IADC/SPE-190969-MS

Well Control for Offshore High-Pressure/High-Temperature Highly Deviated

Gas Wells Drilling: How to Determine the Kick Tolerance?

Xuyue Chen, Jin Yang, and Deli Gao, China University of Petroleum-Beijing; Yi Huang, Yanjun Li, Ming Luo, and
Wentuo Li, Zhanjiang Branch of CNOOC Ltd.

Copyright 2018, IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, 27–29 August 2018.

This paper was selected for presentation by an IADC/SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s).
Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction
by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers,
its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the International Association of Drilling
Contractors or the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations
may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of IADC/SPE copyright.

Abstract
Kick tolerance is a vital parameter for well control. It indicates if a shut-in operation can be performed or
not, an appropriate method of well killing should be selected. However, the kick tolerance determination
for offshore high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) highly deviated gas wells drilling still remains as a
challenge to the oil and gas industry due to the presence of narrow safe mud weight window of the HP/HT
well section, complex borehole temperature profile, influx distribution and high frictional pressure loss. In
this work, a model of volume kick tolerance specific for offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling
was presented based on the pressure bearing capacity of highly deviated open hole, casing shoe, casing,
blowout preventer (BOP) and choke valve. Meanwhile factors affecting the volume kick tolerance were
also investigated. The result shows that both of the volume kick tolerance for shut-in and the volume kick
tolerance of well killing increase with wellbore inclination of the highly deviated section, and the highly
deviated wellbore or highly deviated wellbore may have a much higher volume kick tolerance than that
in vertical wellbore. With other parameters values setting constant in this case, the volume kick tolerance
of well killing increases with the geothermal gradient while the increase rate is not obvious. This work
provides a practical tool for enhancing well control in offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling.

Introduction
With substantial exploration of oil & gas, there are almost no remaining fields can be easily developed
(Rui et al., 2017). Challenges are increasing for well drilling such as extended-reach drilling over 8000m,
deepwater drilling, sub-salt drilling, high pressure and high temperature (HP/HT) drilling (Chen and Gao,
2018a; Chen et al., 2018b; Chen et al., 2018c). In the global’s exploratory fields, the appearance of offshore
HP/HT areas is in an increasing trend, and more and more offshore HP/HT wells are drilled. HP/HT well is
defined as the one whose non-disturbed bottom temperature is over 300°F and the highest formation pore
pressure gradient is superior to 0.8 psi/ft or the required working pressure of the well control equipments
exceeds 10000 psi (Junior et al., 2009).
2 IADC/SPE-190969-MS

The key characteristics of offshore HP/HT wells are the reduced kick tolerance, the presence of narrow
margin between formation pore pressure gradient and fracture pressure gradient (Nordin et al., 2012). This
property of the offshore HP/HT wells presents series of challenges to well control incidents. Recent literature
reported that well control incidents rate for conventional drilling at 4 to 5% while for non-conventional
drilling such as HP/HT drilling, a rate of 100 to 200% has been recorded (Auwalu et al., 2015). This indicates
that non-conventional wells like HP/HT wells have a much high well control incidents rate. In recent years,
in order to maximize production, more and more highly deviated HP/HT gas wells even horizontal HP/HT
gas wells are drilled. This adds complexity, risk and chanlenge to the well control.
Kick tolerance is defined as the maximum volume of formation fluid influx which can be shut in and
circulated out of the well without breaking down the weakest point of the well exposed to the circulation
event (Karahasan et al., 2015). In offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling, the weakest point of
the well exposed to the circulation event is complex. Due to the complex fracture pressure gradient profile,
the formation with the lowest fracture pressure gradient may be deeper than the casing shoe. With the influx
flowing up in the well (see in Fig.1), the influx will be expanded greatly in the building section and vertical
section while the expansion is not obvious in the highly deviated section. This results in a great change of
the wellbore pressure. Therefore, not only the casing shoe but also the highly deviated open hole section,
casing, BOP and chock valve can be the potential weakest point of the well exposed to the circulation event.
Moreover, the high down hole temperature and high frictional pressure loss add the complexity. In the past
decades, a number of studies have been conducted on kick tolerance (Pilkington & Niehaus, 1975; Hao,
1983; Redmann, 1991; Dedenuola et al., 2003; Santos & Catak, 2011; Vajargah & Van, 2015; Jin et al., 2016;
Feng, 2016). However, most of the previous models of kick tolerance are for conventional vertical wells, and
few of them take into account the effects of the complex borehole temperature, influx distribution and high
frictional pressure loss of the offshore highly deviated HP/HT gas wells. Therefore, previous kick tolerance
models may not be applicable for offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling. In this work, a model
of volume kick tolerance specific for offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling was presented based
on the pressure bearing capacity of highly deviated open hole, casing shoe, casing, BOP and choke valve.
Meanwhile factors affecting the volume kick tolerance were also investigated.

