Remote Operations Center Applies UBD Techniques to Reduce Well Control Non-Productive Time

Abstract

As unconventional plays have grown, resources of experienced drilling personnel have become strained. Real time operations centers (RTOCs) are useful in reducing the strain on these resources by connecting technical expertise with field operations. Shell has recently developed a monitoring platform which has the flexibility to perform real time monitoring of drilling activities through a browser based platform. This paper focuses on the application of that technology in the Sichuan Basin, China to provide underbalanced drilling (UBD) and well control expertise to drilling operations, to monitor, coach, and mentor engineering and field personnel to reduce the recovery from well control events and to apply UBD techniques to this tight gas field. The UBD experts directly monitored and interacted with the engineering and field staff to effect changes in the operation. The RTOC's primary goal was to increase the safety of the operations by reducing kick volumes and kick recovery time with a secondary goal of training the onsite leadership in UBD techniques.Through this RTOC application, the rigs showed a decrease in average kick volume, kick recovery time, and a reduction in larger well control events that had caused losses in offset wells. Through the RTOC, UBD procedures were reviewed and disseminated to the rigs. For the final 2 wells of the RTOC deployment, the wells were drilled utilizing these procedures and applying back pressure to simulate the required mud weight (MW).This deployment of an RTOC shows that experts in a remote center can successfully optimize drilling operations. It also shows that an RTOC staffed with experts can train and coach field personnel to apply new drilling strategies remotely. The success of this operation gives operators an opportunity to leverage its unconventional experience and expertise without the need for redeployment of those staff.