The technical focus of drilling operations is changing to oil and gas reservoirs with higher difficulty factors such as low permeability and fracture. During the drilling process, drilling operations in deep complex formations are prone to overflow and leakage complications. Leakage and overflow problems will change the performance of the drilling fluid in the wellbore, impacting the wellbore pressure, and causing complex accidents such as stuck drilling and collapse. In order to improve the level of control over the risk of wellbore overflow and leakage, it is necessary to predict the mud overflow and leakage situation and to arrange and control the risk of leakage and overflow that may occur in advance to ensure the safety of drilling. By using a genetic algorithm to optimize the multi-layer feedforward neural network, this paper establishes a GA-BP Neural Network Drilling overflow and leakage prediction model based on multi-parameter fusion. Through the optimization training of 14 parameters that may affect the occurrence of complex downhole accidents, the mud overflow and leakage are predicted. The prediction results of the model are compared with the prediction results of a conventional BP neural network, and verified by the real drilling data. The results show that the MAE, MSE, and RMSE of the GA-BP neural network model are improved by 2.91%, 4.48%, and 10.93%, respectively, compared with the BP neural network model, and the prediction quality is higher. Moreover, the amount of mud overflow and leakage predicted by using the GA-BP neural network matches well with the pattern of mud overflow and leakage data in real drilling, which proves the effectiveness and accuracy of the GA-BP neural network in overflow and leakage prediction.
The Kuqa Mountain front area of Tarim is rich in oil and gas resources, but the development of ultra-deep rock salt formation is common, leading to a narrow safety density window and significant impacts on engineering operation safety and wellbore quality, such as overflow and leakage. Managed pressure drilling (MPD) is an effective solution to the problem of drilling in narrow density windows, and a precise wellbore pressure calculation method is essential to ensure the reasonable determination of MPD parameters. Conventional wellbore pressure models treat fluid properties as constant and do not consider the impact of ultra-deep rock salt formation on wellbore pressure calculation, leading to incomplete calculation accuracy that cannot fully meet engineering requirements. In this paper, an improved wellbore temperature field model coupled with the rock salt formation is established. Additionally, rheological experiments on drilling fluids used in the field are conducted and a prediction model for shear stress and density is established based on the varying degrees of temperature and pressure influences. Based on the temperature field of the wellbore and the rheological experimental, a wellbore pressure prediction model is established, and field application is conducted in Keshen Well X. By comparing the measured values, the overall error does not exceed 5%. Compared with neighboring blocks, the rate of penetration has been increased by 73.8%, and the drilling efficiency has been significantly improved. The use of wellbore pressure calculation method, which is studied in this paper, has facilitated efficient operations in drilling ultra-deep rock salt formation.
In high-temperature wells, annular pressure buildup (APB) caused by temperature increase is a widespread phenomenon in production, especially in offshore thermal recovery wells. It increases the load on the tubing and casing and consequently threatens the wellbore integrity. Hence, research on casing safety evaluation and APB management has great significance for field production. In this paper, the tubing and casing safety evaluation and APB limit determination methods are presented considering the effect of thermal stress and APB. Based on the case study of an offshore thermal recovery well, an APB-management chart and the recommended optimal range of APB are provided. Finally, an analysis of three commonly used mitigation methods is presented. The effect and the recommended parameters of these mitigation methods are further discussed. The research results show that the thermal stress and APB phenomena affect the stress distribution of the casing and may bring great danger to the wellbore integrity. Maintaining the APB in the safety range is necessary for field production. It is recommended that the annular pressure be kept below the critical value given in this paper. Injecting nitrogen in annulus A and installing rupture disks are both effective methods to improve casing safety. In the case study, the APB decrease percentage is more than 75% when nitrogen is injected in annulus A. However, the nitrogen pressure, the rupture pressure and the installation depth of the rupture disk need to be determined via casing safety evaluation. The effect of optimizing the steel grade and thickness of the tubing and casing is not significant. They can be used as assistance methods when other mitigation methods are adopted.
During drilling, different kick locations significantly impact the formation-wellbore temperature (FWT) profile under the co-existence of kick and leakage condition (CKL). To ensure safety and efficiency during drilling, we study the effect of different kick locations on the FWT under the CKL. In this paper, a full transient heat transfer model based on the first law of thermodynamics is established to obtain four distinct WFT profiles under CKL conditions, incorporating both convective heat transfer and variable mass flow effects. Compared with the actual temperature measurement data, the reliability of the developed model is verified. The case studies show that the annular temperature (AT) is lower under the single-point leakage (SL), continuous leakage (CL), and CKL conditions than that in the normal drilling condition. Wellhead temperature in CKL differs significantly from that in normal drilling (ND). As the kick location gets closer to the bottom hole, the AT gets higher, and the temperature difference between the formation and annular gets smaller. Compared with the wellbore temperature profile under ND, the kick location can be detected by real-time monitoring of the FWT profile under the CKL.
As an indispensable technology, acid fracturing has been widely applied in carbonate formations with the complex reservoir space and natural fracture to enhance hydrocarbon production. However, the conventional acid fracturing technology has limitations in target reservoir as results of serious acid leakage and rapid acid-rock reaction speed. Therefore, a deep-penetration acid