CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Recent development and advances have contributed to the successful drilling of

many HP/HT wells. Drilling and completing HP/HT wells are some of the most

challenging operations in today's and tomorrow's petroleum industry. Problems

have to be faced in nearly every area. The following main conclusions and

recommendations about solutions to drilling problems and management in HP/HT

wells have been drawn.

• Developing optimum drilling technologies and techniques must also take

place within the framework of completion requirements. For example,

casing-while-drilling could significantly decrease the time spent on down

hole problems not associated with actual drilling processes (e.g., stuck pipe,

lost circulation, and well control situations).

• Drilling fluids must be heavy to keep the well under control, whilst

minimizing annular pressure losses, and avoiding barite sag.

• The high incidence of kicks in HPHT wells (average two kicks per well)

associated with high pressures, expected on the surface, demands that the

team be especially trained for the handling of well control situations, that

means, the staff has to be familiarized with the ultimate challenges in this

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 scenario. Nonetheless even with the appropriate training, the operations in

such environment will remain complex and risky due to the difficulties

encountered in rapidly detecting gas kicks in FBO, not to mention the

various circumstances addressed in this work, which may lead the team to,

unnecessarily shut in of the well in situations of “false kicks”.

• The improvement in the science of each studied phenomenon will certainly

contribute to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the well control

situations.

70
NOMENCLATURE

AIME American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum

Engineers

BOPE Blow-out Prevention Equipment

DTI Department of Trade and Industry

ECD Equivalent Circulating Density

HP/HT High pressure / High temperature

LWD
Logging While Drilling
MMS
Minerals Management Service
MWD
Measurements While Drilling
OBM
SBM Oil Based Mud

PF Synthetic Based Mud

PP Fracture Pressure

PWD Pore Pressure

Prpcsnrp WTIIIP Drillinrr
X 1 VOU V/ TT mi V A-' » X X XX M »

SBM
Synthetic Based Mud
\u
Modular Formaliou Dynamic Tester
vr

71
NOMENCLATURE

AIME American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum

Engineers

BOPE Blow-out Prevention Equipment

DTI Department of Trade and Industry

ECD Equivalent Circulating Density

HP/HT High pressure / High temperature

Logging While Drilling
LWD
Minerals Management Service
MMS
Measurements While Drilling

MWD
Oil Based Mud
OBM
Synthetic Based Mud
SBM
Fracture Pressure
PF
Pore Pressure
Pressure Wtulp Flrillincr
PP A A VUU V*A V » T AAAAV A—' A A A A A 1 A

PWD
Synthetic Based Mud
SBM
Modular Formation Dynamic Tester
MIVI’

71
KG Krishna Godavari

ROP Rate of Penetration

LWD Logging While Drilling

MWD Measurement While Drilling

WBM Water Based Mud

BHT Bottom Hole Temperature

72
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73
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