There are three phases of well control. We have already covered primary and secondary well control. Now we are going to focus on the final method in the event that a kick becomes a blowout – tertiary well control. As a bit of review, primary well control involves keeping the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling …
What Failures Necessitate Tertiary Well Control? Read More »
Blowout preventers haven’t always been used for drilling operations. In 1910, they had not been invented yet and America experienced its largest oil spill to date, spewing ~nine million barrels of oil for over a year. The Midway-Sunset Oil Field, located in Kern County, California was being increasingly explored for hydrocarbons in the early 1900’s. …
Now that we learned about the purpose of blowout preventers (BOPs) and some of their basic components, let’s take a look at where technologies associated with BOPs are located on a drill rig. Open the Drilling Interactive and follow the instructions below. Open the Drilling Interactive For review on the basic four components of a BOP …
The most prevalent categories of BOPs are a ram preventer and an annular preventer. BOP stacks frequently utilize both types, typically with at least one annular BOP stacked above several ram BOPs. Blowout preventers are used on onshore wells, offshore rigs, and subsea wells. Onshore and subsea BOPs are secured to the top of the …
Procedures for dealing with a kick will depend on a variety of conditions, including the type of drilling rig being used and the operation currently being performed on the well. Drillers could be tripping pipe in or out of the hole, or they might have the drillbit on bottom while actively drilling. Bit on Bottom …
Well Control Engineers first institute primary well control to mitigate hydrocarbons from entering the wellbore while drilling, as discussed in the previous lessons. However, if primary well control is unsuccessful, the imbalance in pressure allows hydrocarbons to enter the wellbore. The purpose of secondary well control is to mitigate unwarranted flow of hydrocarbons into the …
What Failures Necessitate Secondary Well Control? Read More »
Contrary to the last well you drilled, the in-situ conditions now present a pore pressure gradient that varies with depth. Your task as drilling engineer is to apply what you have learned thus far to make decisions to safely and economically drill this new well, again to a target depth of 15,000 ft. The pressure …
Casing Setpoint for a Variable Gradient Pore Pressure Case Read More »
As part of the design challenge you will take the place of a drilling engineer. You will be responsible for estimating the pore pressure and fracturing pressure gradients for your well, which define the mud weight window. Knowing that information, you will determine what mud weight will be needed to safely and economically drill the …
A casing program is a process in which engineers and geologists take considerations into account to understand the well and surrounding formations, in order to design the correct intervals of casing that need to be set to protect the well. Casing design is a crucial part in developing and constructing the well. Improper determination of …
Constructing the well involves installing the casing and cementing the casing in place. Engineers refer to the process as ‘setting casing’ in the well. Casing is set at different intervals during the drilling process. Engineers will also refer to a ‘string’ of casing. A string is a long section of connected pipe of common diameter, …