Figure 1—Gas influx arrive at different well sections

Model development
Volume kick tolerance is defined as the difference between the maximum allowable influx volume and the
pit gain to ensure no risk in well killing or shut-in. The higher volume kick tolerance is, the safer the well
killing or shut-in will be. In the highly deviated open hole section of the offshore HP/HT highly deviated
gas wells, the sudden increase of the formation pore pressure may narrow down the operational window,
IADC/SPE-190969-MS 3

and the fracture pressure gradient profile is also complex. The formation with the lowest fracture pressure
gradient may be deeper than the casing shoe. Moreover, due to the highly deviated or horizontal wellbore,
the calculated volume kick tolerance may extend from bit depth to above the weakpoint (quite often, but
not always, that weakest point will be the casing shoe), which implies that the well can tolerate an unlimited
volume of kick without breaking down the weakpoint of the formation. If this occurs in a highly deviated or
horizontal hole section where the potential kick volume can be high, it is important to check the maximum
allowable influx volume for the relevant load cases on the casing, BOP and choke valve. The well control
system of offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells is shown in Fig.2. For the model development of the
volume kick tolerance, the following assumptions are adopted:
1. The influx fluid is continuous gas column when it flows up the well, and the influx is discovered as
soon as the influx fluid enters the bottom hole.
2. Ignore the variousness in drill string diameters and the wellbore diameter.
3. The gas solubility is ignored.

Figure 2—Well control system of offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells

In offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling, the formation with the lowest fracture pressure
gradient may be deeper than the casing shoe (see Fig.3). As stated in the early section, not only the pressure
bearing capacity of casing shoe but also the pressure bearing capacity of highly deviated open hole, casing,
BOP and choke valve should be checked to determined the maximum shut-in casing pressure. The maximum
shut-in casing pressure can be estimated as

(1)
4 IADC/SPE-190969-MS

Figure 3—Pore pressure gradient and fracture pressure gradient plot for a HP/HT well (Figenschou et al., 2012)

The increasing of mud volume in pit indicates that there is an influx at the bottom hole. When the invaded
gas is at the bottom hole, the maximum allowable bottom hole pressure shoulb be balance the bottom hole
pore pressue, namely

(2)

Then the maximum allowable influx amount can be estimated as

(3)

The volume kick tolerance for shut-in can be given as

IADC/SPE-190969-MS 5

(4)
In well killing of the offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells, the highly deviated open hole section,
casing shoe, casing, BOP and choke valve can be the weak and risk places. Therefore, the volume kick
tolerance for well killing should be also determined based on the pressure bearing capacity of highly deviated
open hole, casing shoe, casing, BOP and choke valve.
In well killing of the offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells, the effects of temperature and pressure
on the influx gas volume variousness should be considered. The ture vertical height of the influx gas column
can be estimated according to the gas law

(5)

When the influx gas column flows up and arrives at the formation that with the lowest fracture pressure
gradient of the highly deviated open hole section. During well killing, the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling
fluid column should balance the bottom hole pore pressure while the weakest formation of the highly
deviated open hole section should not be fractured.

(6)

Then the maximum allowable influx gas volume in down hole condition can be expressed as

(7)

When the influx gas column flows up and arrives at the casing shoe. The maximum allowable influx gas
volume that will not fracture the casing shoe in the down hole condition can be expressed as

(8)

In the down hole condition, the maximum allowable influx gas volume that will not make the internal
casing pressure exceeding 80% of the casing strength can be expressed as

(9)

When the influx gas column flows up and arrives at the BOP. The maximum allowable influx gas volume
that will not make the pressure at the BOP exceeding the maximum work pressure of the BOP can be
estimated as

(10)

When the influx gas column flows up and arrives at the choke valve. The maximum allowable influx
gas volume that will not make the pressure at the choke valve exceeding the maximum work pressure of
the choke valve can be estimated as
6 IADC/SPE-190969-MS

(11)

Then the volume kick tolerance of well killing based on Driller’s Method can be expressed as
(12)

Case analysis
The basic data of well control for an offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas well is shown in Table 1. The well
is a special type of angle build and-hold borehole. It is with a constant radius of curvature. The designed
well depth is 5500m. Overflow was detected when the well was drilled to 5015m. The pit gain was 0.35
m3. The formation with the lowest fracture pressure gradient below the casing shoe at 4520m. The drilling
fluid fit well to Herschel-Bulkley model, with yield stress of 2.85 Pa, consistency index of 0.3725 Pa·sn
and fluid behavior index of 0.6857.

