SPE Drilling & Completion
Volume 25,
Number 4,
December 2010,
pp. 577-584
Summary
Pressure maintenance within safe bounds and minimization of influx of fluids
from the formation to the well during a kick are basic concerns of well
control. Managed-pressure drilling (MPD) offers improved capabilities over
conventional well control methods to address these concerns. In this work, we
develop a methodology that capitalizes on the improved access to downhole
measurements offered by wired-drillpipe telemetry to maintain pressure within
desired bounds during kick management. The objective of this methodology is to
improve MPD by reducing nonproductive time, reducing formation damage, and
optimizing operational limits for the annular backpressure choke manifold.
The proposed methodology estimates formation pore pressure automatically on
the basis of real-time measurements when a gas kick is taken during MPD. The
methodology relies on the characteristics of the pressure-buildup curve.
Implementation of the methodology presumes the availability of standard MPD
equipment for automatic annular backpressure control.
A representative North Sea well is used as test-case geometry, and an
advanced hydraulics model is used as a virtual well in computer simulations
that provide the basis for the presented results.
The proposed methodology is demonstrated to both maintain pressure within
desirable bounds and reduce formation-fluid influx during a kick and thereby
reduce the risk of hole-stability problems and the cost associated with
nonproductive time.
© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
31 July 2009
- Meeting paper published:
5 October 2009
- Revised manuscript received:
27 March 2010
- Manuscript approved:
30 March 2010
- Published online:
2 September 2010
- Version of record:
16 December 2010
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