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Innovative Kick Detection System for HP/HT Ultradeepwater Wells Using a

Section of the BHA
Parth P. Trivedi, PDPU

Copyright 2014, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 58 May 2014.
This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
We are today moving into deeper seas and more challenging areas for finding oil and as the quest continues we enter more
areas with uncertainities and possibilities of greater disasters. Very soon, if the technological advancements lag behind, the
price of a crude barrel might not cover for the risk that the explorers take for it. Having said that, there is a very crucial balance
that we need to strike in terms of long term investments for better efficiency vs. the cost effectiveness of our systems. Risk
especially in regions of exploratory drilling is very high and this paper deals with a technology of downhole mud evaluation
for predicting the entrainment of formation fluid into the wellbore.
The innovative kick detection system proposed in the paper uses a small mud rerouting section just above the BHA after the
LWD and MWD tool. The small section of the mud into the tool is passed from between two plates (of metal with v.high
melting point and definite resistance curves at HPHT conditions) that are separated by a small distance and have a definite
known (corrected) potential applied across them. As soon as there is entrainment of formation fluid bubbles/droplets into the
flow, the medium between the two plates will undergo alteration (change in absolute mud parameters) which will result in a
change in capacitance between the two plates that can be detected immediately using the currently available technology.
This change in potential can be coupled through a coil in order to produce a magnetic impulse that can easily be carried to
surface and registered as a count of abnormality in fluid. Greater the count more will be entraining fluid and hence a kick can
be detected. For very fast flowing fluids, we can incorporate high temperature potential measurement systems that can help us
quantify the capacitance between the plates and tell for certain whether or not a kick is present.
The tool can be calibrated for specific mud type used and the fluid behavior at down-hole conditions giving us a more accurate
measurement.
Limitations of this technology might lie in the materials used for electronics development and type of transmission system in
place for the signal to reach to the top in very deep wells but there is an added benefit of quantitative and definitive
measurement.
Key Words/Phrases
1. Earyl Kick Detection
2. Capcitance Log
3. Drilling Equipment
Introduction
Day by day, as time runs by, we are producing all the oil that we can. Each and every element of science known to mankind is
being applied in order to optimize the one thing that makes the world go round, Energy. And in this race, by all our ingenuity,
we have been unable to find a power source more efficient, compact, and available than oil is. Having known this for decades
now, our reliance on oil only keeps increasing and before we reach the threshold of an alternative, we must put together all our
resources to find every last drop of our future.

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It is well known now that all the easy oil in the world is almost used up. We are going deeper and deeper into the oceans to
look for oil and while the rewards get bigger, so do the risks. Today, deep-water drilling is amongst some of the most
hazardous operations in the oil and gas industry. The major reason for this hazard is the uncertainty and the lack of knowledge
of what lies beneath. And we are constrained by science in that sense. The danger that arises from the uncertainty is what has
haunted the drilling industry from the time of its inception. Kicks. Kicks that can convert into catastrophes and disasters, the
devastating examples of which have been seen already and need not be reiterated here.
There are two factors that prevent us from detecting kicks on an early basis.
1. Most of the problematic and unavoidable kicks are gas kicks. Gas that dissolves in the mud at high pressures and is seen on
the surface only as pit gain. An observation which might be too late an indicator in many cases.
2. Integrity of the well at higher depths is more difficult to establish than the integrity of wells at shallower depths. This means
that there might be a chance of the pressure leak into the well even after cementing the casing at a certain depth.
The paper will deal with the first problem. The principle for detection is well known across industries but has been used
innovatively.
The following research paper intends to propose a new tool for the BHA and by means of that tool suggest a change in the
signal transmission that we are currently using. We shall be looking at an alternative more streamlined design of the
Capacitance Array Tool (CAT) altered for usage during drilling in the wellbore. This tool can help in continuously detecting
the prescence of hydrocarbon in the bottomhole mud system coming into the annulus after contact with the formation. Coupled
with an effective transmission system as well as the information from the LWD and MWD tools, this tool can help give us
significant knowledge about the formation, the formation fluids and other reservoir parameters
Current Kick Detection Methods
Current kick detection methods range from the very trivial and old indications to advanced wellbore fingerprinting by several
service companies.
The trivial signs include
1. Pit gain
2. Increased ROP (rate of penetration)
3. Return Line Gas
4. Retrun Line flow in pumps off condition
5. Pressure changes in SIDPP and SICP (shut-in drill pipe pressure and shut-in casing pressure respectively)
6. Alteration in the normal response of LWD tools.
Further investigations into the wellbore condition using drilling logs might indicate more concrete signs of the type, amount
and intensity of the kick and the necessary decisions to counter the same can be taken on the fly. But so far the fastest we can
get information from the downhole impulse generator onto the surface is limited to the speed of 10s of bits per second and
considering the amount of raw data generated downhole, selecting the right data and mode for transmission becomes ver
important.
Capacitance Array Tool (CAT)
The capacitance tool, in a form different from what has been described here but with the same principle has been used in
production logging industry since a long time now. The tool essentially consists of 12-16 different capacitance probes or
capacitance detectors that measure the capacitance of the fluid at specific points on the area of the wellbore. The array is
important as it helps in understanding the distribution of fluids in deviated well. This being said, the tool has limitations:
1. Can only tell water from hydrocarbons.
2. Cannot tell hydrocarbons from hydrocarbons.
3. Calibration specific to fluid in the well is a limiting factor.
The CAT tool is marketed by several service providers as a production logging tool only which leaves a lot of room for its
application to the LWD industry. As of now we are only using early kick detection methods based upon the logs that we run
while drilling. That provides us with very little information per say and the time lag involved in the process is also to be
considered.
The conventional mud impulse telemetry that is most in use these days is dependent upon the speed of the fluid flow and the
propagation speed of the pressure wave within the fluid. These factors become important when we talk about early kick
detection.

