Drilling Formulas and Drilling Calculations

As per previous topic, driller’s method well control, it stated about overall of driller method and this post will show the detailed of driller’s method and describe in term of operation stand point as well. I separates all detailed-step of driller method into several blog post because I want to add a lot of details for each topic so you will clearly understand about driller method and you also can apply with your real life operation.

Today I will start with the first one is to shut in well and obtain pressure information

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In order to get the correct value of drill pipe pressure, you need to have the correct floating bumping procedure. In this section, I will show you how to bump the float correctly.

These following procedures will demonstrate you how to bump the float correctly in order to get SDPP.

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Drilling personnel need to fully understand about the lag time. Lag time is time delay from pressure adjustment made on a choke valve or a choke HCR to show up on the drill pipe pressure gauge.

Does it sound confuse? Let’s me explain more about it. When you adjust a choke position, you will not be able to see changes on the drill pipe gauge right away because drilling fluid is compressible so you need to be patient and wait a little bit until you see the changes on the drill pipe gauge.

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Driller’s method is one of several methods to kill the well in well control operation. The main idea of driller method is to kill the well with constant bottom hole pressure. The Driller’s Method of well control requires two complete and separate circulations of drilling fluid in the well.

The first circulation removes influx with original mud weight. When starting to bring pumps up to speed, casing pressure must be held constant until kill rate is reached. Then drillpipe pressure is held constant to maintain constant bottomhole pressure which is normally equal to, or slightly greater than pore pressure. Drillpipe pressure will be held constant until influx is removed from annulus. If the wellbore influx is gas, it will expand when it comes close to surface therefore you will see an increase in pit volume and casing pressure.

After the kick is totally removed from the well, when the well is shut-in, drillpipe and casing pressure will be the same value. If not, it means that there is influx still left in the wellbore or trapped pressure.

Before going to the second circulation, we need to know kill mud weight which can be calculated from initial shut-in drillpipe pressure. The calculation part will be discussed as in next section.

Second circulation kills well with kill mud. When the required kill mud weight is mixed, it is the time to start the second circulation of driller method. We start with bringing pumps to kill rate by holding casing pressure constant. While circulating with the kill mud, casing pressure must be held constant until kill mud reaches the bit. After that, we need to hold drill pipe pressure constant then continue circulating with constant drill pipe pressure until kill mud weight reaches at surface. Then shut down pumping operation and observe drillpipe and casing pressure. If the well is successfully killed, both drillpipe and casing pressure will be zero. If not, there is some influx still in the well.

Ref books: Well Control Books

Shut-in procedures while wireline logging operation are very critical for all drillling crew working on the rig. Learn about two vital cases of the shut-in procedures.

Two cases of shut the well in while logging with wire line are as follows;

1. Shut the well in while wireline logging through open BOP without a lubricator.

2. Shut the well in while wireline logging through open BOP with a lubricator installed in the BOP.

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After you complete shut in procedure while tripping, there is following information that must be recorded before making any decision on how to kill the well.

Shut-In Casing Pressure (SICP): Read and record the shut-in casing pressure (casing gauge).

In order to get the proper pressure reading, the casing gauge should be installed upstream of the closed choke.

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Tripping out of the hole is a critical operation, which drilling team must keep close eye on well control situation that can occur anytime. Wellbore monitoring and hole filling equipment and must be working properly so that the kick can be quickly detected. You must be aware of and prepared for the well control situation every tripping operation.

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There are several figures that must be recorded after the well has been properly shut in in case of a well control situation.

Shut-In Casing Pressure (SICP): Read and record the shut-in casing pressure (casing gauge).

In order to get the proper pressure reading, the casing gauge should be installed upstream of the closed choke.

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While drilling, drilling team must be carefully check for well control indicators and if the positive kick indicator(s) indicated, crew must instantly know how to shut in the well in correct manner. The steps below, called “3S” shut-in procedures, demonstrate how to properly shut the well in while drilling.

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For the drilling industry especially when we talk about well control, there are 2 types of shut in which are Hard Shut-in and Soft Shut-in.  This post will describe both shut in types and I wish I would be helpful for you all

Hard shut in: It means that while drilling choke line valves (HCR) are in the closed position; it will be opened after the well is shut in. The hard shut-in is the fastest method to shut in the well; therefore, it will minimize volume of kick allowed into wellbore.

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