Table 1—The basic data of well control for an offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas well

Water depth (m) 900

Drilling platform temperature (°C) 20

Mudlines temperature (°C) 2

Choke maniford inner diameter (mm) 102

Depth of kick-off point (m) 3033.6

Curvature radius of the build-up section (m) 609.6

Inclination at the end of build section (°) 75

Casing depth (m) 3885

Highly deviated open hole 3886-5015

Bit diameter (mm) 215.9

Drill pipe diameter (mm) 127

Drill collar diameter (mm) 171.4

Drill collar length (mm) 280

Equivalent density of fracture pressure at casing shoe (g/cm3) 1.85

Equivalent density of fracture pressure at 4520m (g/cm3) 1.80

Equivalent density of formation pore pressure at bottom hole (g/cm3) 1.74

Drilling fluid density (g/cm3) 1.66

Geothermal gradient below the mudline (° C/100m) 4.8

BOP maximum working pressure (MPa) 70

Internal pressure bearing strength of casing (MPa) 85

Chock valve maximum working pressure (MPa) 55

Kill rate (L/s) 22

IADC/SPE-190969-MS 7

In this case, the predicted volume kick tolerance for shut-in is 6.583 m3, and the volume kick tolerance
of well killing based on Driller’s Method is 13.93 m3. It reveals that the shut-in operation can be performed,
and well can be killed by Driller’s method.
Fig.4 shows the effects of wellbore inclination of the highly deviated section on the volume kick tolerance.
It indicates that both of the volume kick tolerance for shut-in and the volume kick tolerance of well killing
increase with wellbore inclination of the highly deviated section. At low wellbore inclination, they rise
slowly. From 30° to 75°, the volume kick tolerance for shut-in and the volume kick tolerance of well killing
increase relatively quickly with the increase of inclination. After around 75°, they rocket. The volume kick
tolerance for shut-in and the volume kick tolerance of well killing in highly deviated wellbore or horizontal
wellbore may much higher than those in vertical wellbore. Fig.5 shows the effects of geothermal gradient
on the volume kick tolerance of well killing. It reveals that, with other parameters values set constant in this
case, the volume kick tolerance of well killing increases with the geothermal gradient while the increase
rate is not obvious.

Figure 4—The effects of wellbore inclination of the highly deviated section on the volume kick tolerance

Figure 5—The effects of geothermal gradient on the volume kick tolerance of well killing
8 IADC/SPE-190969-MS

Conclusions
A model of volume kick tolerance specific for offshore HP/HT highly deviated gas wells drilling was
presented based on the pressure bearing capacity of highly deviated open hole, casing shoe, casing, BOP
and choke valve. Meanwhile the factors affecting the volume kick tolerance were also investigated. The
result shows that both of the volume kick tolerance for shut-in and the volume kick tolerance of well
killing increase with wellbore inclination of the highly deviated section, and the highly deviated wellbore
or horizontal wellbore may have a much higher volume kick tolerance than that in vertical wellbore. With
other parameters values set constant in this case, the volume kick tolerance of well killing increases with
the geothermal gradient while the increase rate is not obvious.

Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum,
Beijing (No.2462017YJRC050); National Key Research and Development Project (Grant numbers:
2017ZX05009-003 and 2016YFC0303303); and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant
numbers: 51434009, 51521063, and 51774301).

Nomenclature
Aa = Cross-sectional area of annulus (m2)
Ac = Cross-sectional area of the chock line (m2)
Gm = Pressure gradient of drilling fluid (g/cm3)
Ks = Volume kick tolerance for shut-in (m3)
Kd = Volume kick tolerance of well killing based on Driller’s Method (m3)
Ld = Ture vertical height of the influx gas column (m)
pa max = The maximum shut-in pressure at the interested point in the wellbore (MPa)
pcv = The maximum working pressure of the choke valve (MPa)
pBOP = The maximum working pressure of the BOP (MPa)
pfs = Formation fracture pressure at the casing shoe (MPa)
pfw = The fracture pressure of the formation with the lowest fracture pressure gradient
blow the casing shoe (MPa)
pi = Internal pressure bearing strength of casing (MPa)
pk = Hydrostatic pressure of the kick fluid (MPa)
pp = Bottom hole formation pore pressure (MPa)
Δpa = Annulus frictional pressure loss below the BOP (MPa)
Δp′a = Annulus frictional pressure loss below the formation with lowest fracture pressure
gradient below the casing shoe (MPa)
Δp″a Annulus frictional pressure loss below the casing shoe (MPa)
Δpc = Frictional pressure loss of the choke manifold (MPa)
TBOP = Tempertature of the wellhead BOP (K)
Tcv = Tempertature at the chock valve (K)
Tp = Tempertature at the bottom hole (K)
Ts = Tempertature at the casing shoe (K)
Tw = Tempertature of the wellbore with lowest fracture pressure gradient below the
casing shoe (K)
TVD = True vertical depth of the well (m)
TVDs = True vertical depth of the casing shoe (m)
IADC/SPE-190969-MS 9

