Presented by
T12: Introduction to Controlled Pressure Drilling
Instructor:
Kevin A. Schmigel, P.Eng., Weatherford International Ltd.Who should attend:
Drilling and completions, reservoir and exploitation engineers, and engineering technologists.Tutorial Description:
After exploiting Canada’s normally pressured reservoirs, we are now faced with an aging industry with fields having depleted pressures and encroaching water. Such fields encounter a multitude of drilling and completion hazards such as lost circulation, differential sticking of drillpipe, kick/loss scenarios and challenges setting casing at the required program depths, to mention only a few.New reservoirs typically lay below the depleted upper formations. These new reservoirs have higher pressures and can also have higher temperatures, resulting in increasingly complex drilling and completions programs. The various applications within Controlled Pressure Drilling® (CPDTM) have been specially designed from a technical application perspective to mitigate some of the hazards that generate the highest non-productive time (NPT) during a drilling and completions program. This course will examine the application of CPDTM throughout the wellbore from the surface casing right through to the producing reservoir has redefined the time to drill a well, both in Canada and internationally. The three main applications within CPDTM are as follows:
- Managed Pressure Drilling, (MPD)
- Underbalanced Drilling, (UBD)
- Performance Drilling, (PD)
The course will then focus on the different approaches to CPDTM and the various techniques based on upon technical analysis of the conventional drilling hazards. The key differences between a conventional drilling rig’s fluid management system and that of CPDTM will be described. Key well control differences will also be discussed, as CPDTM becomes the primary well control equipment and processes when employed on a drilling location.
The course will introduce a website application that all oil and gas exploration and production companies have access to for interactive CPDTM candidate selection. A live demonstration will be done with participant interaction. The course will close with a representative summary of real field results.