Revised BOP and Well Control Policies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Abstract: fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractEffective blowout preventer (BOP) requirements and well control policies are crucial in maintaining safe drilling and workover operations. These requirements/policies generally are tailored to the individual oil and gas operator's specific drilling environment. Changes in well profile, depth, temperature, pressure, hydrogen sulfide concentration, and safety margin may require changes in BOP equipment and well control. Saudi Aramco has recently revised their equipment requirements a… Show more
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Directional drilling makes it possible to drill multilateral wells into different parts of a reservoir from a single wellbore. Many directional wells are drilled to reach reservoirs inaccessible from a point directly above because of surface obstacles or geologic obstruction. Wellbore sidetrack drilling operations with hard cement plugs have been used for years. Placing cement plug in the borehole and allowing the cement to develop high compressive strength perform sidetracking technique. The hardened cement plug when drilled deflects the bit away from the current borehole, starting another open hole section. Conventional cement formulations for sidetrack kickoffs usually fail when the ROP (rate of Penetration) for the cement plugs is much more than the ROP in the formation Sidetracking failures, in building up kickoff angles, results in operation delays and cost overrun. High compressive strength cement system with slow ROP should be designed and developed specifically for side tracking operations. A rate of penetration device helped optimizing cement formulations to determine the ROP through cement plugs. This is done by controlled circulation of drilling fluid through the drill bit and rotating the bit at a fixed load and speed. Different chemicals for buildingup compressive strength were evaluated. Special types of cements were designed and evaluated for possible use for sidetrack kick off plugs. Addition of inert particles to cement and their effect on the compressive strength and ROP were investigated. In this paper, a new system was developed and results in a slow ROP for the use in sidetrack drilling. The performance of this system outstand any known existing cement formulations for side track drilling and has great potential to improve sidetrack angle builds up. Introduction A previous study has been done to improve placement methods of cement formulations for sidetracks.1–3 Others focused on studying the effect of hole size, geometry and mud properties on cement plugs.4 It is an easy way out to blame placement methods in case of sidetracks failures. Still with proper placement methods, failure in sidetracks cements can occur.5 Currently, conventional cement formulations are used for kick off plugs in sidetrack drilling. Many hours of rig time are lost to set plugs just to build up the angel in sidetrack drilling. Some times it is extremely difficult to sidetrack in some areas because the cement rate of penetration is much faster than that of the adjacent formation. The compressive strength of regular cement is much lower than the formation leading to this extremrly fast cement ROP compared to formations. To solve this problem, the difference in the rate of penetration between the cement plug and the adjacent formation must be minimized by increasing the compressive strength of the cement. The maximum compressive strength for cement is 5,000 to 9,000 psi. The compressive strength of the formation can reach up to 22,500 psi. The required compressive strength for cement to provide good isolation is 100 psi,6 However, for kick off plugs, a much greater compressive strength is required. Cement compressive strength is the result of the growth of hydrated calcium silicate crystalline structures. As these structures grow, they gain more strength and interlock with each other. Bond strength of these crystals will be weaken as the water to cement ratio increases, thus decreasing the cement compressive strength.7 A previous study suggested that the use of metal particles can reduce the penetration in sidetrack drilling.5 This system was evaluated and compared to other systems including the system developed in the present study. The objectives of this study are to:Find a reference ROP from selected cores,Study the effect of density and different chemicals on the rate of penetration of cement, andDevelop a new cement system and evaluate its performance for sidetrack drilling.
Directional drilling makes it possible to drill multilateral wells into different parts of a reservoir from a single wellbore. Many directional wells are drilled to reach reservoirs inaccessible from a point directly above because of surface obstacles or geologic obstruction. Wellbore sidetrack drilling operations with hard cement plugs have been used for years. Placing cement plug in the borehole and allowing the cement to develop high compressive strength perform sidetracking technique. The hardened cement plug when drilled deflects the bit away from the current borehole, starting another open hole section. Conventional cement formulations for sidetrack kickoffs usually fail when the ROP (rate of Penetration) for the cement plugs is much more than the ROP in the formation Sidetracking failures, in building up kickoff angles, results in operation delays and cost overrun. High compressive strength cement system with slow ROP should be designed and developed specifically for side tracking operations. A rate of penetration device helped optimizing cement formulations to determine the ROP through cement plugs. This is done by controlled circulation of drilling fluid through the drill bit and rotating the bit at a fixed load and speed. Different chemicals for buildingup compressive strength were evaluated. Special types of cements were designed and evaluated for possible use for sidetrack kick off plugs. Addition of inert particles to cement and their effect on the compressive strength and ROP were investigated. In this paper, a new system was developed and results in a slow ROP for the use in sidetrack drilling. The performance of this system outstand any known existing cement formulations for side track drilling and has great potential to improve sidetrack angle builds up. Introduction A previous study has been done to improve placement methods of cement formulations for sidetracks.1–3 Others focused on studying the effect of hole size, geometry and mud properties on cement plugs.4 It is an easy way out to blame placement methods in case of sidetracks failures. Still with proper placement methods, failure in sidetracks cements can occur.5 Currently, conventional cement formulations are used for kick off plugs in sidetrack drilling. Many hours of rig time are lost to set plugs just to build up the angel in sidetrack drilling. Some times it is extremely difficult to sidetrack in some areas because the cement rate of penetration is much faster than that of the adjacent formation. The compressive strength of regular cement is much lower than the formation leading to this extremrly fast cement ROP compared to formations. To solve this problem, the difference in the rate of penetration between the cement plug and the adjacent formation must be minimized by increasing the compressive strength of the cement. The maximum compressive strength for cement is 5,000 to 9,000 psi. The compressive strength of the formation can reach up to 22,500 psi. The required compressive strength for cement to provide good isolation is 100 psi,6 However, for kick off plugs, a much greater compressive strength is required. Cement compressive strength is the result of the growth of hydrated calcium silicate crystalline structures. As these structures grow, they gain more strength and interlock with each other. Bond strength of these crystals will be weaken as the water to cement ratio increases, thus decreasing the cement compressive strength.7 A previous study suggested that the use of metal particles can reduce the penetration in sidetrack drilling.5 This system was evaluated and compared to other systems including the system developed in the present study. The objectives of this study are to:Find a reference ROP from selected cores,Study the effect of density and different chemicals on the rate of penetration of cement, andDevelop a new cement system and evaluate its performance for sidetrack drilling.
