A tandem seal adapter for a perforating gun assembly includes a housing having a first end adapted to be connected to a first perforating gun and a second end adapted to be connected to a second perforating gun. A port extends through a wall of the housing and is in communication with an interior of the first perforating gun. A tracer material is arranged in the port, and a retainer secures the tracer material in the port. Upon detonation of the first perforating gun, the retainer is displaced and the tracer material is expelled from the port by gas pressure produced by the detonation. A corresponding method of using a tandem seal adapter to disperse tracer material into a wellbore and a tool string employing such a tandem seal adapter are also provided.

A re-fracturing method involves placement and centralization of a liner string that has shaped charges at predetermined locations that are externally isolated with packers. The shaped charges can be set off in a desired order and re-fracturing can then take place in new locations. In a bottom up order for perforating sequentially larger balls can be landed on seats and developed pressure or component movement generated by applying pressure can be used to set a shaped charge and isolate portions of the borehole below. The balls and even the seats can be later milled out or just allowed to disintegrate or dissolve with well fluids that are present or later added to clear the liner for subsequent production. Alternatively, the liner could be removed by release of the packers before production or injection begins.

A technique facilitates performance of a perforating operation in a wellbore. The technique comprises positioning a perforating gun assembly downhole in a wellbore via coiled tubing. The perforating gun assembly has a plurality of individually controllable perforating gun sections which may be selectively fired at different well zones. An optical fiber is deployed along the coiled tubing to deliver control signals to the perforating gun assembly. The control signals enable sequential firing of the individually controllable perforating gun sections at the desired locations, e.g. well zones, along the wellbore.

A system and method for confirming ignition of a fuel source in a wellbore is disclosed. The system includes a tool, a fuel source associated with the tool, a control unit to ignite the fuel source, and a sensor to receive an ignition parameter.

A method and apparatus for controlling a perforating tool string using a perforating unit with a control board and shooting power supply.

A method and apparatus for controlling a perforating tool string using a perforating unit with a control board and shooting power supply.

An apparatus for measuring orientation of a downhole perforating gun system includes a housing or platform for attachment to an interior of a perforating gun, a loading tube, or shape charges for a perforation wireline. The apparatus also includes at least one sensor configured to measure orientation information. The apparatus also includes a communications interface for communicating the measured orientation information to one or more electronic devices communicatively coupled to the apparatus. The apparatus also includes at least one controller configured to cause transmission, using the communications interface, of the orientation information, which corresponds to an orientation of at least one of the perforating gun, the loading tube, or the shape charges, to the one or more electronic devices and initiate a firing sequence of the perforating gun or the shape charges based on a signal received from at least one of the one or more electronic devices.

The present invention is directed toward an addressable ignition stage which produces an output sufficient to detonate a secondary explosive, generally. The present invention comprises addressability and ignition functions that may be used together or separately to incorporate a high-power resistor with a thermally conductive substrate allowing for operation at high temperatures for ignition. The ignition stage is amendable to high volume production, exhibits a high degree of reliability, robustness and operational dependability for use alone or configurable into existing technology.

Methods and apparatus for downhole monitoring are provided by interrogating an unmodified optic fiber (102) arranged along the path of a well bore (106) to provide a distributed acoustic sensor and sampling data gathered from a plurality of contiguous sensing portions of the fiber. The sampled data is processed to determine one or more well bore parameters. The well bore parameters may comprise a well condition profile, and may be obtained in response to an acoustic stimulus.

This application describes methods and apparatus for downhole monitoring in real-time. The method involves interrogating an unmodified optic fiber (102) arranged along the path of a well bore (106) to provide a distributed acoustic sensor and sampling data gathered from a plurality of sensing portions of the fiber. The sampled data is then processed to provide a real-time indication of the acoustic signals detected by the sensing portions of the fiber. The real-time indication provides information to an operator or controller of the downwell process with real-time feedback data regarding what is happening during the downwell process which allows the identification of any problems and adjustment of the process parameters.