Relief Well Profile Analysis and Evaluation of a Passive Seismic Method for Relief Well Placement in the Shallow Wisting Discovery
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Research output: Thesis › Master's Thesis
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TY - THES
T1 - Relief Well Profile Analysis and Evaluation of a Passive Seismic Method for Relief Well Placement in the Shallow Wisting Discovery
AU - Kurz, Manuela
N1 - embargoed until 04-11-2023
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - A blowout is one of the most catastrophic events that can happen in the oil and gas industry, requiring operators to have relief well strategies in place for intersecting the out-of-control well in the worst-case scenario. The Wisting discovery imposes a unique challenge on the relief well trajectory: It is exceptionally shallow, thereby providing too little depth for the industry standard S-shaped design. Therefore, the operator has devised three J-shaped designs for potential relief wells, all of which are difficult to drill because they require either extremely high inclinations or a very high build rate. Further, the intersection process of the blowing well is complicated by the J-shaped design, leading to a longer estimated time for successful intersection and thus to an increased amount of damage in the case of a blowout. To provide a criterion for identifying the best compromise between high build rate and high inclination, the thesis introduces a relationship between the two parameters that allows to derive a most effective build rate and corresponding inclination. The goal is to help the operator decide if one parameter should be reduced on the expense of the other, resulting in an optimized trajectory within the technical limitations of the drilling tools. Further, it provides the operator with comparable, quantitative results to justify the need for the development of higher capability directional drilling tools. To enhance the intersection process with a J-shaped relief well, it is necessary to improve the wellbore positioning accuracy. For this purpose, a seismic event positioning system that has been field tested in Wisting is evaluated for its suitability in reducing the uncertainty in the wellbore position derived from survey measurements. The objective of this evaluation is to assess if further investigation of this seismic method is likely to bring an improvement to the positioning accuracy of directional wells.
AB - A blowout is one of the most catastrophic events that can happen in the oil and gas industry, requiring operators to have relief well strategies in place for intersecting the out-of-control well in the worst-case scenario. The Wisting discovery imposes a unique challenge on the relief well trajectory: It is exceptionally shallow, thereby providing too little depth for the industry standard S-shaped design. Therefore, the operator has devised three J-shaped designs for potential relief wells, all of which are difficult to drill because they require either extremely high inclinations or a very high build rate. Further, the intersection process of the blowing well is complicated by the J-shaped design, leading to a longer estimated time for successful intersection and thus to an increased amount of damage in the case of a blowout. To provide a criterion for identifying the best compromise between high build rate and high inclination, the thesis introduces a relationship between the two parameters that allows to derive a most effective build rate and corresponding inclination. The goal is to help the operator decide if one parameter should be reduced on the expense of the other, resulting in an optimized trajectory within the technical limitations of the drilling tools. Further, it provides the operator with comparable, quantitative results to justify the need for the development of higher capability directional drilling tools. To enhance the intersection process with a J-shaped relief well, it is necessary to improve the wellbore positioning accuracy. For this purpose, a seismic event positioning system that has been field tested in Wisting is evaluated for its suitability in reducing the uncertainty in the wellbore position derived from survey measurements. The objective of this evaluation is to assess if further investigation of this seismic method is likely to bring an improvement to the positioning accuracy of directional wells.
KW - relief well
KW - trajectory
KW - trajectory design
KW - J-shape
KW - S-shape
KW - Wisting
KW - wellbore positioning
KW - seismic event positioning
KW - shallow
KW - Erleichterungsbohrung
KW - Bohrpfad
KW - Bohrpfaddesign
KW - Wisting
KW - Bohrlochposition
KW - Bohrlochvermessung
KW - S-förmig
KW - J-förmig
U2 - 10.34901/mul.pub.2023.279
DO - 10.34901/mul.pub.2023.279
M3 - Master's Thesis
ER -