Early Kick Detection Methods and Technologies

Abstract

Early Kick Detection (EKD) is one of the most important areas for improvement in well control safety. The need for earlier, more accurate, more reliable kick detection across a wide range of drilling operations has become increasingly important as more operations are being conducted in deep water with increasingly tight pressure margins. In order to accomplish this, it is important to start measuring the indicators that have the greatest impact. This paper identifies and proposes two risk based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to kicks: how long it takes to positively identify a kick, and how long it takes to respond to a kick once the identification is made. These KPIs are the Kick Detection Volume (KDV) and the Kick Response Time (KRT) respectively. They provide the ability to directly measure kick detection and management approaches. A third metric, the Drilling Mode Kick Frequency (DMKF), while not a performance indicator, is critical to help determine the point at which drilling operation kicks are most likely to occur and thereby to aid in the evaluation of kick detection methodologies. This paper discusses and compares technical approaches to early kick detection including how they relate to safety, efficiency, and reliability over a range of common deep water operations. By identifying "actionable" indications of a kick, a general approach is suggested to help focus on technologies leading to the most likely improvements for EKD. Irrespective of the EKD optimization path chosen however, the proposed KPIs can be used to quantitatively evaluate and compare the performance of different technologies and operational strategies.

“Everything was fine”*: An analysis of the drill crew's situation awareness on Deepwater Horizon

“…As in all high risk domains, the system operators play a key role in protecting or endangering technical and human assets on the operational site. In drilling tasks, accurate monitoring of the well's state and recognition of "kick" indicators (when well control is lost, an influx of fluids into the well can occur, referred to as a "kick") are vital for effective responses to reduce the risk of adverse consequences such as a blowout (API, 2006;Fraser et al, 2014). Well control and kick detection act as essential process safety barriers.…”

Advances in Well Control: Early Kick Detection and Automated Control Systems

“…A well control incident occurs when there is a failure either of the barrier(s) or in activating the barrier(s) resulting in an unintentional flow of formation fluid into the wellbore, another formation or to the external environment [7,8]. The unintended flow of fluids from the formation into the wellbore (a kick) can occur due to several reasons such as insufficient drilling fluid weight (density), not properly filling the drilled hole either while tripping in or out of the well (adding pipe to the drill string to lower it further into the wellbore or removing pipe from the drill string to bring it closer to the surface), swabbing (a decrease in bottomhole pressure due pulling the drill string too quickly), cutting of the drilling fluid by the formation fluids (reduction of drilling fluid weight due to dilution with gas) and lost circulation.…”

How to recognise a kick: A cognitive task analysis of drillers’ situation awareness during well operations

“…Faster recognition of kick indicators is vital for an effective response to reduce the risk of adverse consequences (Fraser, Lindley, Moore & Vander Staak, 2014). Should a kick be recognised, the driller is required to remotely close the blow out preventer equipment on the sea floor to prevent the highly pressurised hydrocarbons from travelling up to the rig and resulting in a blowout, referred to as shutting in.…”