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Practice the Kill Sheets:

Another easy way to pad your grade on the IWCF Level 3 and Level 4 exam is to master
filling out IWCF Kill Sheets. Kill sheets may seem intimidating at first but they’re
actually quite easy to learn using the IWCF preformatted kill sheets that you’re allowed
to use during the test. I’ve included a sample IWCF Kill Sheet Exercise below to show
you how to fill out a typical Kill Sheet similar to what you’ll find on an IWCF Level 2,
Level 3 or Level 4 exam. You can download a blank IWCF Kill Sheet from the IWCF
website here to fill out and follow along over the next section of this study guide.
Example Kill Sheet Problems with Explanations:
Hole Size: 8-1/2 inch
Hole Depth: 10450 (TVD/MD)
Casing Shoe: 9-5/8 inch 7800 feet (TVD/MD)
Internal Capacities:
Drill Pipe: 5 inch 0.0172 bbl/ft
Heavy Weight Drill Pipe: 5 inch, length 723 feet, capacity 0.0088 bbl/ft
Drill Collars: 6-1/2 x 2-13/16 inch, length 912 feet, capacity 0.0077 bbl/ft
Choke Line: 2-1/2 inch ID, length 415 feet, capacity 0.0061 bbl/ft
Marine Riser Length: 400 feet, capacity 0.3892 bbl/ft
Annulus Capacities Between:
Drill Collars in Open Hole: 0.0292 bbl/ft
Drill pipe/HWDP in Open Hole: 0.0447 bbl/ft
Drill pipe/HWDP in Casing: 0.0478 bbl/ft
Drill Pipe in Riser: 0.3638 bbl/ft
Mud Pump Data:
Displacement at 98% volumetric efficiency 0.12 bbl/stroke
Slow pump rate data:
@45 SPM through the riser 780 psi
@45 SPM through the choke line 900 psi
Other relevant information:
Active surface volume 480 bbls
Drill pipe closed end displacement 0.0254 bbl/ft
Formation strength test data:
Surface leak-off pressure with 11 ppg mud 1900 psi
Kick Data:
The well kicked at 10450 ft vertical depth
Shut in drill pipe pressure 550 psi
Shut in casing pressure 820 psi
Pit gain 10 bbl
Mud Density 11.5 ppg

Completed IWCF Subsea Kill Sheet with


Detailed Explanations:
The following IWCF kill sheet has been completed with the above
data:
Title Bar:

Remember to put your name and date on your sheet!

Formation Strength Data:

For this section, you need to fill in the blocks using the data from the example kill sheet
data pages above. For (A) you use the surface leak-off pressure from the “Formation
Strength Test Data” section. For (B) you use the mud weight used during the surface
leak-off pressure test from the same section. (C) is calculated by plugging (A) and (B)
into the formula given to you in the box.

Caution: If you do your calculations correctly, you’ll come up with 15.6844 ppg. Since
mud weights are generally recorded to one decimal place (tenths) you’ll need to round
15.6844 ppg. However, you CAN’T round up because you will exceed the maximum
allowable mud weight if you round up to 15.7. You must round down to 15.6 ppg to
record the proper maximum allowable mud weight on the kill sheet.
Mud Pump Data and Slow Pump Rate Pressures:

The mud pump pressure section of the kill sheet is filled out almost entirely from
information from the data sheet you’re given at the start of the test. The displacement
per stroke of the pump is given to you as well as the slow pump rate data through the
riser and the choke line. The only thing you’ll need to calculate in this section is the
choke line friction loss which is simply the difference between the slow pump rate in the
Choke Line (900) and the slow pump rate in the riser (780) = 120.

Current Well Data:


The information for this section is also pulled from the example kill sheet problem data.
Marine Riser and Choke line length are given to you on the data sheet in the “Internal
Capacities” section. Drilling mud weight is given to you in the “Kick Data” section.
Casing size and measured depth (MD) and total vertical depth (TVD) are given to you at
the very top of the kill sheet problem as well as the Hole Size and Hole Depth in MD and
TVD.

Caution: Remember the difference between Total Vertical Depth (TVD) and Measured
Depth (MD). Measured depth is used when calculating volumes of fluids. TVD is used
when calculating hydrostatic pressures. For example, you would use MD when
calculating the volume of fluid in the drill pipe but you would use TVD when calculating
the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid in the drill pipe.
Drill String Volume:

Calculating the drill string volume is as simple as plugging the length of your drill pipe,
heavy weight drill pipe (hevi wall or HWDP) and drill collar into the drill string volume
section. The capacities for all three are given to you in the problem in the “Internal
Capacities” section. The only tricky thing is figuring out the drill pipe length. Since the
length of Heavy Weight Drill Pipe and Drill Collars are given to you, all you need to do is
subtract these two values from the total MD of the well to find the drill pipe length. In our
example problem this would be 10,450 – 723 – 912 = 8815.