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Principle
We may start with the basic technology of a capacitor. It is a system of two parallel plates put close together with a separating
medium of dielectric fluid in between.
Capacitors are widely used in electronic circuits for blocking direct current while allowing alternating current to pass. In
analog filter networks, they smooth the output of power supplies. In resonant circuits they tune radios to particular frequencies.
In electric power transmission systems they stabilize voltage and power flow. [1]
A dielectric material (dielectric for short) is an electrical insulator that can be polarized by an applied electric field. When a
dielectric is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the material as they do in a conductor, but only
slightly shift from their average equilibrium positions causing dielectric polarization. Because of dielectric polarization,
positive charges are displaced toward the field and negative charges shift in the opposite direction. This creates an internal
electric field that reduces the overall field within the dielectric itself. [2]
The fluids that are used in the drilling industry, (water/oil based muds) can readily act as dielectric mediums. So if we have
two parallel plate conductors placed close together and have a drilling fluid sample separating them, and we have a definite
voltage applied across them, we can say that the overall system has a certain capacitance. Now taking this discussion further,
the formula that defines the charge and the capacitance of a system with respect to the voltage applied across that system is
given by V= q/c [4]. The constant or capacitance in the above formula is given by the type of metal conductor used, the fluid
separating them and the distance between the plates.
So the principle here is that when we have a fixed charge upon the two plates and we go ahead and change the dielectric
medium that rests between them, we are definitely going to get a change in the voltage across the plates. This change in the
potential can then be recorded using a voltmeter or only the deflection might be qualitatively recorded as high medium or low.
Taking the real life case, we have a multiple parallel plate assembly offset from the tool axis and set into the annular section of
the wellbore. If we consider the normal situation, we have a certain formation that we are drilling through. The drilling fluid
along with the formation cuttings will form a specific mixture with a definite dielectric constant. When we hit a zone (say gas
bearing) and the gas bubbles start coming out of the formation into the wellbore as a kick, the bubbles start travelling up from
the annulus. A fraction of the total bubbles travelling from the annular region will travel through the conduit that we have
placed on that location. As soon as there is a bubble (gas of extremely low conductivity and non ionisable) there will be a
fluctuation in the net the capacitance of the system that will travel up through the multiple capacitors and every time they cross
a certain section they will cause a minute change in capacitance and we can detect that using already available technology for
ultra-sensitive recording. The data thus acquired can be recorded either qualitatively or quantitatively based upon the need.
The suggestion stands that it be recorded and transmitted simply as a count of fluctuation. This makes the overall system very
simple to comprehend.
Tests done for the same fluid on the surface with the said tool can help us calibrate it for the basic capacitance that will be
observed during its use. Taking other data about the fluid will also tell us how the dielectric constant of that fluid will vary
with the change in temperature and pressure down-hole. Hence, we can tell or computers which change is normal and which is
abnormal. As the kick enters the system, we can monitor the fluctuations. Higher fluctuations mean a greater frequency of
bubbles is entraining into the normal stream and this can act as a direct indicator of kick.
Tool Description
The tool consists of the following parts:
1.

