NOVODRILL / ONGC / TRANSOCEAN

HIGH PRESSURE DRILLING REFRESHER

APRIL 2012
1. WELL CONTROL REFRESHER
2. HP/HT WELL CONSIDERATIONS
2.1 Well Designs Need for accurate shoe placement
Loss and Kick potential
2.2 Equipment requirements and restrictions
Higher pressures and temperatures
Hydrates and the mud gas separator
2.3 Drilling Fluids
Gas Entrainment
Temperature Effects ( Static vs Dynamic )
2.4 Operational Procedural requirements for HP/HT wells
Fingerprinting, Flow Checks, Check Trips and circulating
Kick Detection and Response
3. WELL TO BE DRILLED Well Design Discussions
Problem Prediction and Response discussions
4. OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES TO BE USED
5. EXERCISES

1. WELL CONTROL REFRESHER

WELL CONTROL CONCERNS ARE THE SAME AS FOR EVERY WELL

TYPE
CAUSES OF KICKS
1. NOT KEEPING THE HOLE FULL
2. SWABBING
3. DRILLING INTO HIGHER PRESSURES
PREVENTION OF KICKS
1. KEEP THE HOLE FULL
2. DO NOT SWAB
3. BE AWARE OF INCRESING PRESSURE TRENDS
PRESSURE TREND INDICATORS
* CHANGE IN ROP ( positive and negative )
* 'd' EXPONENT
* HOLE PROBLEMS
* BACKGROUND GAS
* CONNECTION GAS
* TRIP GAS
* TEMPERATURE DOWNHOLE
* SHALE DENSITY
* SHALE CAVINGS
* DELTA FLOW
* PIT GAIN
IF IN DOUBT WE FLOW CHECK
KICK INDICATORS
* DELTA FLOW
* PIT GAIN
IF THE WELL IS FLOWING WE CLOSE IN THE WELL AND KILL IT
KILL METHODS
* WAIT AND WEIGHT
* DRILLERS METHOD
* BULLHEADING

2. HP/HT WELLS - INTRODUCTION

If a given rig and operation is deemed to be capable of handling conventional kicks then
to determine the HP/HT requirement the differences between the two well types must be
defined.
The additional requirements / considerations for HP/HT over conventional well control
can be summarised as follows:2.1

Well Design

2.2

Drilling and Kick Handling Equipment

2.3

Surface Pressures will be Higher

Surface Temperatures will be Higher
Downhole Temperatures will be Higher
Greater Risk of Hydrates
Influx Volume to be Handled at Surface is Potentially Greater

Drilling Fluids

2.4

More Casing Strings / Stronger casings required?

Formation Fracture Gradients Much Closer to Formation Pressures
Rapid Changes in Downhole Pressure / Temperature

Heavier
Higher Rheology to carry weighting material
Different Influx Gas Behaviour in Oil Muds

Kick Detection

Dealing with Formation Charging Effects

Quantifying Static and Dynamic Well Characteristics

2.1

WELL DESIGN

More casing strings / Stronger casings required?

Most wildcat wells are designed to use a final hole size of 8 1/2" so that in the
event of well problems a contingency liner / casing can be set and the well finished
off in 5 7/8" or 6" hole.
Most HP/HT designs will have the 9 5/8" / 9 7/8 or 10 3/4" or 7"casings
being set in the main pressure transition zone.
The selection of this casing shoe in the transition between normally and
overpressured formations is critical

Formation Fracture / Pressure Gradients

The fact that these gradients get closer the deeper we go is well documented and
impacts strongly on kick tolerance calculations.
When a well is engineered certain assumptions must be made about pressures and
strengths of formations. These can be right or wrong so the information we are
gathering from the well as we drill it is vital to support or challenge the
assumptions made.

Rapid Changes in Downhole Pressure / Temperature

These are common in HP/HT wells. On Wildcat wells , extreme caution must be
exercised as the pressure transition can be as much as 3000 psi increase in only
70m. of drilled depth.
At the same time that the pressures rise downhole then so do the temperatures.
Increasing temperatures can be good indicator of rising pressure regimes.
Only certain formations are capable of trapping such pressures. Typically these are
Shales or Marls. They must be fairly plastic. They may have some porosity but it is
unlikely that they will have any vertical permeability otherwise the pressure would
have leeched away over Geological time. Typically again, as the pressure gradient
increases then so does the water content of the shales. This can be spotted by two
mechanisms. Firstly reduction in Shale density and secondly increase in
background gas levels for a given ROP. For each foot drilled, more water is
contained within the drilled cuttings. This water contains gas and as this gas is
released at surface the background gas levels will rise.
The skill required is to go far enough into the transition zone to get a strong casing
seat but not so deep as to having the well 'blowing around your ears'.