Once you’ve plugged in the length of each section of drill string and the capacities you
simply multiply each row to find the barrels of mud in each section and add them up to
find the total drill string volume. After you find the total drill string volume (165 bbls in our
example) you divide the bbls by the pump displacement per stroke (.12 bbls in our
example) to figure out how many strokes of the mud pump are needed to completely
displace the drill string (165/.12 = 1375). Once you’ve calculated the pump strokes
needed to displace the riser, you divide the total strokes by the strokes per minute
(SPM) of the mud pump to find out how much time would be needed to totally displace
the volume of the drill string. Since our mud pump is pumping at 45 SPM we get
1375/45 spm = 30.5 minutes.

Open Hole and Total Annulus/Chokeline Volume:


This section is filled out very similar to the section above except now you’re calculating
the volume of mud in the open hole and casing minus the space taken up by the drill
pipe, HWDP and Drill Collars.

You’re given the length of the drill collars in the data sheet for the problem. To find the
length of DP and HWDP in the uncased section of the well (the open hole section) you
need to first find out how much open hole you have. You do this by subtracting the shoe
TVD from the TVD of the entire well (10450-7800 = 2650 feet of open hole). Since 912
feet of this open hole is filled with drill collar, the rest (2650’ – 912’ = 1738’) is the length
of drill pipe/HWDP in the hole.

Total Well System Volume:

The total well system volume is calculated by adding values (D) and (I) from above
which gives you 624.8 bbls. Divide this by your pump displacement per stoke (.12
bbls/stroke) to calculate the total strokes this represents (5207 strokes). From here
divide this by the SPM you’re using (45 SPM) and this will tell you how long it will take to
displace the Total Well System Volume with the mud pump (115.7 minutes).

The active surface volume is given to you in the data sheet so you record it in this
section and then divide it by the pump displacement (.12 bbls/stroke) to find out how
many strokes it would take to displace the active surface volume.

Total active fluid system volume is calculated by adding the previous two volumes and
strokes together.

Marine riser length is given to you on the data sheet in the “Internal Capacities” section
as well as the annulus capacity with drill pipe in the riser in the “Annulus Capacities
Between” section.
Caution: Make sure you use the Riser capacity with drill pipe in the riser vs. the riser
capacity that is listed in the “Internal Capacities” section which does not account for lost
capacity due to the drill pipe being in the riser.
Kick Data Section:

The kick data section is filled with information directly off the kill sheet data page in the
“Kick Data” section.

Kill Mud Weight:

Kill mud weight is calculated by plugging the numbers into the formula provided in the
section. You’re already given Shut-in Drill Pipe Pressure (SIDPP), the TVD of the well
and the current mud weight. All you need to do is plug the numbers in and calculate the
mud weight needed to kill the well. If you’ve run the numbers correctly you should get a
calculated kill weight mud of 12.5121 ppg. Kill mud is usually recorded to one decimal
place so it would be natural to want to round this value down to 12.5 ppg. However you
always round up kill mud weight to the nearest tenth so 12.5121 would be rounded to
12.6 ppg. The reason being if you made it 12.5 ppg, there wouldn’t be enough
hydrostatic pressure created in the well to “kill” the well.

Caution: Remember you always round up Kill Mud Weight to the nearest tenth and
you always round down your Maximum Allowable Mud Weight to the nearest tenth.
Initial Circulating Pressure:
You calculate initial circulating pressure (ICP) by simply adding the Dynamic Pressure
Loss through the riser (780 in our example) to the Shut In Drill Pipe Pressure (550)
given us 1330 PSI in our example. This is the pressure you expect to see on the drill
pipe pressure gauge when first starting to circulate out the kick.

Final Circulating Pressure:

You calculate the final circulating pressure by dividing your new kill mud weight by the
current mud weight and then multiply this value by the same dynamic pressure loss you
used above. This is the pressure you expect to see on the drill pipe gauge once all of
the kill mud is pumped down the drill string and is starting to enter the annulus.
PSI Drop Per 100 Strokes:

This section is where you calculate the pressure drop per every 100 strokes of the mud
pump as you start pumping heavier kill weight mud down the hole. All you do is find the
difference between the ICP and FCP that you calculated above and then plug that
number into the next formula where you multiply it by 100 and divide it by the (E) which
is the number of strokes needed to displace the drill sting.

When you start pumping kill weight mud down the hole you need to be at or above the
ICP to ensure you don’t let more formation fluids into the hole. As the drill string is
displaced with the heavier weight mud (and therefore creating more hydrostatic
pressure) you’ll need to adjust the drill pipe pressure down using the choke to keep the
bottom hole pressure constant. In other words, for every 100 strokes you pump with
your mud pumps the drill pipe pressure should drop 34.5 psi (based on our example kill
sheet).

Pressure per Stroke Table:


Once you’ve calculated your ICP, FCP and pressure drop per 100 strokes, you can fill
out the strokes/pressure table (step down chart) to the right. In the left hand column
start at 0 and increase in 100 stroke increments until you get to the total number of
strokes needed to displace the drill string (1375 in our example). On the right hand side
start with your ICP and decrease the pressure by 34.5 psi (calculated in the previous
section) for every 100 strokes until you get to the FCP. It looks complicated but it really
isn’t after you’ve done it a couple times.

