OTC 10894

OTC 10894

Deep Water Development Drilling from a Spar

C. P. Leach, Well Control & Systems Design Inc. and P. N. Stanton, Deep Oil Technology

Copyright 1999, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 1999 Offshore Technology Conference held in
Houston, Texas, 36 May 1999.
This paper was selected for presentation by the OTC Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Offshore Technology Conference or its officers. Electronic reproduction,
distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written
consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print
is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The
abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was
presented.
Abstract
This paper describes the design of a well system for
(1)
development drilling from a Spar . In particular, the
paper gives results of realistic well control modeling
which has been used to confirm the design
specifications for a system consisting of a surface BOP,
pressured riser and partial seabed BOP (split BOP).
Details of the pressures that would be expected from
typical Gulf of Mexico (GOM) deep water well kicks will
be given. The results of the work show:
Most kicks that will be encountered can be dealt
with using a pressured riser and a surface BOP if
this riser is rated to 3000 psi for surface holes and
6500 psi for deeper hole sections
A seabed choke and seabed BOP may be used
under certain circumstances to limit riser pressures
The well control system as conceived also allows for:
More effective deep water drilling when compared
to a conventional subsea drilling system casing
strings can be pushed further
A dual barrier such that failure of the riser during
drilling does not result in a blow-out
Many areas for potential cost savings when
compared with a conventional subsea drilling
system
The system is designed to fit the capabilities of a Spar.
The paper also shows how the design of the well system
leads to some cost savings for the Spar system as a
whole.
Introduction
Up until now, drilling operations in the ultra deep waters
of the Gulf of Mexico have generally been carried out
using a conventional drilling system consisting of a
seabed (subsea) BOP and a non-pressured marine
drilling riser. If a kick occurs, the seabed BOP is closed.
The kill circulation path is through the drillstring to the bit,
up the well annulus to the seabed and then through the
choke or kill line (or both) to the choke manifold located
on or close to the drilling rotary table.
This type of system has its merits but also its drawbacks
which include:
1. Significant friction pressures which are transmitted
back through the well when circulating through the
long choke and kill lines
2. Complex seabed equipment
3. Potential high gas rates at the surface resultant from
small undetected swabbed kicks (subsequently
circulated through the riser) when synthetic oil base
(2)
mud (SOBM) is in use
The work described in this paper used a realistic well
(3)
control simulator (RF Kick) and an underbalanced
drilling simulator (RF Dynaflodril)
(4)
to examine an
alternative well system that could be used from a Spar
and that would:
eliminate (for the most part) the drawbacks of the
conventional system
provide all required well control capabilities
allow for cost effective drilling.
Several key requirements had to be met. These were:
1. Ability to deal with the pressures and other
conditions that are likely to occur
2. Ability to be able to deal with a catastrophic event
(for example, evacuation of the wellbore following a
well flow that has gotten out of control)
3. Provision of a back up such that a single point failure
does not cause the loss of the well
As is often the case when looking at realistic problems,
2 C. P. LEACH & P. N. STANTON
the complexities of the underlying systems must be
examined and understood. For this work, both water
base mud (WBM) and synthetic oil base mud (SOBM)
were considered. Methane gas was considered to be
the chief constituent of the influx. The solubility of this
gas within the SOBM had to be considered. More
detailed work is required once a specific mud system
has been chosen. It should also be understood that in
many cases, well control will be much easier if the influx
is oil with some associated gas.
Description of Well System
Figure 1 shows the overall well system layout and
operation for this work. As well as the surface BOP, two
rams (not shown in detail) would be positioned at the
seabed. One would be equipped with a pipe/flex ram
and one with a shear ram. An extra set of pipe/flex rams
may be added for redundancy.
A 19 ID riser was selected as the base riser case. An
