A dynamic managed pressure well-control method for rapid treatment of gas kick in deepwater managed pressure drilling

During deepwater managed pressure drilling(MPD),the gas kick may occur in abnormally high-pressure formations.If the traditional well control method is adopted,the treatment time is long and the advantage of early gas kick detection of MPD is lost.The dynamic managed pressure well-control(MPWC)method can be used to rapidly treat gas kick in deepwater MPD.In this paper,considering the effect of large-variable-diameter annulus and complex wellbore temperature in deepwater drilling,a simplified model of non-isothermal gas-liquid two-phase flow was established for dynamic deepwater MPWC simulation.Using this model,the response characteristics of outlet flow and wellhead backpressure were investigated.The results indicated that the gas fraction,outlet liquid flow rate,pit gain and wellhead backpressure presented complex alternating characteristics when gas moved upwards in the wellbore due to the large-variable-diameter annulus.The outlet liquid flow rate would be lower than the inlet flow rate and the pit gain would decrease before the gas moved to the wellhead.The variation trend of the wellhead backpressure was consistent with that of the pit gain.When the gas-liquid mixture passed through the choke,the expansion or compression of the gas caused part of the choke pressure drop to be supplemented or unloaded,delaying the response rate of the wellhead backpressure.The wellbore temperature,borehole diameter and seawater depth had different effects on outlet flow rate,pit gain and wellhead backpressure.This research could provide a new idea for well control methods in deepwater managed pressure drilling.

Research on remote intelligent control technology of throttling and back pressure in managed pressure drilling

In order to reduce the non production time of drilling,improve the efficiency and safety of drilling,improve the economic effect of managed pressure drilling(MPD),and realize the intelligent control construction of digital oilfield.Based on the pressure control in MPD,this paper analyzes the pressure control drilling system,takes the wellhead back pressure as the controlled parameter,calculates the mathematical model of the throttle valve according to the characteristics of the throttle valve,the basic parameters and boundary conditions of pressure control drilling,and puts forward an improved particle swarm Optimization PID neural network(IPSO-PIDNN)model.By means of remote communication,VR technology can realize remote control of field control equipment.The real-time control results of IPSO-PIDNN are compared with those of traditional PID neural network(PIDNN)and traditional Particle Swarm Optimization PID neural network(PSO-PIDNN).The results show that IPSO-PIDNN model has good self-learning characteristics,high optimization quality,high control accuracy,no overshoot,fast response and short regulation time.Thus,the advanced automatic control of bottom hole pressure in the process of MPD is realized,which provides technical guarantee for the well control safety of MPD.

Revisiting fracture gradient:Comments on“A new approaching method to estimate fracture gradient by correcting MattheweKelly and Eaton's stress ratio”

A study performed by Marbun et al.[1]claimed that“A new methodology to predict fracture pressure from former calculations,MattheweKelly and Eaton are proposed.”Also,Marbun et al.'s paper stated that“A new value of Poisson's and a stress ratio of the formation were generated and the accuracy of fracture gradient was improved.”We found those all statements are incorrect and some misleading concepts are revealed.An attempt to expose the method of fracture gradient determination from industry practice also appears to solidify that our arguments are acceptable to against improper Marbun et al.'s claims.