Opening New Exploration Frontiers With The Micro-Flux Control Method For Well Design

Santos, Hélio; Reid, P.; Lage, Antonio

doi:10.4043/16622-ms

Cited by 11 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The MFC method has been described in previous publications [6][7][8] and only a brief decription is given here. MFC is an advanced, automated closed-loop system based on detecting either a fluid gain or fluid loss, and keeping the volumes of either event as small as possible -a microinflux or micro-outflux.…”

Section: Micro-flux Control (Mfc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing and Automating Pressurized Mud Cap Drilling with the Micro-Flux Control Method

Santos

Muir

Sonnemann

et al. 2008

SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition

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Pressurized Mud Cap Drilling (PMCD) is a drilling technique that has been used for over seven years in many wells where conventional drilling proved impossible or uneconomic 1-5 . PMCD is typically used to drill fractured carbonates, where the pore and fluid loss gradient are virtually the same, resulting in total mud losses and kicks in the same hole section. However, it is not restricted to just carbonates, it can be used on any fractured rock that is very competent in respect to wellbore stability, or formations prone to severe to total loss with good wellbore stability characteristic.Traditional PMCD typically requires the periodic injection of sometimes large volumes of weighted mud into the annulus in order to maintain a reliable mud cap. The process is highly cyclical, often unpredictable, and can be prohibitively expensive. The process also requires highly skilled and experienced people to run it properly, an increasingly rare commodity these days.Use of the Micro-Flux Control (MFC) method with PMCD could permit the process to be automated and controlled to a much higher level of accuracy, allowing less experienced people to confidently run the system. While continuously injecting across the wellhead, and using delta flow as the control variable, the casing backpressure would be monitored. Casing pressure increases, indicating a loss of mud cap fluid downhole, would be automatically controlled by precise adjustment of the continuous delta flow, together with pressure monitoring, rather than by periodic injection of large volumes of fresh mud cap fluid. This paper will briefly describe the MFC method, rig up details and operational issues. It will also describe how to apply the procedure to automate and operationally enhance PMCD, explaining the benefits when compared

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Section: Micro-flux Control (Mfc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing and Automating Pressurized Mud Cap Drilling with the Micro-Flux Control Method

Santos

Muir

Sonnemann

et al. 2008

SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, this approach has two disadvantages: the first one is that when the formation fluid early invades wells; the excess flow is too small and difficult to be detected, which leads to a serious lag; the other one is that the type of overflow cannot be determined. Therefore, the existing detection methods cannot detect overflow accurately and reasonable plan cannot be made [5]. By monitoring the downhole microflow, the wellhead back pressure can be controlled and mud density can be finely adjusted to prevent from kick [6] and well leak disasters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on Overflow Monitoring Mechanism Based on Downhole Microflow Detection

Ge¹,

Hu²,

Chen³

et al. 2014

Mathematical Problems in Engineering

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The flow rate variation of the drilling fluid and micro-overflow loss is difficult to analyze. The purpose to prevent the occurrence of kick, lost circulation, and other complex conditions is not easy to be achieved. Therefore, the microflow-induced annulus multiphase flow rate and annulus pressure field model were studied, and a downhole microflow measurement system has been developed. A differential pressure type flow measurement was used in the system, and real-time downhole information was obtained to achieve deep, narrow windows and other safety-density complex formation security. This paper introduced a new bottom-hole flow meter which can measure the annular flux while drilling and monitor overflow and circulation loss. The accuracy and reliability of the MPD (managed pressure drilling) system can be improved obviously by applying the device; as a result, the safety of drilling is enhanced and the cost is reduced.

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Modeling the pressure characteristics of parallel chokes used in managed pressure drilling and related experiments

Liu

Zhang

et al. 2012

Pet. Sci.

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Based on the local resistance computation model for a choke valve and using the flow characteristics of choke valves, we studied the relationships between the back pressure of a parallel choke assembly and the opening extent of choke valves and developed a model to characterize the pressure regime of the manifold assembly. A comparison of pressure characteristic curves shows that a parallel choke manifold assembly has obvious advantages over the conventional serial type including high linearity of pressure-regulating characteristics curves, the elimination of the overshoot interval, wider effective regulating interval and the higher system security. Laboratory hydraulic experiments have validated the capability of a back pressure control model for the parallel choke assembly to accurately control pressure. This study is of great theoretical and practical significance to further improve the performance of chokes used in managed pressure well drilling.

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Opening New Exploration Frontiers With The Micro-Flux Control Method For Well Design

Abstract: Well design criteria for drilling conventionally are well established and have been in place for several decades.

Cited by 11 publications

References 24 publications

Optimizing and Automating Pressurized Mud Cap Drilling with the Micro-Flux Control Method

Optimizing and Automating Pressurized Mud Cap Drilling with the Micro-Flux Control Method

Research on Overflow Monitoring Mechanism Based on Downhole Microflow Detection

Modeling the pressure characteristics of parallel chokes used in managed pressure drilling and related experiments

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