Well Control and Blowout Preventions

WELCOME TO THE STUDENTS
7th Semester (Mining)

Bogura Polytechnic Institute, Bogura.
Presented By
Md. Majedur Rahman
B. Sc (Hon’s), M. Sc in Geology & Mining, RU
Instructor (Tech)
Mining and Mine Survey Technology
Bogura Polytechnic Institute, BOGURA.
5/29/20 Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail: majedu1r_ru6871@yahoo.com 1
Petroleum Well Design & Completion
Course Code No. 69372
Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail:

5/29/20 2
majedu1r_ru6871@yahoo.com
Chapter-09
Understand well control and Blowout preventions
9.1 Define overpressure.
9.2 Define and mention the causes of well kick.
9.3 Explain Causes of Blowout.
9.4 Describe Blowout prevention techniques
9.5 Describe well control hazards
9.6 Describe well shutdown process.
9.7 Explain the fishing operation.

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9.1 Define overpressure.
• When a fluid pressure is higher than estimated from the normal hydrostatic
fluid gradient for a given depth, it is called overpressure. For this situation to
occur, the fluid must first be trapped within a rock unit (pressure compartment).
• Overpressure can be caused by uplift, increased heat, compaction, generation
of hydrocarbons, or a combination of these factors.

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9.2 Define and mention the causes of well kick.

A kick is a well control problem in which the pressure found within the

drilled rock is higher than the mud hydrostatic pressure acting on the
borehole or rock face. When this occurs, the greater formation pressure has
a tendency to force formation fluids into the wellbore. This forced fluid flow
is called a kick.
Kicks occur as a result of formation pressure being greater than mud
hydrostatic pressure, which causes fluids to flow from the formation into the
wellbore. In almost all drilling operations, the operator attempts to maintain
a hydrostatic pressure greater than formation pressure and, thus, prevent
kicks; however, on occasion the formation will exceed the mud pressure and
a kick will occur.

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Reasons for this imbalance explain the key causes of kicks:
• Insufficient mud weight.
• Improper hole fill-up during trips.
• Swabbing.
• Cut mud.
• Lost circulation.

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Warning signs of kicks
Warning signs and possible kick indicators can be observed at the surface. Each crew
member has the responsibility to recognize and interpret these signs and take proper
action. All signs do not positively identify a kick; some merely warn of potential kick
situations. Key warning signs to watch for include the following:
• Flow rate increase
• Pit volume increase
• Flowing well with pumps off
• Pump pressure decrease and pump stroke increase
• Improper hole fill-up on trips
• String weight change
• Drilling break
• Cut mud weight
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Each is identified below as a primary or secondary warning sign,
relative to its importance in kick detection.
• Flow rate increase (primary indicator)

• Pit volume increase (primary indicator)
• Flowing well with pumps off (primary indicator)
• Pump pressure decrease and pump stroke increase (secondary indicator)
• Improper hole fill-up on trips (primary indicator)
• String weight change (secondary indicator)
• Drilling break (secondary indicator)
• Cut mud weight (secondary indicator)

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9.3 Explain Causes of Blowout.
A blowout is the uncontrolled release of crude oil and/or natural
gas from an oil well or gas well after pressure control systems
have failed. Modern wells have blowout preventers intended to
prevent such an occurrence. An accidental spark during
a blowout can lead to a catastrophic oil or gas fire.

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Good planning, execution, and analysis will reduce frequency and severity of kicks, while a true
commitment to understanding kicks will eliminate loss of wells resulting from blowouts
and stuck pipe. Nevertheless, kicks can occur in any drilling operation conducted with a view
towards attaining maximum effectiveness, These relatively infrequent kicks need not be unduly
dangerous nor time-consuming when proper and prompt action is taken.
• Pressure unbalance leading to a kick may result from one or more of the following causes:
• Poor well planning;
• Failure to keep the hole full;
• Swabbing;
• Lost circulation;
• Mud weight too low.
• A blowout is an uncontrolled kick. Kicks develop into blowouts for one or more of the
following reasons:
• Lack of early detection;
• Failure to take proper initial action;
• Lack of adequate casing and/or control equipment;
• Malfunction of control equipment.

