Well Control for Completions and Interventions

Howard Crumpton

• Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780081022870
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Environmental Management
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Well Control for Completions and Interventions explores the standards that ensure safe and efficient production flow, well integrity and well control for oil rigs, focusing on the post-Macondo environment where tighter regulations and new standards are in place worldwide. Too many training facilities currently focus only on the drilling side of the well's cycle when teaching well control, hence the need for this informative guide on the topic.

This long-awaited manual for engineers and managers involved in the well completion and intervention side of a well's life covers the fundamentals of design, equipment and completion fluids. In addition, the book covers more important and distinguishing components, such as well barriers and integrity envelopes, well kill methods specific to well completion, and other forms of operations that involve completion, like pumping and stimulation (including hydraulic fracturing and shale), coiled tubing, wireline, and subsea intervention.

• Provides a training guide focused on well completion and intervention
• Includes coverage of subsea and fracturing operations
• Presents proper well kill procedures
• Allows readers to quickly get up-to-speed on today's regulations post-Macondo for well integrity, barrier management and other critical operation components

Chapter One

Introduction and Well Control Fundamentals

Abstract

This chapter discusses the various methods of dealing with well control during completion and workover operations. Although the importance of well control during servicing work is recognized, accidents and incidents still occur. A significant proportion of these are accounted for by completion, workover, and intervention activities. Well-trained and experience staff can manage the risks, but well control training and understanding the associated problems has been neglected. Understanding of hydrocarbon reservoir properties is covered. Examples and calculations and useful sources of tables for performing these are included. Methods of hydrate removal are covered. The importance of hydrogen sulfide, its detrimental effects, recommendations for exposure limits, and safety precautions are discussed. The responsibilities of the personnel in charge are stressed, including responses to incidents and the importance of prejob checks. The effect of the Macondo incident on the industry and the importance of training and certification are included.

Keywords

Completion; gas hydrates; intervention; permeability; porosity; pressure control; workover; scale precipitation

1.1 Introduction

Well control is the primary objective of any workover operation.¹

The primary goal of every completion and workover is to complete the task in a safe and efficient manner.²

Well pressure control is the most critical consideration in the planning and performing any well servicing operation.³

Three statements from three different manuals, each one dealing with the management of well control during completion and workover operations. Most instructional documents covering intervention well control have similar opinions. Clearly, our industry recognizes the importance of well control during well servicing work. And yet, despite these concerns, accidents and incidents still occur. Well control incidents attributable to completion, workover, and intervention activities account for a significant proportion of the total.

As the Table 1.1 shows, exploration drilling carries the highest risk; this is to be expected. However, completion, workover, and intervention activities account for more well control incidents than development drilling, at more than one third of the total.

Table 1.1

Operational phase during blowouts^a

Number of well control incidents by activity and area: 1960–96
Operational phase	Texas	Offshore Continental Shelf (United States)
Exploration drilling	244	45
Development drilling	180	49
Other drilling	14	4
Completion	64	25
Workover	197	23
Wireline	19	5
Production	85	12
Missing data	15	23
Total	817	186

^aTrends extracted from 1200 Gulf Coast blowouts during 1960–96. Pal Skalle (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway) A.L. Podio, (University of Texas). World Oil, June 1998.

Whilst these statistics are the result of a study of one area (Texas and the Gulf Coast), they are symptomatic of a worldwide problem. There are several compelling explanations for why well control problems occur so frequently during completion, workover, and intervention activities.

• • Many workover operations are carried out to repair or replace failing equipment. Working on a well where integrity is already compromised increases the...