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Deepwater Well Control

Ultradeep oil wells present unique challenges for controlling blowouts due to their remote locations, limited availability of relief rigs, and high costs of developing solutions. However, some advantages exist over conventional wells, including greater hydrostatic pressure slowing flows and gas separating far below the surface. Reactive kill fluids requiring less volume pumped by rig equipment may be better than conventional methods. Plugging the blowout from the existing rig could also work by using the rig's pumps and chemicals to wait for gas to separate before killing the well. While risks exist from volatile chemicals, the natural forces and on-site resources provide alternatives to the conventional approach of abandoning the rig.

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Jayaprakash Gopala Kamath
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57 views

Deepwater Well Control

Ultradeep oil wells present unique challenges for controlling blowouts due to their remote locations, limited availability of relief rigs, and high costs of developing solutions. However, some advantages exist over conventional wells, including greater hydrostatic pressure slowing flows and gas separating far below the surface. Reactive kill fluids requiring less volume pumped by rig equipment may be better than conventional methods. Plugging the blowout from the existing rig could also work by using the rig's pumps and chemicals to wait for gas to separate before killing the well. While risks exist from volatile chemicals, the natural forces and on-site resources provide alternatives to the conventional approach of abandoning the rig.

Uploaded by

Jayaprakash Gopala Kamath
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Deepwater well control: where's the fire?

True test will come with blowout, but practical solutions are available.

Ultradeep environment
What makes these well blowouts different from all the rest?

• Ultradeep wells are usually located in remote and hostile environments, such as
West of the Shetlands or off the Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico.

• There is a very limited number of rigs available to drill such wells and the likelihood
that one would be available for drilling a relief well or other well control activities is
remote when utilization is 100%.

• The research into a deep water solution is so costly that only a collaborative effort by
the major oil companies, or their governments, could afford to come up with the
capital. Unfortunately, most experts believe the real test will come when the first of
these ultradeep blowouts occurs.

Practical solutions
Ultradeep well control offers some unique challenges, but also offers some advantages
over conventional subsea well control. From his point of view the trick is to think outside the
box.

"How can one kill a well at 10-15 bbl per minute? Maybe you don't."

Rather than using traditional dynamic kill methods, which requires pumping at a very high
rate, and injecting a massive volume of fluids with very powerful pumps, using reactive
fluids that solidify quickly, requiring less volume, and avoiding the prohibitive friction
pressure of high volume conventional fluids may be a preferred solution.

As far as an alternative rig to drill a relief well, this may not be the nearest rig, but it will be a
rig capable of drilling in ultradeep water.
Blowout flow offset
A second option, that takes advantage of the ultra-deepwater column would involve
plugging the blowout from the existing rig. Flak said these blowouts would have two distinct
advantages over blowouts in conventional water depths:

• There is a tremendous hydrostatic column putting pressure on the formation and


choking down the flow of oil. This means the blowout will spread more slowly.

• The more dramatic advantage is the great distance the oil condensate will travel
before reaching the flash point, at which the explosive natural gas drops out of
solution. It is this gas that makes a subsea blowout so dangerous.

• If the gas collects under the rig then a catastrophe is imminent. This generally leads
crews to abandon platforms or rigs immediately and is often the cause of
explosions at sea and massive loss of capital investment and production cash flow.

The condensate will drift so far during its mile-long rise to the surface that by the time the
gas is released it will be safely clear of the well site. In such an event, the rig could hang the
drill pipe and riser, move off the well, wait to see where the oil and gas surface, then return
to try and remediate the blowout by moving the drill pipe up and down or pump the kill fluids
down the drill pipe.

Using one of the "A-B" dynamic gel mixtures means the rig itself could carry enough
chemicals on the deck to kill the blowout. "You don't have to mix large volumes of them,"

The lower volume needed with these dynamic fluids means using the rig's drilling fluid
pumps and a few skid-mounted stimulation pumps. The large fluid pumps already in place
on ultradeep class rigs is another advantage that can be brought to bare in a blowout
situation.

The downside of such methods is the volatility of these reactive chemicals. If they mix
anywhere but in the blowout wellbore, such as at the surface plug flow line, it will cause
serious problems. Also residual materials may remain in the drill stream posing a threat if
they are allowed to mix.

But even with these caveats, the situation is much less dramatic after thought is given to the
natural forces that affect blowout plumes and the blowout fighting resources already
available at the drill site

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