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Types of Blowouts
• There are three main types of blowouts, all of which can occur at any point of the
drilling process and can have disastrous consequences. These are:
• Surface Blowouts. The most common type of blowouts, these are at risk of
damaging the rig and surrounding terrain, as well as the even more serious risk of
ignition and explosion. If a surface blowout is particularly forceful, it cannot be
controlled alone; and so, other nearby wells (known as “relief wells”) will be drilled
to introduce heavier balancing fluid at depth.
• Underground Blowouts. These are uncommon blowouts where fluid from deep,
high-pressurised formations flow upwards, unchecked, to shallow, low-pressurised
formations. This may not necessarily result in the release of oil above ground.
• Underwater Blowouts. Due to their location, these are the hardest blowouts to
deal with. The biggest and deepest underwater blowout in history occurred in 2010
at the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. The accident was so serious
that it forced the industry to contemplate re-evaluating its safety procedures,
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9.4 Describe Blowout prevention techniques
The Well Control System or the Blowout Prevention System on a drilling rig is
the system that prevents the uncontrolled, catastrophic release of high-
pressure fluids (oil, gas, or salt water) from subsurface formations. These
uncontrolled releases of formation fluids are referred to as Blowouts.
Well kicks are prevented by maintaining the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling fluid
greater than the formation pressures that are exposed to the wellbore. Since
hydrostatic pressure is determined by the density (weight) and the true vertical
height of the drilling fluid column, the primary responsibilities of the drilling crews
in preventing well kicks are as follows:
• Maintain the mud weight specified by the operator/mud company.
• Keep the hole full of mud at all times.

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Well Control System
BLOWOUT PREVENTERS
(BOP)
 If the formation pressure is more
than the imposed by drilling fluid,
in this case formation fluids flow
into borehole and eventually to the
surface.
 This effect is called blowout.
 The main function of blowout
preventers is to close the annular
space between the drill pipe and
casing.
COMMITMENT TO ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL EXCELLENCE 13

When wells are drilled on land or in very shallow water where the wellhead is above
the water line, BOPs are activated by hydraulic pressure from a remote accumulator.
Several control stations will be mounted around the rig. They also can be closed
manually by turning large wheel-like handles.
In deeper offshore operations with the wellhead just above the mudline on the sea
floor, there are five primary ways by which a BOP can be controlled. The possible
means are:
• Hydraulic Control Signal: sent from surface through a hydraulic umbilical;
• Electrical Control Signal: sent from the surface through a control cable;
• Acoustical Control Signal: sent from the surface based on a modulated/encoded
pulse of sound transmitted by an underwater transducer;
• ROV Intervention: remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) mechanically control valves
and provide hydraulic pressure to the stack (via “hot stab” panels);
• Deadman Switch / Auto Shear: fail-safe activation of selected BOPs during an
emergency, and if the control, power and hydraulic lines have been severed.
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9.5 Describe well control hazards
A drilling hazard is defined as any eventoff of the critical path of drilling
operations. Using a DHM approach early in the well planning process is
essential to its effectiveness and success. DHM focuses on wellbore
stability and consequential hazards such as stuck pipe, fluids loss,and
equivalent circulating density(ECD) management. These events lead to
non-productive drilling time in the least case or catastrophic wellbore
failure and jeopardize well control in the worst cases. DHMrequires
understanding the uncertainty of the drilling margin—the safe applied
ECD between the in-situ pore pressure and/or stress equivalence and
the fracture gradient as a result of the overburden at true vertical
depth(TVD). Because all drilling operations have risk, mitigating these
risks is fundamental to DHM

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A well kill procedure is an oil well control method. Once the well has
been shut-in on a kick, proper kill procedures must be done
immediately. The general idea in well kill procedure is to circulate out
any formation fluid already in the wellbore during kick, and then
circulate a satisfactory weight of kill mud called Kill Weight Mud (KWM)
into the well without allowing further fluid into the hole. If this can be
done, then once the kill mud has been fully circulated around the well,
it is possible to open up the well and restart normal operations.
Generally, a kill weight mud (KWM) mix, which provides just hydrostatic
balance for formation pressure, is circulated. This allows approximately
constant bottom hole pressure, which is slightly greater than formation
pressure to be maintained, as the kill circulation proceeds because of
the additional small circulating friction pressure loss. After circulation,
the well is opened up again.
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The major well kill procedures used in oil well control are listed below:
• Wait and Weight
• Driller method
• Circulate and Weight
• Concurrent Method
• Reverse Circulation
• Dynamic Kill procedure
• Bull heading
• Volumetric Method
• Lubricate and Bleed

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9.6 Describe well shutdown process.
• Also called well decomissioning.
• Decommissioning of offshore installations came to international
prominence as a result of Shell's proposals to dispose of the Brent Spar
oil storage tank by dumping it in deep water beyond the edge of the
Continental Shelf.