Graphing the Pressure Drop from ICP to FCP:


The last part of the ICWF Kill Sheet is plotting out the pressure drop per 100 strokes as
you go from ICP to FCP when pumping kill weight mud down the drill string. It is usually
not required on an actual IWCF exam but in case you wanted to know what it might look
like, here you go!

Understanding the Formulas:


One nice thing about the IWCF exam is that you’ll be given a copy of the IWCF formula
sheet to use as part of your test. Although this is convenient, I’ll warn you not to get over
confident about taking the exam. At first, I thought that as long as I had the formula
sheet available I didn’t really need to study the problems. The truth is, the more you
understand the formulas and when to use them, the better off you’ll be come test day.

The IWCF exam almost always gives you WAY more information than you need to
answer the question. This is why it is so important to understand exactly what the
question is asking and which specific formula is needed to answer the question.

There will be many instances when you’ll need to refer to two or more formulas to get
the correct answer. Likewise, there will be times when you’re given a ridiculous amount
of information and the answer is actually given to you as part of the problem.

The more problems you go through, the more you will be exposed to the “tricky”
problems and the better prepared you’ll be for test day.
Try solving as many problems as you can without referring to the formula sheet. Try to
think your way through what the problem is asking and what you actually need to solve
for to get the answer.

For example, if you’re tripping pipe out “wet” and you want to know what the bottom hole
pressure drop is per stand of drill pipe, try to think your way through what you need to
solve for…
In this case you’re solving for three things:

First you need to figure out the volume of mud being displaced by the metal in each
stand of drill pipe that is being removed from the casing or riser (depending on if you’re
on a surface or subsea well). Since you’re pulling it “wet” you’ll also need to account for
the internal capacity of the drill pipe (full of mud) being removed as well (not just the
metal displacement).
Secondly, you’ll need to figure out how far the level of mud in the riser or casing will
drop per stand as each stand of drill pipe is pulled out (since you’re losing the metal
displacement volume and the internal capacity volume of the pipe, the mud level in the
casing or riser will drop).
Finally, you’ll need to calculate what the resultant pressure drop is per stand due to
the dropping fluid level in the riser or casing. For example, a 10 ft drop in fluid level
means a ten ft loss of hydrostatic pressure.
The good news is the formula sheet provided to you during the IWCF exam combines all
three of these calculations into one simple formula. The bad news is if you don’t
understand what is actually going on in the formula there is a good chance that you
won’t be able to adapt when a question is asked that isn’t exactly addressed by one of
the specific formulas (which happens quite a bit on the IWCF exam).

Understanding U-Tube, Bottom Hole and


Formation Pressure:
Another fundamental concept you’ll need to master to do well on the IWCF exam is
understanding U-Tube balance, formation pressure and bottom hole pressure.

Formation Pressure vs. Bottom Hole Pressure: Remember, formation


pressure is the actual pressure of the formation you are drilling into. Bottom hole
pressure is the pressure at the bottom of the well that is created by the hydrostatic
weight of the mud in the well plus any additional forces created by annular friction from
circulating mud through the well. The goal is to maintain bottom hole pressure above
formation pressure to prevent formation fluids from entering the well (i.e. taking a kick or
influx). On the flipside, if too much bottom hole pressure is applied to the formation you
could fracture the well which could allow drilling fluids to enter the formation (lost
circulation). In turn, this would cause the mud level in your well to drop which could
eventually lead to a drop in hydrostatic pressure which could allow a larger influx into the
wellbore.
U-Tube: You need to understand how the u-tube is
always balanced even though you may see different pressure readings on the drill pipe
and pressure gauges. In almost every IWCF well control situation, the casing gauge
reads higher than the drill pipe pressure. This is because the lighter “influx” (formation
fluid) on the casing side of the U-Tube is lighter and therefore exerting less pressure
down on the bottom hole than the “clean” drilling mud that is in the drill pipe side of the
U-Tube. This loss of hydrostatic pressure is compensated by the increase in casing
pressure.
In the example to the right, you can see that the drill string is full of clean drilling mud
even through there is an influx in the well. Because you have a known column of fluid in
the drill pipe you can figure out the formation pressure by simply adding the drill pipe
reading to the hydrostatic pressure of the drilling mud in the drill pipe. You can’t do this
with the casing gauge because you don’t know the density of the influx in the annulus of
the well (but it will almost always be less than the drilling mud). The additional 200 psi
on the casing gauge is the additional pressure needed to keep the U-Tube balanced
between the casing side and the drill pipe pressure side.

Understanding this concept is very beneficial when you start studying the practice
questions. It is especially helpful when determining what happens to casing pressure,
drill pipe pressure and bottom hole pressure when hydraulic changes are made when
circulating out a kick (plugged bit, change in pump speed, washed out choke, plugged
choke, etc.). It is equally helpful for P&P questions such as calculating the pressure at
the casing shoe when there are several different layers of fluid in the hydrostatic column.
As I mentioned with the formulas above, the more you can think your way through a
problem and understand what is being asked, the easier it will be for you to answer the
question.

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