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missing target well

Relief well planning has become a required safety measure for the drilling industry to ensure readiness in the eve
of a blowout. The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental...

 in Drilling It Safely, IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, News  Mar 6, 2014  0

By Joanne Liou, associate editor

Relief well planning has become a required safety measure for the drilling industry to ensure readines
in the event of a blowout. The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) requires
operators to submit detailed plans for two relief wells to receive a drilling permit, and similar
regulations are being adopted by other governments around the world. Surface location, well trajecto
planning, drilling considerations and specific service requirements, such as a well control specialist an
remote monitoring, must be considered for a successful relief well plan, Baker Hughes’ Vanessa
Flores said at the 2014 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference on 5 March in Fort Worth, Texas.

One of the first steps in relief well planning is to identify exclusion zones, areas where rig, boat and

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helicopter access is prohibited. Predicted

weather, loop currents, wind and, specifically,
hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico between
June and November must be considered to
minimize the positional uncertainties between
the relief well and the blowout, which also
affects the wellbore position, Ms Flores
explained.

Survey management plays an important role in

determining the position of the relief well. “The
program must optimize and maximize survey
accuracy, which is a combination between
MWD and gyros,” she said. “It should also
contain some methods that demonstrate the
survey tools are operating within the stated
tolerances.” Increased frequency of surveys can Survey management can play an important role
improve accuracy for the wellbore position, and determining the position of the relief well,
drill string interference helps to ensure there is Vanessa Flores of Baker Hughes said at the 2014
sufficient magnetic isolation to avoid magnetic IADC/SPE Drilling Conference on 5 March in Fort
influences. Worth, Texas.

The drilling of the relief well is the same as

drilling a normal wellbore, until a ranging tool is used. An S-shaped profile, which includes drilling,
locating, ranging, tracking and intercept, is preferred, Ms Flores stated, since it has less probability of
missing the target well compared with a J-shaped profile. The drilling tools are selected based on the
intersection of the blowout. “A mill and motor are used when intersecting cased-hole or fish, and a bi
and rotary steerable system is for intersecting open hole,” Ms Flores said.

Directional work continues halfway to the planned intersection, and once magnetic interference is
detected, the directional assembly is pulled out of hole, Ms Flores explained. Ranging tools using
wireline are run in hole to verify the exact intercept location. “The process continues until the blowou
and relief well are very close, then a liner is set to provide a positive alignment for penetration. After
the well is intercepted, ongoing communication needs to be established, and the handover to a well
control specialist needs to start.”

For more information, see IADC/SPE 168029, “Relief Well Planning.”

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