Hydraulic drilling method and system for forming radial drain holes in underground oil and gas bearing formations

摘要

The hydraulic drilling method and system uses a tube bending tool attached at the down hole end of a pipe or stringer to direct a fluid tube in a generally horizontal direction from a generally vertical gas or oil well. The bending tool is attached to a compression set tubing anchor, lowered into the well at the end of a pipe or stringer and anchored at the desired depth in the conventional manner. A fluid tube having a jet nozzle end is lowered to the bending tool and slidably inserted in a bending channel therein. Hydraulic cutting fluid under pressure is then applied to the pipe and fluid tube to urge the fluid tube through the bending tool to exit horizontally for boring a drain hole in the surrounding underground formation. Once the drain hole is formed the fluid tube is removed. Additional drain holes may be formed by rotating the bending tool radially in the well and inserting a new fluid tube with jet nozzle then repeating the cutting fluid drilling. With this method several radial drain holes may be formed at an intermediate level of a well for recovery of oil or gas from formations bypassed in the original well drilling.