DRILLING/WORKOVER

The Drilling/Workover course builds on the fundamental aspects of well control for drilling and workover operations with a focus on well kill operations for surface stacks only.

Workover Course Outline IADC WellCAP

Interactive Tools

• Provide students with over 600 pages of pre-course study
  materials at wildwell.com
• Provide students with a study guide that covers up to 150 interactive well control questions and answers.
• Provide students with a 50 question test to determine their well control knowledge gaps.
  
  

Preliminary Items

• Safety: escape routes, muster points, etc.
• Discussion of special needs
• Introductions
• Class paperwork

DRILLING: Serious Well Control Problem From the Wild Well Library

• Students form teams
• Team discussion of the potential well control problem
• Simulator exercise demonstrating the well control challenge
• Return to class to discuss the challenge
  
  

Well Control Course Objectives

• Formations, pore pressure, fracture gradients
• Killsheet, kick detection, flow checks, well shut-in, and gas behavior
• Well control methods
• Well control equipment (barriers, BOPs, manifolds, accumulator, etc.)
• Completing the well and post-completion activity
• Final well control simulation: from a kick to kill, with complication
• Assessments: skills and written
  
  

Formations, Pore Pressure, and Fracture Gradient

• Formation structure
  − Porosity
  − Permeability
• Fracture gradients, kick tolerance, pore pressures
  − Related formulas/math (hydrostatic pressure, the U tube, force,
  MAASP, etc.)
  − Equivalent mud weight
  − Kick tolerance
  − Pore pressure vs. fracture gradient (drilling margin/window)
• Simulator exercise demonstrating a FIT; discussion of LOT (if needed, depending upon class knowledge level)
• Discuss casing and cementing program
• Discuss drilling fluids program
  
  

Barriers

• Philosophy and operation of barrier systems
• Number of barriers for safe operation
• Testing barriers
  
  

Shallow Gas, Water Flows, and Top-Hole Drilling

• Definitions and causes of pressure in top-hole formations
• Causes of underbalanced top-hole
• Diverting practices
• Top-hole drilling practices and causes of kicks
  
  

Abnormal Pressure Warning Signs

• Abnormal pressure
• Shaker evidence
• Changes in mud properties
• Changes in drilling data/parameters

Killsheet, Kickc Detection, Flow Checks, Well Shut-In, and Gas Behavior

• Related formulas/math (capacities/volumes, strokes,
  circulation times, etc.)
• Causes of kicks
• Kick signs
  − Overt kick signs
  − Pre-kick signs
• Flow-check procedures
• Shut-in procedures
  − Hard shut-in
  − Soft shut-in
  − Shut-in challenges
• Paper killsheet with preliminary well data
  − Well data, volume calculations
  − Discuss the importance of a killsheet
• Simulator exercises demonstrating hard and soft shut-in
  − Kick detection and shut-in
  − Students complete killsheet with simulator well data (or instructor-given data)
  − Discussion of killsheet calculations:
  − What do they mean? (if needed) Discussion of IADC WellSharp
  rounding rules
• Gas behavior
  − While drilling
  − In horizontal wells
  − While shut-in

Well Control Methods

• Review of related formulas/math (capacities/volumes, strokes, circulation times, kill mud, MAASP, ICP, FCP, etc.)
• Wait and Weight Method
  − Discussion of Wait and Weight
  − Techniques
  − Skills (pump startup, step-down chart, gauge use, lag time, etc.)
  − Simulator exercise
• Driller’s Method
  − Discussion of Driller’s Method
  − Techniques
  − Skills (pump startup, capturing pressure after the first circulation,
  lag time, etc.)
  − Simulator exercise
• Volumetric and Lube and Bleed
  − Discussion of Volumetric Method
  − Formulas
  − Understanding the process and technique
  − Skills (use of electronic killsheet or paper graph, managing gas
  migration)
  − Simulator exercise
  − Discussion of Lube and Bleed

Stripping Pipe Under Pressure

• Discussion of technique
• Skills (annular pressure, speed of strip, managing wellbore pressures via volumetric method)
• Simulator exercise

Bullhead Methods: Discussion & Simulator Exercise (if time allows)
Discussion of study guide questions

Well Control Drills

• Pit drills
• Trip drills
• Stripping drills
• Choke drills
• Early response and empowerment to act

Completing the Well and Post-Completion Activity: a short discussion

• Completions
• Differences between drilling and workover

Final Simulator Exercise (if time allows)

• Abnormal lateral well and kick detection
• Kill the well with Wait and Weight Method
  
  

Discussion

• Ballooning wells vs. kicking wells
• FingerprintingTension
  
  

Discussion of Study Guide & Questions
Skills Assessment

WORKOVER:
Learning objectives

• Operations
• Barriers
• Bullhead Method
• Complications
• Reverse Circulation Method
• Unconventional well control
• Lube and Bleed Method
  
  

Operations

• Completion design
  − Reservoir considerations
  − Production methods
• Workover operations
  − Drilling vs. workover well control considerations
  − Equipment considerations

Barriers

• Fluids
• Mechanical

Bullhead Method

• Calculations
  − Kill fluid
  − Volumes
  − Pressure considerations
• Graphing a bullhead method
• Bullhead simulation exercise
• Bullhead method killsheet
• Bullhead simulation exercise with a killsheet
  
  

Complications

• Surface
• Downhole
• Bullhead complications simulation

Reverse Circulation Method

• Effects of friction
• Complications
• Reverse Circulation simulation

Unconventional Well Control

• Pill and Kill
• Top kill
• Rolling the Hole
• Volumetric Method

Lube and Bleed Method

• Discussion of the process
• Lube and Bleed simulation

Computer-Based WellSharp Exam