve within a bore of a wellhead, the wellhead comprising i) a production tree, ii) a removable sacrificial production tree configured to be fluidly coupled to and reside above the production tree, and iii) a removable adaptor configured to be fluidly coupled to and reside between the production tree and the sacrificial production tree, at least a bore of the production tree, a bore of the sacrificial production tree, and a bore of the adaptor forming the bore of the wellhead, the bore of the wellhead defining a fluid pathway extending from the production tree to the sacrificial production tree; and
securing the sleeve to the adaptor such that the sleeve forms, with the adaptor or another portion of the wellhead, a first fluid seal, and the sleeve forms, with the production tree or another portion of the wellhead, a second fluid seal such that the sleeve fluidly isolates a first section of the bore from a second section of the bore, the first section of the bore extending from the first fluid seal to the second fluid seal and comprising a bore of the production tree; and
flowing, from the sacrificial production tree, through the sleeve, and to a wellbore fluidly coupled to the wellhead, a treatment fluid, the first section of the bore being isolated from the treatment fluid by the sleeve,
wherein the first section comprises at least a portion of a bore of a tubing spool attached to the production tree, a bore of all the production tree, and at least a portion of a bore of the adaptor assembly, and the second section comprises at least a section of a bore of the sacrificial control assembly, the tubing spool comprising a tubing hanger comprising a back pressure valve profile, and the second portion of the sleeve is configured to form, with the back pressure valve profile of the tubing hanger, a connection with the tubing hanger, the sleeve or the tubing hanger comprising one or more sealing rings to form the second fluid seal, the tubing hanger comprising an inwardly projecting shoulder that engages or stops an outwardly projecting shoulder of the sleeve, and the disposing comprises lowering the sleeve within the bore until the inwardly projecting shoulder stops at the outwardly projecting shoulder.