2.2

ASSESSING EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS

The salient HP/HT needs which will need to be met by this equipment are:

Surface Pressure will be Higher This implies the use of 15,000 psi BOP and
Choke Manifold. It further implies the need for hydraulic assist to open and close
valves when holding such pressures
Surface Temperatures will be Higher this implies the use of elastomers in the
Standpipe, Choke manifold and BOP capable of functioning at temperatures in
exces of 170 deg C
Downhole Temperatures will be Higher this means that the temeperature
limitations of tools must be considered. The tools most exposed are LWD, MWD,
electric logging tools and Jars. This could eliminate the use of coflexip hoses
Greater Risk of Hydrates this implies recognizing the potential for these then
having procedures and equipment in place to prevent these from becoming a major
problem
Greater Surface Volume at Surface This also implies recognizing the high
volumes of gas that can be brought to surface . The main weak link in Rig
equipment is the Poor Boy Mud Gas Separator.

2.3.

DRILLING FLUIDS

The differences between drilling fluids for HP/HT wells as against conventional wells are
fourfold.

Heavier
Higher Rheology
Different Composition to Provide Temperature Stability
Different Influx Gas Behaviour in Mud

Gas Entrainment in the Mud

Another problem that comes hand in hand with heavier muds is gas entrainment. Any gel
strength which is sufficient to hold barytes will have no difficulty holding gas. This means
that the mud will carry a residual amount of gas in it at all times. Typical background gas
levels are one or two percent. One way to illustrate this phenomenon is to circulate the
well after setting casing or a liner. Even though no new hole has been drilled, the gas
detector will be showing some residual level of gas.
In Production Tests the surface separation equipment usd to separate any gas out of
produced oil will include a heater.The heater is used to heat the oil . As the oil is heated it
gives up the dissolved and entrained gas much more readily.
This phenomenon also applies to gas in mud. If the mud is hotter, it will release gas
more readily . In a circulated well the temperature of the mud coming out of the flow line
will not vary much during constant circulation. If the pumps are stopped at any time then
the mud at the bottom of the well will heat up as heat soaks in from the surrounding rock .
This means that any time that circulation has stopped there will be hot spots in the
mud.These hot spots will give off entrained gas more easily than the constantly circulated
mud and this will be picked up by the gas detector as an increase in Gas Levels.
Care must be taken not to over-react to increasing gas levels from such situations.
We expect that Connection Gas, Survey gas and Trip Gas levels will be higher than
background gas levels . What we have to respond to is a trend increase in these levels.

2.4.

HP/HT OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES

The foregoing text has highlighted the problems we might face on High Pressure wells.
These factors are now taken into consideration when detecting and handling kicks.
Basic kick indications and response are the same for all wells, ie:

Flow Rate or Pit Volume Increase

When the kick has been detected the well will be closed in in the same manner for
all wells.

Finally the methodology which must wells will be killed (typically the wait and
weight method but increasingly the Driller's Method) is the same for all wells.

Kick Indicators
High pressure wells exhibit additional characteristics which confuse kick detection. These
are:

Formation Charging

Static vs Dynamic Downhole Temperatures

Formation Charging ( combination of ballooning and filtrate injection )

Given that with the effects of ECD, the formation is exposed to a greater hydrostatic head
during circulation than when the well is static, formation charging must be expected.

Static well conditions

Effects of ECD pushing wellbore back

How this manifests itself is in the wellbore giving back fluid once the pumps have been
switched off. The speed at which mud is returned and the volumes vary from well to well
and even within a given well as mud weight and well depth increases.
This flow back is a product of the ballooning effect shown in the figure above and
possibly the release of any filtrate which has been forced into the wellbore formations due
to the extra hydrostatic head applied by the ECD.
Most Mud Filter Cakes are not totally effective in preventing filtrate invasion into the
wellbore formations. If there is any invasion then there will be local 'charging' of these
formations up to the prevailing ECD pressure at that point in the wellbore.
When the pumps are stopped, the local formation pressure will be be higher than the
hydrostatic head of mud at that point so flow back from the formation into the well bore
can occur.
Can we predict exactly what these two phenomena will be in a well ?
Probably Not !
Therefore to quantify these it is necessary to carry out extensive flow checks on the well
until a pattern emerges. These flow checks could be 30 or 45 minutes but should be
observed and recorded diligently.
It is typical that the "flow back" rate from formation charging should decrease with time
during a given flow check.
Exactly how this manifests itself will only be evident when the flow check is carried out.
At first, rig crews can find watching the well apparently flowing an alarming experience
so it is advisable to discuss this effect in detail and illustrate by carrying out regular
checks on what constitutes normal behaviour for the well.

