IADC/SPE Managed Pressure Drilling & Underbalanced Operations Conference & Exhibition

Start Date: September 17, 2024
End Date: September 18, 2024
Venue: Petrobras R&D
City: Rio de Janeiro
Country: Brazil

Join Blade Energy Partners at the 2024 IADC/SPE Managed Pressure Drilling & Underbalanced Operations Conference & Exhibition and visit our authored and co-authored presentations for the following papers. We will also be showcasing at booth #14. Be sure to stop by!

This world-recognized event focuses on technologies designed to control annular pressure during drilling, including Underbalanced Drilling (UBD), Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD), and Dual Gradient Drilling (DGD).

Tuesday, 17 September

MPD Deepwater Drilling: A Case Study of MPD Surface Back Pressure Implementation for a Sidetrack Exploration Well in the Gulf of Mexico:
Romar A Gonzalez Luis, Technology Development Engineer & Well Operations, Blade Energy Partners, Ronald Hapoff, Elie Meyer, Ken Hampshire, Murphy Oil Corporation, Andre Taques, Nolan Scott, German Guzman, Blade Energy Partners, Linden Duong, Ian Barker, Noble Corp (SPE 221443)
Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) proved instrumental in overcoming pressure management challenges during the sidetrack deepwater exploration well in the Gulf of Mexico. With conventional methods halted due to issues like losses and ballooning, MPD was deployed to address these operational hurdles. Despite unplanned events, the sidetrack with three casing strings reached the target depth on schedule. MPD was seamlessly integrated to acquire crucial subsurface data and manage operational complexities. Techniques for real-time pressure estimations were successfully used to obtain critical downhole information at decision point stages. This paper provides a detailed account of MPD design and operational challenges, including MPD’s role in ECD/mud-weight management, tripping strategies, and regulatory compliance, offering valuable insights and lessons learned for deepwater exploration.

MPD Helped Successfully Drill an Eastern European Well to TD After Multiple Failed Sidetracks in a Formation Fraught with Wellbore Instability and Formation Pressure Uncertainties: Omer Kaldirim, MPD Supervisor, Sagar Nauduri, Gildas Guefack, Robert Howell, Darin Fisher, Pruitt Tool & Supply, Pete French, Shell, Craig Leggett, Blade
A case study on how MPD enabled an exploration well to be successfully drilled to TD with formation pressure uncertainties and borehole breakout, with minimal mud losses, and 0 choke related NPT. The paper discusses MPD engineering planning and field execution to handle formation pressure changes and borehole breakout, along with choke performance as it relates to sudden pressure spikes and handling cuttings and cavings at the choke.

Managed Pressure Cementing in deepwater environment, evolving from saving the well with perfectly executed challenging primary cementing operations to bring back wells to productive life with state-of-the-art remedial cementing jobs on controlled pressure: Ben Kotara, Drilling Engineer, Beacon Offshore Engineering Jon Thain, Ryan Brinkley, Transocean, Clayton Christensen, Blade Energy, Maurizio Arnone, Pier Alvarado, Weatherford (SPE 221446)
A summary of the efforts, lessons learned, procedures, and practices worked together between service providers (MPD and Cementing), Operator, and Rig contractor to optimize the Managed Pressure Cementing process for our common operations in deepwater in extreme narrow operating scenarios, saving $35MM on possible remedial jobs as well as moving the technique to abandoned wells with unsuccessful primary cementing in complicated geopressure regimes and provide an MPD solution for the remedial cementing operation and bringing the well back to required local regulations.

Handling Gas-In-Riser – Part I: Fundamental Concepts and Calculations Underlying 2023 IADC Riser Gas Guidelines: Paul Sonnemann, SafeKick, Mario Ledes Mascarenhas Resende Teixeira, Equinor, Gavin Humphreys, Stena, Stan Christman, Pedro Cavalcanti de Sousa, Blade Energy Partners (SPE 221431)
This is Part I of a series of papers presented by the Gas-In-Riser subcommittee. This paper provides definition of terms and specifically addresses two fundamental concepts that are either little known or inconsistently applied to field operations, Riser Equilibrium and Riser Unloading. Following that, the concept of Riser Gas Tolerance (RGT) is also introduced. These concepts underly the 2023 IADC Deepwater RGH Guidelines and its RGT worksheet. The logic of related calculations (and derivation of formulae) is clarified, providing the industry with a consistent basis for evaluation or further development of practical riser gas handling procedural issues.

Handling Gas-In-Riser – Part II: Numerical Simulation of Riser Equilibrium Point (REP), Riser-Gas Tolerance (RGT) and Riser Unloading, and Validation of the 2023 IADC Deepwater RGH Guidelines Calculation Worksheet: Pedro Cavalcanti de Sousa, Technology Development Engineer, Oscar Gabaldon, Blade Energy Partners, Zhaoguang Yuan, SLB, Paul Sonnemann, SafeKick, Austin Johnson, NOV, Omer Kaldirim, Pruitt (SPE 221430)
This is Part II of a series of papers presented by the Gas-In-Riser subcommittee. This work presents a set of simulations used to estimate REP, RGT and riser unloading. Results indicate RGT are higher than expected, meaning risers can safely handle large volumes of gas without exceeding operational ratings. This holds true for existing surface equipment in many rigs and represents significant reduction in NPT while minimizing risks. Results also show that riser equilibrium is deeper in WBM, that riser unloading is more intense in WBM, and that the use of the RGT worksheet can give conservative safeguards to operations.