alternative 13 ID riser was used for some of the runs at
deeper reservoir depths and with the smaller hole sizes.
This may be in the form of an inner (concentric) riser
(5)
such as that described by Herrmann et al.
Alternatively, the smaller ID riser may be installed as a
(1)
separate non-concentric riser.
Results Use of Surface BOP and Choke
In this case only the surface BOP and choke were used
during shut in and kill operations. Each kick was
therefore circulated through the riser. A typical GOM
(3)
well was modeled using the RF Rogalands Kick
simulator. Modeling runs were made at each casing
shoe setting depth (Total Depth of each hole section).
The total depth (TD) of the well was 25,000 ft and the
water depth was 8000 ft. Figure 2 provides a summary
of the well pressure information. All the modeling runs
used the Drillers method, which relies on maintaining
bottom hole pressure constant just above the formation
pressure and requires two circulations.
The results from each run give the maximum (surface)
choke pressure and the maximum differential pressure
at the riser base that would be generated as each kick
was circulated out. These pressures at the top and
bottom ends of the riser give the extremes of internal
pressure that the riser must withstand during a well
control operation. The riser can therefore be specified
based on these pressures.
In each case, the well was shut in using the surface
BOP. The circulation path was down the drillpipe, up the
well annulus to the seabed, up the riser annulus to the
surface choke and then through the surface choke and
the surface processing equipment. The casing shoe and
other exposed formations were assumed to be strong
enough to withstand wellbore pressure acting on them
OTC 10894
during the kill circulation this assumption was made
simply because loss of circulation during well control
was not the focus of this work.
The riser base differential pressure is defined as the
inside pressure at the base of the riser minus the sea
water hydrostatic pressure (which acts on the outside of
the riser). In turn, the inside pressure at the base of the
riser consists of the choke pressure plus the hydrostatic
pressure of the column in the riser that consists of a
mixture of gas and drilling mud.
Note that for all of the runs the influx has consisted of
gas (methane). This produces a worst case. If the
influx consisted of a live oil (i.e with associated gas),
then the pressures and magnitudes of the effects seen
would be greatly reduced. It is beyond the scope of this
work to discuss this topic, but it is fully feasible to take
such an effect into consideration when designing a well
system for development drilling into a known reservoir.
Table 1 shows the parameters used for each kick
modeled.
24 Hole Section @ 12000 ft (19 Riser). Figure 3
shows the maximum choke pressure and the maximum
riser base differential pressure that would be generated
as each kick was circulated out for a range of kick sizes.
For this section a 500 barrel kick generated a maximum
choke pressure of 1320 psi and a maximum riser base
differential pressure of 1460 psi.
16 Hole Section @ 13500 ft (19 Riser). Figure 4
shows the maximum choke pressure and the maximum
riser base differential pressure that would be generated
as each kick was circulated out.
For this section a 530 barrel kick in OBM generated a
maximum choke pressure of 1700 psi and a maximum
riser base differential pressure of 2360 psi. A 530 barrel
kick in WBM generated a maximum choke pressure of
1660 psi and a maximum riser base differential pressure
of 2500 psi.
14.75 Hole Section @ 17000 ft (19 & 13 Riser)
Low and High Pressure Kicks. Figure 5 shows the
maximum choke pressure and the maximum riser base
differential pressure that would be generated as each
kick (low pressure, 19 riser) was circulated out. For
these runs a 430 barrel kick generated a maximum
choke pressure of 2230 psi and a maximum riser base
differential pressure of 3500 psi.
Figure 6 shows the maximum choke pressure and the
maximum riser base differential pressure that would be
generated as each kick (high pressure, 19 riser) was
OTC 10894 DEEP WATER DEVELOPMENT DRILLING FROM A SPAR
circulated out. For these runs a 440 barrel kick
generated a maximum choke pressure of 4400 psi and a
maximum riser base differential pressure of 5600 psi.
Figure 7 shows the maximum choke pressure and the
maximum riser base differential pressure that would be
generated as each kick (low pressure, 13 riser) was
circulated out. For these runs a 418 barrel kick
generated a maximum choke pressure of 2230 psi and a
maximum riser base differential pressure of 3450 psi.