Static vs Dynamic Downhole Temperatures and the impact of this

On HP/HT wells, downhole temperatures are typically in the range of 300 - 350F.
At the well design stage these are estimated and during drilling electric logs will confirm
or deny the accuracy of these estimates.
If the well is left uncirculated then it is a reasonable assumption that the mud in the
borehole will assume the temperature of the surrounding formation.
This phenomenon is important to consider when looking at the tools that can be run in
HP/HT wells. Any tool with electronics, elastomers or oil in them will be sensitive to high
temperatures.
This means we need to consider our choice of electric logging tools, LWD/ MWD and
even Jars. The most powerful Jars are typically Hydraulic jars. On some wells the
hydraulic poil can boil and in these cases the more traditional mechanical jar ( eg the
Dailey LI Jar ) is a better choice. The strike blow is less than a Hydraulic Jar in normal
wells which is why they are not used so much but the hydraulic Jar may not be striking at
all when used in very hot wells.
It may seem alien to be circulating for no apparent reason but on such wells sometimes
its safer to keep circulating and cooling the well down rather than run the downhole
components right up to their designed temperature ratings.
From the Drilling Contractors perspective the same concerns apply to any Rig based
Equipment which have elastomers in them. This means the BOP and surface manifolding
needs to have elastomers capable of coping with the anticipated temperatures. Subsea
BOPs have a ready supply of cooling water around them and will reduce the
temperatures being experienced by the BOP when compered to those on say a Land Rig or
Jack up rig. A lot of Rigs now are putting temperature sensors on the BOPs to eliminate
some uncertainty.
From the Well Production Testers perspective, again the higher temperatures need to be
considered. When the well is flowing on a production test the produced fluid is all at
ambient reservoir temperature. Downhole tools need to be designed to cope with the high
temperatures and the surface equipment will see almost as high temperatures as the
downhole equipment when in flowing mode. This is why there are very few HP/HT Test
Spreads around the world and why when planning a well with the intent to Test it is
important to lock in a Spread which can be available at the time required. In practice
this may mean committing to an HP/HT Test Spread for quite a while before it is actually
needed !
The mud sitting in the tanks on the rig is probably in the range 80F - 150F depending on
circulation pattern, water depth, tank capacity, ambient temperature etc.

Consequently, as the mud system goes from static to dynamic, a cooling effect on the
wellbore is unavoidable. This means that after extended circulation the wellbore will
be substantially cooler than when the well has been left static for some time.
Every time the pumps are stopped then the heat source from the surrounding rock will
heat up the transition zone towards the wellbore and finally heat up the mud that is sitting
in the wellbore.
This is a natural phenomena and is to be expected.
If the well were to be closed in after extended circulation then as the mud could not
expand as it heated up it is reasonable to expect the shut-in pressure at surface to rise.
This is in fact what happens in practice.
As with Formation Charging it is phenomenon that rig crews are not necessarily familiar
with, so again a demonstration of the effect is desirable.
This can be done at the casing leak off test. If the cement/floats/pocket drill out takes a
few hours then this circulation will have cooled the surrounding formations sufficiently
for the phenomenon to be observed.
Having drilled the pocket and circulated to an even mud weight, quickly pullback into the
casing shoe, shut off the pumps and close the well in.
The pressure build up gives a "finger print" for the well
Press. Build Up following
Kick
Additional
MudWeight
Requirement
Fingerprinting Press. Build
Up

Time

This temperature effect acts in addition to the formation charging effect and the only
readily discernible difference at surface is that the temperature effect will give a straight
line relationship between closed in surface pressure and time for longer than might be
expected for Formation Charging Effect.
In some cases the straight line relationship can indicate potential required mud weights in
excess of 20 ppg to regain "control" of the well.
Common sense must prevail and it must be remembered that pore pressure will not exceed
overburden pressure in a well otherwise the reservoir fluids would already have escaped.