TVDw = True vertical depth of the wellbore with lowest fracture pressure gradient below
the casing shoe (m)
Vm = Pit gain (m3)
Vmax = The maximum allowable influx volume under downhole condition (m3)

References
Auwalu, I. M., Zahra, I. Z., Adamu, M. B., Usman, A. L., & Sulaiman, A. D. (2015, August). Effectiveness of Simulations
on Well Control During HPHT Well Drilling. In SPE Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition. Society
of Petroleum Engineers.
Chen, X., & Gao, D. (2018a). The Maximum-Allowable Well Depth While Performing Ultra-Extended-Reach Drilling
From Shallow Water to Deepwater Target. SPE Journal, 23 (01), 224 - 236. SPE-183025-PA.
Chen, X., Gao, D., Yang, J., Luo, M., Feng, Y., & Li, X. (2018b). A Comprehensive Wellbore Stability Model
Considering Poroelastic and Thermal Effects for Inclined Wellbores in Deepwater Drilling. Journal of Energy
Resources Technology, 140(9), 092903.
Chen, X., Yang, J., Gao, D., Feng, Y., Li, Y., & Luo, M. (2018c). The Maximum-Allowable Well Depth While Drilling
of Extended-Reach Wells Targeting to Offshore Depleted Reservoirs. Energies, 11(5), 1–17.
Dedenuola, A. D., Iyamu, I. E., & Adeleye, O. A. (2003, January). Stochastic approach to kick tolerance determination
in risk based designs. In SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Feng, J., Fu, J., Chen, P., Luo, J., & Kou, B. (2016). Comparisons of the Driller’s Method and the Wait and Weight Method
in Deepwater Well Killing Operation. Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 41(7), 2699–2706.
Figenschou, J., Thorsen, A. K., Thistle, B., & Williams, U. (2012, January). Integrated Pressure Management Processes
for Reducing the Risk Associated with Well Instability Issues: Implications for HPHT Wells. In IADC/SPE Drilling
Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Hao J. (1983). How to calculate kick tolerance. Journal of Southwest Petroleum Institute, 5(3), 45–50.
Jin, Y., Li, C., & Wu, Q. (2016). Methodology for kick tolerance calculation and well killing in deepwater drilling. Natural
Gas Industry B, 3(5), 472–478.
Junior, R. R., Ribeiro, P. R., & Santos, O. L. A. (2009, January). HPHT Drilling—New Frontiers for Well Safety. In SPE/
IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Karahasan, K., Oyovwevotu, J. S., & Vielma, W. E. (2017, November). Implementation of Dispersed Gas Model for Kick
Tolerance Analysis of an HPHT Exploration Well in Norway. In SPE Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition
& Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Nordin, N. A. B., Umar, L., Aziz, I. A. B. A., Nas, S., & Woo, W. K. (2012, July). Dynamic Modeling of Wellbore
Pressures Allows Successful Drilling of a Narrow Margin HPHT Exploration Well in Malaysia. In IADC/SPE Asia
Pacific Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition, Tianjin, China (pp. 9-11).
Pilkington, P. E., & Niehaus, H. A. (1975). Exploding myths about kick tolerance. World Oil, 180(7), 59–62.
Redmann Jr, K. P. (1991). Understanding kick tolerance and its significance in drilling planning and execution. SPE
drilling engineering, 6(04), 245–249.
Rui, Z., Li, C., Peng, F., Ling, K., Chen, G., Zhou, X., & Chang, H. (2017). Development of industry performance metrics
for offshore oil and gas project. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 39, 44-53.
Santos, H. M., & Catak, E. (2011, January). Kick tolerance misconceptions and consequences to well design. In SPE/
IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Vajargah, A. K., & van Oort, E. (2015). Early kick detection and well control decision-making for managed pressure
drilling automation. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 27, 354-366.