8.5 Hole Section @ 25000 ft (19/13 Riser). Figure
8 shows the maximum choke pressure and the
maximum riser base differential pressure that would be
generated as each kick was circulated out.
For this section a 209 barrel kick in the 19 riser
generated a maximum choke pressure of 3750 psi and a
maximum riser base differential pressure of 6350 psi. A
230 barrel kick in the 13 riser generated a maximum
choke pressure of 3900 psi and a maximum riser base
differential pressure of 6600 psi.
In each case, the maximum choke and riser base
differential pressures occurred at shut in and with the
influx below the seabed (within the 8 hole section).
Results Use of a Seabed Choke
A system which includes a seabed choke could be used
to deal with very large kicks which are beyond the
capability of the equipment above the seabed (riser
and/or surface BOP). The well control system is more
complex for this situation. In essence there are two
systems with two chokes that are interlinked. For
modeling purposes, the system was split into two. The
lower system consisted of the well from the seabed
downwards and the upper system (essentially the riser)
from the seabed upwards.
(3)
The lower system was modeled using the RF Kick
simulator. The gas/mud mixture passing through the
choke was then used as the input to the model for the
(4)
upper system. In this case the RF Dynaflodril
(underbalance drilling simulator) was used.
A large kick from the 8 section (230 barrels with the
13 riser - see Table 1) was selected for this part of the
work. Both OBM and WBM were simulated. The results
of these runs using the split BOP were compared with:
The 230 barrel kick (surface BOP only) in OBM
shown in Figure 8
The same kick (surface BOP only) but with WBM
The same 230 barrel kick circulated through a
conventional system with a subsea BOP and a 6
choke line (OBM)
The same 230 barrel kick circulated through a
3
conventional system with a subsea BOP and a 6
choke line (WBM)
A total of six runs were therefore made.
The top half of Figure 9 shows the maximum surface
choke pressures for each of these (6) runs. In addition
the maximum pressure across the seabed choke is
shown for the two runs made with the seabed choke.
This maximum pressure across the seabed choke is
added to the appropriate maximum surface choke
pressure. The result is a bar graph that suggests that a
certain total maximum choke pressure is required to kill
the well. This can either be applied solely at surface or
as a combination of surface and seabed choke pressure.
The lower half of Figure 9 shows the maximum pressure
that would be exerted at the base of the riser and at the
surface choke. The bottom of the solid bar corresponds
to the maximum choke pressure and the top of the bar to
the maximum differential pressure at the base of the
riser. The spread (or height) of the bar shows the range
of (maximum) differential pressures that would be
applied over the length of the riser.
For the OBM case the absolute riser base pressure
(pressure inside of the riser and downstream of the
seabed choke) was held at 6150 psi for the duration of
the kill. This resulted in a small seabed choke
differential pressure of about 200 psi once all of the
influx had been circulated above the seabed. This also
resulted in a maximum riser base differential pressure of
2530 psi. The maximum surface choke pressure was
1800 psi. These pressures should be compared with a
maximum riser base differential pressure of 6600 psi and
maximum choke pressure of 3900 psi for the same kick
when only a surface choke was used (see Figure 8).
The WBM case was more difficult to model. The
required surface choke pressure was very low once the
bulk of the gas had passed through and this made the
simulation somewhat unstable. A constant surface
choke pressure (1000 psi) was therefore selected as a
potential operating point and the simulation of the riser
kill was then run successfully. Given these conditions,
the maximum riser base differential pressure was 3100
psi. No equivalent surface only case was run for WBM,
but the comparable maximum riser base differential
pressure would again be about 6600 psi.
Figure 10 shows the maximum gas rates that would be
seen at surface for these kills. Note the very high rate
(28.8 mmscf/d) that would result from the combination of
WBM and a low constant surface choke pressure of
1000 psi. (further work is required to confirm this high gas rate)
Using a higher (constant) surface choke pressure (2200
4 C. P. LEACH & P. N. STANTON
psi) was also simulated. This resulted in a maximum
gas rate of about 11 mmscf/d. However, this higher
choke pressure cannot be applied for the duration of the