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• Using shut-in procedures is one of the oil-well-control measures to curtail kicks
and prevent a blowout from occurring. Shut-in procedures are specific procedures
for closing a well in case of a kick. When any positive indication of a kick is
observed, such as a sudden increase in flow, or an increase in pit level, then the
well should be shut-in immediately. If a well shut-in is not done promptly, a
blowout is likely to happen.
• Shut-in procedures are usually developed and practiced for every rig activity, such
as drilling, tripping, logging, running tubular, performing a drill stem test, and so
on. The primary purpose of a specific shut-in procedure is to minimize kick volume
entering into a wellbore when a kick occurs, regardless of what phase of rig
activity is occurring. However, a shut-in procedure is a company-specific
procedure, and the policy of a company will dictate how a well should be shut-in.
• They are generally two type of Shut-in procedures which are soft shut-in or hard
shut-in. Of these two methods, the hard shut-in is the fastest method to shut in
the well; therefore, it will minimize the volume of kick allowed into the wellbore.

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9.7 Explain the fishing operation.
In technical terms, a fish can be any object which has been lost or stuck
in a borehole, and has a serious negative impact on well operations.
Fishes can be anything, whether that is a drill string that has come
away, a bit cone, or even a hand tool that has been inadvertently
dropped into the well. To solve this issue, fishing involves the use of
special tools and procedures to recover the fish and allow drilling to
continue. While this article will deal solely with regular fishing, there is
also an alternative method, which involves using through-tubing
processes that make use of tools on a wireline or coiled tubing.

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Virtually any object that is dropped into a well, or even run into it, may need to be fished
out at some point. Furthermore, the need for fishing may arise at any given point during
operations, and there are therefore a wide range of different tools and methods. There are
three main technologies that these solutions are built around, though: pulling, milling, or
cutting the pipe itself, and other downhole parts.
A fishing job is one option, but this will depend on the cost and likelihood of success.
Other options include:
• Leaving the fish where it is, and sidetracking or redrilling the well to follow an alternative
path
• Leaving the fish where it is, and completing the well in a shallower zone
• Abandoning the well altogether
Preferably, the fish should be completely avoided in the first place, thanks to the right
planning and proper drilling practices. However, it is important that a contingency plan is in
place should the situation arise.
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Although many different objects can get lost or stuck in a wellbore, fish
can be divided into a few major categories.
• Stuck pipe
• Parted Pipe
• Junk
• Cable and Wireline Tools

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Fishing Challenges
In most situations, it is relatively simple to diagnose and resolve a
fishing situation. For instance, should a bit torque up, and it is found
that a cone is missing, then it will be clear that junk has been left inside
the well. Alternatively, by looking at the recovered portion of a parted
drill string, it is possible to calculate where the parting happened, and
what caused it. These calculations allow for the right fishing tool
assembly to be constructed, and for the rest of the string to be
recovered.

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Planning and Preparation for Fishing
Operation
By planning out the well carefully, and adhering to proper drilling practices, the need for fishing can be
avoided in most cases. However, it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of fishing jobs. By
assuming that something will eventually go wrong, drilling companies can be prepared for any
eventuality.
To make the fishing job easier, it is vital that you have access to all relevant records of equipment in the
well. Your records will need to contain the following information:
• A tally of your current drill pipe, including its weight, grade and tool joint specifications
• Information on the ensile strength of the pipe, as well as the rig’s hoisting capacity. This must include
the maximum pull that the pipe can take based on these limitations, as well as necessary safety factors
• In-depth plans of the bottomhole assembly, with each tool’s length, inside and outside diameters, and
rotary connections listed
• If you are using logging or surveying equipment, then you’ll need the dimensions of each tool used,
along with the diameter and strength of the wireline
• A complete casing record, including all casing depths, diameters, weights and grades, perforation
depths, liner tops and any other relevant information
• Up-to-date mud reports

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Any Questions

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THANKS TO
ALL
5/29/20 26

Well Control and Blowout Preventions

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WELCOME TO THE STUDENTS

7th Semester (Mining)

Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail:

Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail:

Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail:

A kick is a well control problem in which the pressure found within the

Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail:

Prepared by Md. Majedur Rahman, E-mail:

• Flow rate increase (primary indicator)

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COMMITMENT TO ACADEMIC AND INDUSTRIAL EXCELLENCE 13

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