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SafeKick - understanding what you are drilling

Friday, June 15, 2012

People involved in drilling a well should be able to see sophisticated information telling them exactly what is happening downhole and how close they are to the margins, not a stream of well logs, believes Helio Santos from SafeKick

The state of the art in drilling technology today is still for drillers to look at a range of complex logs of different raw data, such as pump pressure, torque, bit depth, weight on bit, rotation per minute and strokes per minute (see image).

Drillers, often working 12 hour shifts, are expected to continually process these logs to understand what is happening downhole, not an easy task.

The current system relies on the right individual looking at the right data at the right time to be able to understand its significance.

UK company SafeKick believes it can improve this, by providing drillers with far more useful information instead of just raw data, allowing them to clearly identify situations that could lead to future problems, such as well control and stuck pipe.

There is no reason why the displays which drillers and mudloggers use can't be more sophisticated, but at the same time much simpler to understand, believes company founder Helio Santos.

The information can be provided by combining the mud log data with a powerful simulation of what is happening downhole, and intelligent processing. SafeKick is building both.

The simulators SafeKick is building can also be used for planning the well, training and to review what happened during a drilling operation. It is the first integrated software platform for drilling covering the full cycle of a well: design, train, execution and learning.

This avoids the current scenario where people use different software and models in design, training and drilling, making it difficult for companies to compare what they thought would happen with what would actually happen. So it is hard to learn.

With SafeKick you can use the same software to plan the well, practise drilling it, train the crew in the procedures to be used, monitor the well in real-time following your plan, and adjust as necessary based on what is found different from the plan. And, last but not least, learn and improve for subsequent wells.

Questions to answer

In order to understand what is happening downhole, a few questions must be answered:

- Where is the bit? Inside the casing, open hole or riser?
- What is the well configuration? Casings, liners, shoe depths, diameters, top of cement?
- Is the BOP open or closed? Is the choke/kill line open or closed? Are they aligned to take returns from the well or to inject into the well?
- Where are and what are the fluids inside the drill string and annulus?
- What is the operation being conducted?
- What is the pore/frac pressure and pressure along the wellbore?
- Are we likely to be under or overbalanced? By how much?
- Is the well likely to be cleaned (without cuttings)?
- What are the expected conditions (pressures) in the next 3 hours?

SafeKick visualisation

SafeKick's visualisations (see screenshots) aim to display the right information needed to understand the situation of the wellbore and nothing more, so people are not overloaded with unnecessary data.

Everything is displayed on one screen, on a clear and intuitive way. And the same system can be used before, during and after the operation; and the same information can be available both on and off the rig.

Following the rational of providing valuable information and not the usual display of raw data, instead of just displaying the mud weight, pump strokes per minute, and revolutions per minute, the system displays the equivalent circulating density along the entire wellbore annulus.

Instead of providing just the rate of penetration and strokes per minute, the user sees the cuttings distribution in the annulus.

Instead of providing mud weight, the system shows the trip (pressure) margin.

Instead of providing the block position (height) the system displays the surge/swap pressures.

In order to calculate all this information SafeKick uses powerful hydraulic, thermal and mechanical models, taking into account the temperature and pressure effects on mud properties, the effect of pipe rotation, the effect of pipe movement (surge/swab), and the effect of cuttings load.

Modules under development include supporting drilling operations and well control. Future modules will include kick and loss detection, leak off test, BOP and casing tests, tripping and cementing.

Ultimately SafeKick aims to provide an accurate representation of all drilling steps - drilling, making connections, circulating, tripping and reaming in and out, washing down, pumping out, displacing pills, running and cementing liners and casings, and operations with the BOP closed (well control procedures, leak-off, casing and pressure tests).

Version 1

The first version of the SafeVision software was launched in January 2012. This Standalone version does not need real time data, and can be used for well design, training and simulation of the next operation. The version using real-time data is under field tests and will be launched in the next few months.

Associated Companies
» Safekick

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