Directional drilling makes it possible to drill multilateral wells into different parts of a reservoir from a single wellbore. Many directional wells are drilled to reach reservoirs inaccessible from a point directly above because of surface obstacles or geologic obstruction. Wellbore sidetrack drilling operations with hard cement plugs have been used for years. Placing cement plug in the borehole and allowing the cement to develop high compressive strength perform sidetracking technique. The hardened cement plug when drilled deflects the bit away from the current borehole, starting another open hole section. Conventional cement formulations for sidetrack kickoffs usually fail when the ROP (Rate of Penetration) for the cement plugs is much more than the ROP in the formation Sidetracking failures, in building up kickoff angles, results in operational delays and cost overrun. High sonic compressive strength cement system with slow ROP should be designed and developed specifically for side tracking operations. A rate of penetration device was used to optimize cement formulations to determine the ROP through cement plugs. Different chemicals for building up sonic compressive strength were evaluated. Special types of cements were designed and evaluated for possible use for sidetrack kick-off plugs. The effect of inert particles on the sonic compressive strength and ROP were investigated. The cement slurry was cured for 24 hours in the Ultrasonic cell at bottom hole static temperatures of 260–290°F and a bottom hole pressure of 4,700 psi to represent gas well conditions and 200–250°F and 2,200 psi for oil wells. The outcome of this work was cement formulations with high potential (high sonic compressive strength and slow ROP) that can be used to drill horizontal and multilateral wells. Introduction Cement plugs are placed in oil and gas wells for various reasons, including:1 well abandonment, sidetracks, squeezing and zone isolation. Sidetrack cement plugs are the focus of this study. In sidetrack operations, an average of 2.4 attempts per sidetrack, with 24 hours with each attempt, has been reported and experienced in the field. Failures in sidetrack cement plugs can occur because of one or more of the following reasons:2Plug slippageDrilling out too soon without waiting for compressive strength developmentInaccurate well dataInsufficient slurry volumeSlurry designLosses while reversingPoor mud removal (not using a proper spacer) Previous studies were done to improve placement methods of cement formulations for sidetracks.3–5 Others focused on studying the effect of hole size, geometry and mud properties on cement plugs.6 It is an easy way out to blame placement methods in case of sidetracks failures. Still with proper placement methods, failure in sidetracks cements can occur.7 Currently, conventional cement formulations are used to prepare plugs used in sidetrack drilling. Many hours of rig time are lost to set plugs just to build up the angel in sidetrack drilling. Some times it is extremely difficult to sidetrack in some areas because the cement rate of penetration is much faster than that of the adjacent formation. The sonic compressive strength of regular cement is much lower than the formation leading to this extremely fast cement ROP compared to formations. To address this problem, the difference in the rate of penetration between the cement plug and the adjacent formation must be minimized by increasing the sonic compressive strength of the cement.
Introducing a new technology that reduces uncertainty and therefore risk of harmful, unplanned hydrocarbon release during drilling operations by providing additional secondary well control functionality in the event of rig evacuation. In most well control events, rig personnel have sufficient time to secure the well by following recognized well control operating procedures, utilizing long established well control technology. On occasion, shut-in does not occur before evacuation of the Blowout Preventer (BOP) control panel locations or, post-evacuation it is uncertain if shut-in procedures have been followed successfully. For example, if evacuation was sudden and the well remains in an unknown condition, potentially releasing hazardous hydrocarbons and associated gases to the environment. The author will discuss in detail the background and rationale to the new technology, including a review of well shut in potential versus time / incident severity and other human factors present at the moment of making the evacuation decision. The system design and intended operation will be explained including, specifically BOP function and monitoring when rig evacuation is occurring or has occurred. Several real-life scenarios will also be described for which the new technology could be operated. The system is designed to be deployed as an additional safety system, supplementing the rig's existing secondary well control technology or integrated with existing equipment to provide additional well control functionality. The novelty of the approach is that nothing is known to currently exist providing this functionality.
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