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In practice we may not actually know how much of the effect is due to Charging and how
much to Temperature. It really does not matter too much anyway, provided that we check
the behaviour and have established what constitues normal behaviour.
Despite understanding why we have these apparent well flows on HP/HT wells , it still
goes against all we have been taught to pull out of the hole on a well which has apparently
flowed 5 or 10 barrels once the pumps were switched off.
Consequently, it is therefore expedient on trips to observe the flow check as mentioned
above and then carry out a 5 or 10 stand wiper trip. The bit should then be put back on
bottom and bottoms up circulated. Mud salinity, weight, temperature and gas levels
should be observed during this circulation. If the well is flowing hydrocarbons, gas levels
will rise. If the well is flowing formation water, salinity and mud weight will change.The
only fluids we are going to find in these wells will be water, gas, condensate, oil or a mix
of these.When our drilling fluid weighs 15.8 ppg and resembles toothpaste in texture then
any of the above influxes are easily spotted by loss in mud return weight and huge
differences in background gas levels and Hydrocarbon Chromatograhic breakdown.
A lot of HP/HT wells have ended up chasing their tails because higher gas levels are
seen when circulating bottoms up after a wiper trip. The response has been to increase
Mud Weight to control the gas . This would in a regular well do the trick but on HP/HT
wells the gas levels will stay the same or even go up
Any time that the well has been static, the mud at the bottom of the well will heat up and
when we circulate it to surface we will see higher gas levels. This on its own should not be
your cue to raise the mud weight
Mud Management on High Pressure Wells
From the above text it can be seen just how many confusing effects could be taking place
in the well. Despite anything you may be told to the contrary, in a Wildcat well these
phenomena are not predictable with any degree of accuracy.
Consequently, the only practical way to handle these phenomena in a safe manner is to:a)

Try to keep all mud properties and drilling parameters as constant as possible for
as long as possible.

b)

Always circulate bottoms up following a short, check trip prior to pulling out
of the hole completely.

Since we can only measure the mud at surface and guess what is happening downhole
then the yardstick to apply is - "Did we have Primary Control ?".
If the answer is

"Yes"

then the mud system has been effective in that role.

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Operational Procedures for Safe Handling of High Pressure Kicks

Handling Kicks on High Pressured Wells
The main mechanical weakness in the system in most cases is the Poor Boy Mud Gas
Separator.
Different Operators took different views on the safe throughput of a given Poor Boy. Early
Poor Boys had 6 vent lines which clearly put more back pressure on the system when
venting gas than say a 12 vent line would create. Some companies would produce graphs
showing how much gas could be produced through the Poor Boy. These graphs are just
based on theoretical modelling. As we know this is not always correct and since if the
graph is not right then you will only find out when the liquid seal blows then a safer
option is to just reduce the kill speed so that the gas throughput is decreased drastically to
a level that is not even close to what could blow a seal.
In practice when circulating out an influx the Choke manifold is warm or hot as mud
passes through it. If there is gas breakout then the effect is like a refrigeration cycle. The
choke manifold gets colder downstream of the chokes. At first this looks like condensation
but even when working on the equator the choke manifold will then develop a coating of
frost on it. Condensation can be expected and is not something to be concerned about
however if when circulating frost develops on the BPM then its time to slow the
circulation rate down until the gas cut mud has been circulated out. If gas is coming
through the chokes then to maintain the kill the choke will need to be closed.
In most normal kills once they get under way theres very little adjustment of the choke
required ( because you are circulating a homogeneous fluid around the mud that was in
the annuus above a potential influx ) Another indication of gas coming through the
chokes is a different noise coming from the choke manifold. At times there is slugging too.
During kills attempts to shut down as much background noise as possible
There is no excuse for not knowing what is going through the Choke manifold at any time
Any well kill operations must be planned as multiple speed kills.
This means checking slow circulation rates not only of 30 strokes per minute as is usual
but also of 10, 15 and 20 strokes per minute. Sometimes the pumps can not run as slowly
as 10spm but the minimum reliable running speed should be determined well ahead of
time and not left to finding out the hard way during an incident
As a policy it is suggested that the well be killed at 30 SPM until frosting appears on the
Manifold , the well starts slugging or theres a change in the sound coming from the
manifold.
Better Safe than Sorry !
A further precaution is to discuss the deficiencies of the Poor Boy with the Rig Crew and
explain what happen if the equipment capabilities are exceeded.
As mentioned earlier the temperature sensors on the BOP and choke equipment must be
monitored during well killing operations.
The manufacturers of the elastomeric products specify a continuous working temperature
and a short term exposure temperature that the equipment is designed for.
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Killing operations should be carried out within the B.O.P. working temperature envelope
If temperatures begin to exceed the designed levels then the only recourse available is to
slow down the kill operation or stop it completely until the BOP components cool .
Glycol should be employed as the gas reaches the choke line. (Easily recognisable by a
rise in Pchoke together with a change in tone and a chilling effect downstream of the choke
itself. )
Given the known weaknesses in the kick handling system, measures should be put in place
to spot failures in this equipment, should they occur we must ask ourselves "If there is
going to be a failure, how will I detect it and how can I make it safe?"
There are well documented Well Control Disasters which could have been contained had
the Rig Crew been in a position to trace the immediate source of gas around the rig floor
and implement a contingency plan.
Practically speaking this implies:a)
b)

Keeping a Subsea TV camera at the BOP during killing operations.