kill as an overpressure would then be applied to the
complete wellbore during the latter stages of the kill. In
this case, a viable approach may be to apply the
constant (2200 psi) surface choke pressure at the start
of the kill and revert to a second constant choke
pressure once the bulk of the gas has passed through
the surface choke.
The different gas rates shown result from the different
combinations of the gas volumes and transient mud and
gas voids upstream of the surface choke.
For both WBM and SOBM, use of the seabed choke
dramatically reduced the surface choke pressure and the
maximum riser base differential pressure.
Significant further work is required to properly optimize
the operation of such a system. This work shows that
such a 2-choke system is possible.
Alternative Well Control Approaches
Use of either the surface choke or the combined seabed
and surface choke suggests a conventional approach
to well control and circulation of a kick. Bullheading
provides an alternative to using the seabed choke for the
case where the pressures are too high to handle using a
surface choke/BOP. Bullheading has been used in
some deep water well control operations particularly
wells where lost circulation has occurred. The downside
of bullheading has been:
operations that have taken a week or more and
a high potential for loss of the BHA and open hole.
However, bullheading may be a viable back-up for this
well system. The operation would run as follows after a
major kick had occurred/been detected:
Shut well in at seabed
Assess surface pressures and other pressures on
riser system as being too great to handle using the
surface choke/BOP
Bullhead well through kill line
Bullheading may work better for smaller hole sizes and
when OBM/SOBM is in use. It should be noted that
further experimental work and field measurements are
required to fully understand the mechanisms and
limitations of this procedure such that it can be properly
applied in all cases.
Dealing with Small (Swabbed) Kicks
One of the problems of the conventional system when
used with SOBM is that a small (undetected) swabbed
kick can be circulated up the riser to just below the rotary
OTC 10894
table where the gas will come out of solution and may
(2)
result in a significant gas flow . This event is routinely
dealt with on land and jack-up rigs by circulating
bottoms-up through the choke. The well system
described here allows for the same solution. In doing
so, not only is safety increased, but also there is the
potential for drilling further below a casing shoe, possibly
even eliminating a casing string.
Dealing with a Blow Out in Progress
Although this capabilty is unlikely to ever be needed, any
well system should be designed such that a blowing out
well can be shut in. This implies that the well equipment
(BOP, riser etc) should be capable of shutting in on a
pressure consisting of the fracture pressure of the
formation at the casing shoe minus a column of gas
back to the position of the equipment. For the case of
the seabed rams and choke, this implies that the seabed
BOP and the casing strings below the wellhead should
be designed to this potentially high pressure. For the
case of a surface BOP without any seabed BOP, the
riser must also be rated to this high pressure. For the
well given as an example in this paper, this implies a
maximum surface pressure of about 12,700 psi. (21,000 ft
x 15.5 ppg x 0.052 21,000 ft x 0.2 psi/ft).
This high pressure requirement would result in a very
thick riser wall and very heavy riser.
Riser Specification Implied by Modeling Results
After reviewing the results given in Figures 2 8, it is
concluded that most kicks that will be encountered can
be dealt with using a pressured riser and a surface
system if the riser is rated to:
3000 psi (19 ID - for surface holes)
6500 psi (13 ID - for deeper hole sections)
Note that the results presented in Figure 6 are well
above the 3000 psi rating for a 19 ID riser. However,
the high pressure kicks modeled for these cases had a
shut in pressure of 2610 psi, which equates to a kick
intensity of 3 ppg. Given current technology, this high
kick intensity is unlikely on exploration wells and
unimaginable on development wells where formation
types and pressures are relatively well known.
Well Control Procedures (Using Both Seabed and
Surface Chokes)
Well control procedures for the well system described
here which includes the lower pressure rated riser and
both surface and seabed chokes will be very similar to
those established over many years for conventional
systems. A summary of the required steps is:
Initial shut in using surface BOP unless a blow out
has occurred when shut in would be made using the
