Making a flow check to verify a kick can cause extra risks
- Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd., Dehradun (India)
In most cases, the driller should shut in the well immediately following the first indication of a kick rather than taking extra time to make a flow check. This extra time spent verifying a kick with a flow check can allow a larger influx into the well, making the kick harder to kill and increasing the load on the casing shoe. The risk of formation fracture increases tremendously if too much time is taken to shut in the well. For a kick to be killed successfully and quickly, it is of prime importance to detect the kick quickly and shut the well in at the earliest moment to minimize the possible quantity of formation fluid entering the well. A quick shut in is even more important for gas kicks than for saltwater or oil kicks because larger volumes of gas eventually exert higher pressure at the casing shoe as the gas expands up the hole. An example using a gas well illustrates these conclusions.
- OSTI ID:
- 131804
- Journal Information:
- Oil and Gas Journal, Vol. 93, Issue 47; Other Information: PBD: 20 Nov 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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