Monitoring of the liquid seal blow off area at the Poor Boy Mud Gas Separator.

Having taken a kick and handled it safely the equipment must be prepared for the next
one. To ensure that the equipment is ready two main checks are required:1.
2.

Check for erosion due to the high solids content of the mud.
Flush the system with water to clear any residual barytes to prevent blockages.

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3.

WELL TO BE DRILLED

14

Well Schematic (DRAFT)

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3.2 Well Specific Problem Prediction

1. Kicks
The area we are drilling in is fairly well mapped with close outstep wells. Given the three
known ( or predicted ) pressure ramps we will be controlled drilling as we approach these
so are unlikely to go flying into over pressures. We will have Oil based mud in the hole for
all of these ramps so can use the usual detection tools of gas levels, amounts of cavings etc
to indicate pressures coming up. Naturally we have to be super careful when drilling
ahead but probably the main source of any kick would be if
(i) we swabbed in the well or
(ii) didnt appreciate the difference between static and dynamic bottom hole pressures
(iii) Drilled into losses , causing a drop in hydrostatic head which reduced the primary
control on a zone above this
2. Losses
Losses could be expected in the well. These would most likely NOT be catastrophic but
more probably just down to the ECD created when circulating a heavy mud around.
3. Hole Cleaning
Not expected to be a problem in this well given that it is Vertical and the high mud
weights will have high rheology. If the mud weight did not follow the pressure ramp
properly there could be excessive caivings produced and these could create a hole
cleaning / hole pack off problem
4. Differential Sticking
Care needs to be taken once the reservoir section has been penetrated. We anticipate high
pressures in the reservoir but there is always the chance that the modeling has given us a
mud weight considerably heavier than we needed. Given oil based mud and drilling in a
shale, it will be hard to detect this. Once the sands are penetrated then the differential
sticking effect can be considerable. The usual precautionary practices should be used
Keep string moving and if we need to shut down for whatever reason try and do so with no
BHA across this section

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4. EXERCISES
4.1. We are drilling away in 12 hole at 3,500m at 10 m/hr with 11 ppg mud . Over the
last few hours the torque on the string has been slowly but steadily increasing. The bit
is a PDC and has 12 hours on it. What do you think is causing this slow increase in
torque and how could you confirm your theory
4.2. Whilst drilling through the reservoir in 6 hole at 5300m. we need to make a
connection. The flow back from the well seems a little heavier than the previous few
stands so a decision is taken to close the well in and to circulate around using the
Drillers method. This takes place without incident and after 1,100 bbls pumped
( 110% of hole volume ) we have seen no pressure spikes at the chokes, or cooling at
the chokes. PDP and P choke pressures stayed constant all the time through the
circulation. Is it safe to shut the circulation down, flow check the well and if OK go
back to drilling ?
4.3. We are drilling at 5350m. and based on the LWD Gamma ray Tool we have
penetrated around 300m of good sands since penetrating the reservoir at 5,050m. The
Mud Logger has been reporting around 7% gas whilst drilling but this level drops
back to 2% after bottoms up circulation. At 5351m the LWD crashes out. The LWD
Engineers figure they can sort the problem in five minutes so the Driller picks up and
slowly works the string . After ten minutes the LWD still isnt working so the LWD
Engineer figures that the problem must be more complex than he thought and reckons
he could need an hour or so to try a few things out. What instructions should we now
give the Driller
4.4. You are drilling ahead at 5400m when you get a call from the Rig Floor . The Driller
says he thought the well was flowing on a connection so has flow checked, then shut
the well in on the Annular BOP. Theres no real pressure to be seen on drill pipe or
choke. Hes not sure how much flowed back on the connection because someone
opened the drain on the trip tank just at the wrong time. He asks if its OK just to
circulate around Drillers Method and see if theres any influx. You say that he should
shut in on the rams before killing the well and he says that if he does that he cant
work the pipe therefore we could get differentially stuck in the sands. You are the
Company Man. What are your Instructions to the Driller and why ?

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