seabed ram
OTC 10894 DEEP WATER DEVELOPMENT DRILLING FROM A SPAR
Shut in on seabed ram following assessment that
potential circulating pressures will exceed maximum
desirable riser pressure
Adjust surface riser pressure to obtain the inside
riser base pressure selected
Bring pump up to speed
Maintain seabed choke pressure constant
and establish circulating pump pressure
Adjust surface choke to maintain required
inside riser base pressure
Maintain established circulating pump pressure
using the seabed choke
Maintain required inside riser base pressure using
the surface choke
A second circulation would be made using either a pump
pressure schedule or a constant seabed choke pressure
while kill weight mud was being pumped to the bit.
Constraints for Deep Water Drilling Imposed by GOM
Conditions
A dual barrier is strongly suggested for deep water GOM
drilling. This is required because GOM reservoirs are
typically abnormally pressured and drilling is carried out
without a riser margin. If the riser fails and the column of
mud in the riser is lost (the pressure at the base of the
riser becomes that of a column of seawater instead of a
column of mud), then a blow out would occur from any
exposed reservoir section. Inclusion of the limited
seabed BOP (1 pipe ram plus 1 shear ram) provides for
a back-up barrier for such an event and also provides
the primary barrier in the event of a large well control
incident which is beyond the capability of the riser
pressure rating and/or surface BOP and equipment.
Other Spar Riser Design Issues
It is beyond the scope of this paper to address other
Spar riser design issues. These are addressed
elsewhere.
(6)
Conclusions
1. Use of a pressured riser and surface BOP and
choke is viable and it should be possible to use this
system for most GOM kicks
2. A 13 riser would be better for smaller hole sizes
than a 19 riser. The smaller riser may be run as a
liner or as a separate riser.
3. Provision of two seabed rams and a seabed choke
allows the riser pressure rating to be significantly
reduced. Further work is required such that the
exact requirement and operation can be specified.
4. The suggested rated working pressure for the 19 ID
riser is 3000 psi and for a 13 ID riser is 6500 psi.
5. Oil kicks will result in significantly less extreme
conditions than those shown in this work.
6. Use of SOBM will typically simplify the kick
circulation operation.
5
7. Provision of the two ram seabed BOP provides for
back up in the event of an out-of-control well or a
failure of the riser.
8. Bullheading may be a viable option for regaining
control after taking a large kick that is beyond the
capabilities of the riser and/or surface BOP
equipment. Note that further work is required to
better understand bullheading operations such that a
high success rate will be attained.
9. The combination of a large kick, WBM, low surface
pressure and large ID riser, (which is the case for
one example in this paper) leads to a very high
surface gas rate. This gas rate will require surface
separation equipment that is not generally currently
available. It should be noted that this higher gas
rate may be lessened by selecting a higher surface
choke pressure.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express thanks to the
mangements of their companies who gave permission
for this work to be published and for the work of their
peers in assisting with the work and with reviewing the
content of the paper. Special thanks is due to Dave
Schwartz of Well Control & Systems Design.
References
(1) Stanton, P.N., Glanville, R.S., LeJune, J.L., and
Chao, J.C.-: Deep Water Drill Spar, The Deep
Offshore Technology Conference, New Orleans,
LA, 17-19 November, 1998
(2) Leach, C.P. and Roche, J.R.-: Avoiding Explosive
Unloading of Gas in a Deepwater Riser, Offshore
Magazine, January 1, 1998
(3) Hovland, F. and Rommetveit, R.-: Analysis of
Gas-Rise Velocities from Full-Scale Kick
Experiments, SPE Paper 24580 presented at the
th
67 Annual Tech. Conf. And Exhibition of the
SPE, Washington, DC, October 4-7, 1992
(4) Wang, Z., Vefring, E.H., Rommetveit, R.,
Bieseman, T., Maglione, R., Lage, A.C.V.M and
Nakagawa, E.-: Underbalanced drilling model
simulates dynamic well bore conditions, Oil &
Gas Journal., July 7, 1997
(5) Herrmann, R.P., Shaughnessy, J.M. and Beynet,
P.A.-: Concentric Drilling Risers for Ultra
Deepwater, SPE/IADC 39297, SPE/IADC Drilling
Conference, Dallas, TX, 1998
(6) Finn, L.-: Reliable Riser Systems for Spars,
th
Proceedings of the 17 International Conference
on Offshore mechanics and Artic Engineering,
ASME, Lisbon, Portugal, July 1998
6 C. P. LEACH & P. N. STANTON OTC 10894

