Abstract
Blowout incidents not only lead to fatalities but also cause loss of assets, expensive clean-up, costly incident investigations and reports, and negative impact on the environment. The 2010 Macondo blowout accident in the Gulf of Mexico was an eye-opener for many oil and gas operators and oilfield service companies; thus, making early kick detection technology research one of the top industry agendas. However, only limited progress has been made in detection technologies that focus on downhole parameters due to the complexity of offshore drilling operations that is increasingly shifting towards the deepwater. Therefore, the current paper experimentally explores downhole drilling parameters for kick indication during drilling. The study utilizes a fully instrumented laboratory scale drilling rig coupled with an air injection and surface monitoring systems. This study observed a sudden jump in bottomhole pressure, increased volume of the return fluid, decreased density of the return fluid, reduced rate of penetration, and increased rotary speed as indicators of kick. The most significant new finding, which is also validated with field reports, is the dampening effects of the drilling vibrations due to kick. Frequency analysis of the axial bit–rock displacements/vibrations confirms the changes of frequencies due to kick induction during drilling. Coupling this important finding with dynamic drilling models, the response of the drilling system at surface (e.g. standpipe, choke pressures, etc.) indicating this change can be predicted.
Highlights
Kick detection (EKD) is a vital component of well control system
The current study monitored nine parameters, including dynamic weight on bit (WOB), downhole pressure, rate of penetration (ROP), rotary speed, torque on bit (TOB), axial bit–rock interaction vibration, mud density, return mass flow rate, and return volume flow rate. These parameters are measured during lab-scale drilling simulations of synthetic core specimens with a hole drilled through the center to aid bit–rock–gas influx interactions
The results from all monitored parameters show that influx indications are consistent with case studies and field reports and are summarized as follows: a) WOB The magnitude of WOB decreases in response to gas influx
Summary
Kick detection (EKD) is a vital component of well control system. The prevention or management of kicks and/ or fluid loss occurrence during drilling operations is crucial, in deepwater drilling activities due to the complexity of equipment and operations. Well control failure occurrences could typically cost the oil and gas industry billions of dollars in a year due to non-productive time (NPT) and/or blowout incident, and affect the safety of drilling personnel. Limited progress has been made due to more reliance on surface detection technologies which are challenged by response time. There is a widely accepted consensus in the industry to explore a bottom-up approach whereby kicks are detected early and can be tracked at multiple points along the wellbore. Only limited progress has been made on this approach due to the complexity of offshore drilling operations.
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