TAMU - Pemex

Well Control

Lesson 18
Well Control Equipment
 Well Control Equipment
 High Pressure Equipment
 Casing Design
 Control System Equipment and Design
 BOPE Inspection and Testing
 Low-Pressure Equipment
 Equipment Arrangement:
- Design and Philosophy
2
 High Pressure Equipment
 Casing

 Casing Heads and Spools

 Stack Equipment

 Choke and Kill Line Equipment

 Drillstem Control Equipment

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Gradient Depth 0
lb/gal ft
2,000
Pore Press. Grad.
16.0 0
16.0 12,900 4,000

Frac.Press. Grad Depth, ft 6,000

17.53 0
17.53 10,100
8,000

Gas Gradient 10,000

2.89 0 GG BUG FPG
2.89 10,100
12,000
PPG
Backup Grad.
14,000
9.0 0
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0
9.0 10,100
Gradients, lb/gal

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 ( > FG = 0.91 psi/ft )

( at the surface )

1
( at the shoe )

... (7.2) ... (7.3)

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 7,676
Pressure Depth 0
psig ft
2,000
Pore Pressure
0.0 0 GP
10,712 12,900 4,000

Fracture Pressure 6,000

Depth, ft
0.0 0
9,191 10,100
8,000
FP

Gas Pressure 10,000

7,676 0 BUP
9,191 10,100 GP
10,292 10,100 12,000
10,712 12,900
PP
14,000
Backup Pressure
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000
0.0 0
Pressure, psig
4,718 10,100

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 7,676 9,211
Pressure Depth 0
psig ft

Gas Pressure 2,000

7,676 0 Preliminary Design
9,191 10,100
4,000

Backup Pressure Depth, ft

0 0 6,000
4,718 10,100
BUP GP
8,000
Press. Difference
7,676 0 Final Design
4,473 10,100
10,000

4,473 5,368
Design w/1.2 SF
12,000
9,211 0 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000
5,368 10,100
Pressure, psig

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Drillpipe rotation can cause severe erosion on the inside
of the casing. Clearly, this can result in a loss of casing
pressure integrity. 10
 Casing Heads and Spools

 After surface
casing is set, the
casing is cut
 And wellhead is
installed
 BOPE is N/U on
the wellhead

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Fig. 7.3
Casing
Heads
and
Spools

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 Stack Equipment
 Basic functions:
 Seal the well against the drillstring or open
hole and contain well pressure

 Provide a a full-bore opening to allow

passage of drilling and testing tools

 Permit unrestricted flow of fluids to the

choke line while the preventers are closed.

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 Stack Equipment
 Basic functions:
 Allow drillstring movement when the well
is shut-in to prevent sticking or allow
stripping

 Provide a way to allow fluids to be

pumped into the well below a closed
preventer

 Convey drilling fluid to the bell nipple and

flowline
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Annular Preventers

From “Guide to Blowout Prevention”

by WCS, the Well Control School
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 Ram Preventer

 Also, see Multimedia Lesson 2

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 Example 7.2
 Given:
 What is the minimum
 Closing ratio for closing pressure?
rams is 7.3
 Eq. 7.6 yields
 SIP = 9,000 psi
pw
 Closing friction pcl   pcp  pcf
rcl
= 200 psi
9,000
 Control-fluid p cl   200  300
7.3
friction loss
pcl = 1,733 psig
= 300 psi
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 Choke and Kill Line Equipment
Manual Choke Remote
Hydraulic Choke

 Also, see Multimedia Lesson 2

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Drillstem Control Equipment

Backpressure
Valves

Dart Type
Valve

 Also, see Multimedia Lesson 2

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 Control System Equipment
and Design

 Accumulator Design Principles

 Other Components

 Test Procedures

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 Accumulator Design
Principles
 Store hydraulic fluid under pressure to
operate the BOPE.

 Most utilize a precharge pressure of

1,000 psig and have a working
pressure of 3,000 psig.

 Precharge supplies the driving energy

when the bottle is fully depleted
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 3,000 psig
maximum

1,000 psig 1,150 psig 2,000 psig

?

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One annular preventer
three ram preventers

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149.4 gal

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 Low-Pressure Equipment

 Manifold Lines

 Mud-Gas Separators

 Degassers

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 Mud-Gas Separators

 Primary means of separating gas from

mud while controlling a kick, drilling
underbalanced, or circulating large
connection/trip gas.

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Fig. 7.19
Example
Mud-Gas
Separator

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 Excessive friction
pressure in flare line
Eq 7.8, The
Weymouth
equation can be …can cause evacuation
used to predict gas of the separator and
friction pressure gas can blow through
mud outlet

The allowable
separator pressure
is equal to:

pml = gm*hml

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 150-ft vent line, three sharp bends
Circulation Rate Equivalent Length = 360 ft
= 175 gal/min

Vent line Diameter = ?

Separator Diameter = ?

Mud Leg
7 ft
Height =

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36
 (time to vent gas)

Vvl qkr
Peak Rate in Vent Line = qvl 
Vch

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This equation is based on giving the mud enough retention time
for the gas to migrate upwards into the upper part of the chamber.

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 Degassers

 Remove gas from the mud just

downstream of the shale shaker

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Vacuum Degasser

Gas Cut Mud

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 Equipment Arrangement:
Design and Philosophy

 Diverters

 Stack Arrangement

 Kill Line Considerations

 Choke Line and Manifold Design

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 Diverters
 Diverters are used when the decision
has been made to NOT shut-in the
well on a kick

 Usually done prior to setting surface

casing

 Fear is that shutting in the well would

result in formation fracture and
broaching to the surface
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Diverter System
Diverter Lines should be
sized as large as
practical for two reasons.
1. To keep two phase
friction down, and,
2. Prevent plugging

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 Diverters
 When a well is put on diverter, the well
is out of control, and the goal is to
restore control as quickly as
possible.

 This is done by pumping mud as fast

as the pumps can while increasing
the mud weight.
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 Stack
Configuration
A

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Stack Configuration A

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 Stack
Configuration
B

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Stack Configuration B

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 Stack
Configuration
C

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Stack Configuration C

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 Stack
Configuration
D

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Stack Configuration D

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Choke Line and Manifold Design

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Choke Line and Manifold Design

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Fig. 7.28
Example
High-
Pressure
Choke
Manifold

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