Page 344 - Practical Well Planning and Drilling Manual

Section 3 revised 11/00/bc 1/17/01 12:00 PM Page 320

[ ] Practical Wellsite Operations
3.1.4

Company or government regulations may specify a minimum kick
tolerance, usually by hole size
Kick detection equipment on the rig (larger influx tolerance is
needed for less accurate equipment)
Level of crew training
Mud system in use; oil mud may dissolve a gas influx that comes
out of solution as it moves close to the surface. A smaller kick tol-
erance for the initial influx size may be needed and this may in turn
require improved equipment and crew training.

There will be times when you may need to drill ahead to find a
competent formation to set your next casing shoe in with a kick toler-
ance that is below the normal minimum. In this case, extra precautions
can be taken to minimize the chance of a kick and to catch it early if it
does occur. An alternative may be to set cement on bottom and run cas-
ing prior to drilling ahead.
Precautions may include all or some of the following:

Restricting the rate of penetration
Flowchecking every drillpipe connection or even more often
Circulating bottoms up after drilling a specified distance
Drilling for a specified distance, making a two- or three-stand trip,
and circulating bottoms up for trip gas
Making a short trip and circulating for trip gas before pulling out
of the hole

3.1.4. Well Killing in a High-Angle Well

Refer also to the notes on planning considerations for high-angle wells
in Section 2.2.4, “Well Control in High-Angle and Horizontal Wells.”
Operational considerations Once a kick is taken, plan for a
driller’s method kill in two circulations if any of the following condi-
tions apply:

Bit-to-shoe volume is less than surface-to-bit volume. In this case, the
heavy mud will give no reduction in open hole pressures while circu-
lating out the influx.

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