An Experimental Study of Well Control Procedures for Deepwater Drilling Operations

1985 ◽  
Vol 37 (07) ◽  
pp. 1239-1250
Author(s):  
Adam T. Bourgoyne ◽  
William R. Holden
2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Nas

Closing the wellbore at the top with a rotating control device (RCD) for some kinds of managed pressure drilling (MPD) operations raises a number of issues with regards to well control and kick detection. The wellbore is closed and the standard flow check of looking into the well is no longer possible. The use of a RCD provides drillers with an additional level of comfort because it is a pressure management device, but it doesn’t eliminate the need to have well control as a primary objective. In recent MPD operations, it has already been observed that well control procedures are relaxed as a result of managed pressure drilling. Is managed pressure drilling the same as primary well control, and how do we deal with kicks in managed pressure drilling operations? At what point in a well control process do we hand over from MPD to drillers’ well control, and who is responsible? This paper will present some of the issues that need to be considered when planning and conducting MPD operations. Early kick detection and annular pressure control are promoted as an essential part of MPD operations, but there can be confusion as to where the responsibility for well control lies. Does the responsibility remain with the drilling contractor and operator or with the provider of the MPD services. The paper provides some case studies where MPD and well control conflicted, causing a number of issues that in some cases led to the loss of wells.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Luiz Barbosa das Chagas ◽  
Celso Kazuyuki Morooka

Abstract Advances in subsea exploration in the oceans to discover new petroleum reservoirs and sometimes different kind of minerals at the seabed in ultra deepwater, continuously introduce new challenges in offshore drilling operations. This motivates the development of increasingly safe maritime operations. In offshore petroleum, a marine drilling riser is the pipe that connects a wellhead at the sea bottom to a drillship at the sea surface, as an access to the wellbore. It serves as a guide for the drilling column with the drill bit and conductor to carry cuttings of rock coming from the wellbore drilling and its construction. Drilling riser is constantly exposed to adversity from the environment, such as waves, sea currents and platform motions induced by waves. These elements of the environment are prevailing factors that can cause a riser failure during deepwater drilling operations with undesirable consequences for the environment. In the present work, key parameters that influence the probability of fatigue failure in a marine drilling riser are identified, and a parametric evaluation with those parameters are carried out. Dynamic behavior of a riser is previously calculated and fatigue damage is estimated. Afterwards, the First Order Reliability Method (FORM) is applied to determine the probability of fatigue failure on the riser. Fundamentals of the procedure are described, and results are illustrated through the analysis for a typical riser in deepwater drilling operation. Parametric evaluations are done observing points considered as critical along the riser length, and looking to the sensitivity of key parameters in the process. For this study, the SN curve from API guidelines is applied and accumulated fatigue damage is estimated from simulations of the stress time series and applying the Palmgren-Miner’s rule. Finally, the influence of each parameter in the reliability of fatigue failure is verified and discussions given.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Enyekwe ◽  
Osahon Urubusi ◽  
Raufu Yekini ◽  
Iorkam Azoom ◽  
Oloruntoba Isehunwa

ABSTRACT Significant emphasis on data quality is placed on real-time drilling data for the optimization of drilling operations and on logging data for quality lithological and petrophysical description of a field. This is evidenced by huge sums spent on real time MWD/LWD tools, broadband services, wireline logging tools, etc. However, a lot more needs to be done to harness quality data for future workover and or abandonment operations where data being relied on is data that must have been entered decades ago and costs and time spent are critically linked to already known and certified information. In some cases, data relied on has been migrated across different data management platforms, during which relevant data might have been lost, mis-interpreted or mis-placed. Another common cause of wrong data is improperly documented well intervention operations which have been done in such a short time, that there is no pressure to document the operation properly. This leads to confusion over simple issues such as what depth a plug was set, or what junk was left in hole. The relative lack of emphasis on this type of data quality has led to high costs of workover and abandonment operations. In some cases, well control incidents and process safety incidents have arisen. This paper looks at over 20 workover operations carried out in a span of 10 years. An analysis is done on the wells’ original timeline of operation. The data management system is generally analyzed and a categorization of issues experienced during the workover operations is outlined. Bottlenecks in data management are defined and solutions currently being implemented to manage these problems are listed as recommended good practices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Chagas ◽  
Paulo R. Ribeiro ◽  
Otto L. A. Santos

Abstract The demand for energy has increased recently worldwide, requiring new oilfield discoveries to supply this need. Following this demand increase, challenges grow in all areas of the petroleum industry especially those related to drilling operations. Due to hard operational conditions found when drilling complex scenarios such as high-pressure/high-temperature (HPHT) zones, deep and ultradeep water, and other challenges, the use nonaqueous drilling fluids became a must. The reason for that is because this kind of drilling fluid is capable to tolerate these extreme drilling conditions found in those scenarios. However, it can experience changes in its properties as a result of pressure and temperature variations, requiring special attention during some drilling operations, such as the well control. The well control is a critical issue since it involves safety, social, economic, and environmental aspects. Well control simulators are a valuable tool to support well control operations and preserve the well integrity, verifying operational parameters and to assist drilling engineers in the decision-making process during well control operations and kick situations. They are also important computational tools for rig personnel training. This study presents well control research and development contributions, as well as the results of a computational well control simulator that applies the Driller's method and allows the understanding the thermodynamic behavior of synthetic drilling fluids, such as n-paraffin and ester base fluids. The simulator employed mathematical correlations for the drilling fluids pressure–volume–temperature (PVT) properties obtained from the experimental data. The simulator results were compared to a test well data set as well to the published results from other kick simulators.


1985 ◽  
Vol 1985 (1) ◽  
pp. 311-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Gill ◽  
C. A. Bonke ◽  
J. Carter

ABSTRACT During the evening of February 22, 1984, the Uniacke G-72 gas well being drilled 150 nautical miles off Halifax, Nova Scotia, by the semisubmersible drilling rig, Vinland, under contract to Shell Canada Resources, blew out of control, emitting gas and condensate at an estimated rate of 300 bbl per day. During the following 10 days while Shell was assembling personnel, vessels, and equipment for reboarding the rig and initiating well control procedures, a comprehensive environmental monitoring program was put in place. An air, slick, and water column sampling program was initiated to provide information on the physical and chemical properties of the condensate. This paper describes the primary findings of the program that involved the coordination of government, area petroleum operators, and consultants.


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (04) ◽  
pp. 287-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome J. Schubert ◽  
Hans C. Juvkam-Wold ◽  
Jonggeun Choe

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