Page 4 - Well Control for Completions and Interventions

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In April 2010 I was teaching a Tubing Stress Analysis course to a group of
completion and drilling engineers from BP and Chevron at the Drilling
Training Alliance facility in Houston, Texas. On the morning of the 21st I
began to hear rumors of a major incident out in the Gulf of Mexico
involving the Deepwater Horizon; a semisubmersible drilling rig con-
tracted by BP to drill a well in the Macondo field. Switching on the news I
watched the first reports of the Macondo blowout. The BP engineers on
my course did not make it in that day, or for the rest of the week. In the
aftermath of the Macondo blowout, I became involved in the creation of a
Completion and Well Intervention Well Control course for the operating
company Shell. It was the writing of a Well Control Manual to accompany
that course that gave me the motivation to write this book.
Completions and Interventions covers an extremely wide range of dis-
ciplines and techniques; although I have spent almost 40 years working
exclusively in this field, I do not know everything and continue to learn.
In writing this book I have drawn heavily upon the huge range of litera-
ture available on the subject. I have also drawn upon the advice and
expertise of many subject matter experts. Thanks are due to Bob Baister
and Peter Plummer with whom I shared the challenging, but enjoyable
task of creating the advanced well control course for Shell. Thanks, are
also due to Jonathan Bellarby. His own experiences in writing the excel-
lent Completion Design book have enabled him to pass on a great deal of
very much needed advice and guidance. I would also like to thank Katie
Hammon and Kattie Washington at Elsevier for their endless patience; I
would originally thought this book would take about a year to write. It is
been nearer to 3 years!
This book was written from our home on the Isle of Skye; a wonder-
ful place to live, but far too many distractions. When the weather is fine
the urge to be up in the hills or out on the sea is sometimes irresistible.
On top of these distractions I have had to juggle writing with my many
overseas teaching assignments (Completion design and Intervention
courses). My wonderful wife, Anita, has had to put up with me disap-
pearing into my study to write—sometimes after long absences abroad.

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