The conduit: the flow conduit is constructed as a normal drill pipe conduit and is of the same inner diameter as that of
the drill pipe that it is connected to. An adapter may be connected to the tool for attachment to any other part of the
bottom-hole assembly.

2.

Circuitry: The circuitry is battery powered and the system is set up in the periphery of the tool. It is a simple
construction and consists of four similar circuits, one in each quadrant. The extruded tube (described later) has an
internal section of parallel plate capacitors that are connected to each other in a parallel manner and in turn to a
voltage source that maintains a constant voltage across the two plates kept at a small distance. The drilling mud
between the two plates acts as a dielectric for the capacitor and a capacitance measuring device will be joined to the
circuit to measure the capacitance across each set of parallel plates. The feedback from this device will be supplied to
the surface equipment or the down-hole mud impulse sequence generator via a concealed conductor that runs along
the solid material of the tool.

3.

Material: Adequate insulation and pressure-temperature stability is very essential for the device as the capacitance
reading characteristic to a kick can vary with these parameters. Carbon fiber insulations and housings over the
circuitry that is not in direct contact with the fluid is suggested. Special formulations of this fiber may be used and the
technology needs some further research on.

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4.

Signal Transmission: The signal generated from the tool can be transmitted to the surface via a viable conductor. The
suggestions include drill-pipe concealed conductors or run-along-drill-pipe optical fibers. These have an advantage
over the conventional mud impulse telemetry because the signal is sent with a speed many times higher and that
makes the process of detecting a kick much easier. But the costs incurred in such an arrangement are considerablly
high, although they are infrastructural (reusable) it reduces the motivation for such a process as in most cases the
drilling contractors have nothing to do with the logging services companies who will be the main users of the signal
transmission system. These challenges been said, the future will, at some point of time very soon have electrical
signal transmission along the drill pipe a common technology or in some kind of conjunction with the EM wave
transmission technology that has been in pilot testing by some service companies.

Calibration
The tool will consist of an array of capacitance plates and will have to be calibrated in the same medium as that of the mud that
is going to be used for drilling. The calibration may be done using water/base oil or the absolute mud being used. The validity
of mud based calibration for capacitance tools needs to be validated. Past studies on CATs can provide insight into the same
and the process is predictably viable. Several service companies provide a similar technology for production logging.
Applications
1.
2.
3.
4.

Early Kick Detection

Quantitavie estimation on kick well ahead of normal methodology
Receive indepth fluid phase analysis
Continuous fluid monitoring

Limitations
The limitations of the above described tool are including but not limited to the following
1. Cuttings intrusion
2. Capacitance limitations due to plate spacing
3. Cost considerations for signal transmission
4. Separate modules and protocols for transmission of signals superimposed on signals of LWD and MWD
5. Calibration limitations with respect to the mud used.
6. Tool frame strength with increasing depth and pressure might have to be reinforced.
References

1. Bird, John (2010). Electrical and Electronic Principles and Technology. Routledge. pp. 63
76. ISBN 9780080890562. Retrieved 2013-03-17
"Dielectrics (physics)". Britannica. 2009. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-08-12
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/farad
The Physics Problem Solver, 1986, http://books.google.co.in/books?id=KVM2onr8_QYC&pg=PA648&redir_esc=y
http://www.halliburton.com/en-US/ps/wireline-perforating/wireline-and-perforating/cased-hole-services/productionlogging/capacitance-array-tool-cat.page Accessed on 1-1-2014
6. http://www.weatherford.com/dn/WFT217713 accessed on 1-1-2014
7. SPE 125028 Improving the Process of Understanding Multiprobe Production Logging Tools From the Field to Final
Answer G. Frisch, D. Dorffer, and M. Jung, Halliburton Energy Services; A. Zett and M. Webster, BP Exploration
and Production.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Mr. P. K. Sinha, Mr. Hussain Kapasi, and Mr. Himanshu Patel at M/s. Jubilant EnPro under whose
mentorship I conceived the idea to this tool.
I would like to extend my most warm regards to Dr. Anirbid Sircar, Dr. Bijaya Behera and Mr. Vinay Babu for their constant
encouragement as facult mentors.

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Fig.1 Schemactic front view (cross section) of the kick detection tool

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Fig. 2: Top View of the Capacitor Sensor Array