Figure 1 : Overall Well System Layout Use

of Surface or Seabed and Surface
Chokes

Adjustable Adjustable
Choke Choke
Surface Surface
BOP BOP
Mud/Gas Mud/Gas
Separator Separator

Water
Depth Marine Riser
Marine Riser
13 or 19 ID
13 or 19 ID

Seabed BOP Seabed BOP

& Choke & Choke
Seabed

Potential
Producing Potential
Producing

Handling all but Handling Largest

Largest Kick - Kick - Seabed PLUS
Surface BOP/Choke Surface BOP/Choke
Only
OTC 10894 DEEP WATER DEVELOPMENT DRILLING FROM A SPAR 7

Figure 3: 24 Hole Section @ 12000 ft (19 Riser)

Figure 2: Well Pressure Summary

1600
0
1400 Riser Base Diff Press

Pressure (psi)
1200

1000
Choke Press
5000
800

600

Seabed - 8000 ft 400

Kick Size (bbl)
0 100 200 300 400 500
20 Casing
10000
Frac Grad 24 Hole

16 Liner
Mud Wt 16 Hole
13 3/8 Casing Figure 4: 16 Hole Section @ 13500 ft (19 Riser)
15000
14.75
Hole
11 3/4 Liner
2900
Depth (ft) 12 1/4 Hole Riser Base Diff Press
2400
20000

9 5/8 Casing 1900 Pressure (psi)

8 1/2 Hole 1400
Choke Press
Pressure (ppg) 900
25000
Kick Size (bbl)
8 10 12 14 16 18 400
0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Table 1. Inputs to Modeling

Hole TD/Csg Riser ID MW SIDPP Ref
Figure 5: 14.75 LP Hole Section @ 17000 ft (19 Riser)
Size Depth (in) (ppg) & (psi) Figure
(in) (ft) Type
24 12000 19 9.8 370 3 3600

10000 WBM 3100 Riser Base Diff Press

16 13500 19 10.9 400 4
12000 OBM 2600
Pressure (psi)

14.75 17000 19 11.5 400 5 2100

13500 OBM Choke Press
1600
14.75 17000 19 11.5 2610 6
13500 OBM 1100
14.75 17000 13 11.5 400 7 Kick Size (bbl)
600
13500 OBM 0 100 200 300 400 500
8.5 25000 13 15 600 8
21000 OBM 9
8 C. P. LEACH & P. N. STANTON OTC 10894

Figure 6: 14.75 HP Hole Section @ 17000 ft (19 Riser) Figure 9: Components of Total Choke Pressure (Top)
Riser Operating Pressure (Bottom)
(230 barrel Kick)

5300 Riser Base Diff Press Seabed Choke

6000 Surface Choke
4800

Pressure Across Choke (psi)

Pressure (psi)

4300 5000

3800 4000
Choke Press
3300 3000

2800
Kick Size (bbl)
2000
0 100 200 300 400 500

1000

0
Seabed + Surface Seabed + Surface Conventional Conventional
Surface only Surface only Subsea Subsea
Figure 7: 14.75 LP Hole Section @ 17000 ft (13 Riser) 8000
(OBM) (OBM) (WBM) (WBM) (OBM) (WBM)

Riser Operating Pressure (psi)

7000
6000
3600 5000

3100 4000
Riser Base Diff Press
3000 Choke Line
2600
2000
Pressure (psi)

2100
Choke Press 1000
1600 0

1100
Kick Size (bbl) Note: The higher operating pressure is always at the base of the riser.
600 The lower operating pressure is at the top of the riser (surface choke).
0 100 200 300 400 500

Figure 10 : Maximum Surface Gas Rate (mmscf/d)

Figure 8: 8.5 Hole Section @ 25000 ft (13 Riser) 35

30
Max Gas Rate (mmscf/d)

25
7000 20
6000 Riser Base Diff Press 15
Pressure (psi)

5000 10

4000 5

3000
0
Seabed + Surface Seabed + Surface Conventional Conventional
Choke Press Surface only Surface only Subsea Subsea
2000 (OBM) (OBM) (WBM) (WBM) (OBM) (WBM)
Kick Size (bbl)
1000
0 50 100 150 200 250