Use of Managed-Pressure Drilling Requires Adjustments To Bridge Gap to Well Control

Managed-pressure drilling (MPD) challenges the conventional drilling paradigm, along with drilling-contractor and operator policies and standards. Conventional drilling practices for connections, flow checks, tripping, and well control have been long understood and standardized both onshore and offshore. The addition of an MPD system to a drilling operation, inclusive of the recommended practices, requires bridging the gap between conventional policies and standards and those of MPD.

Introduction

Often, an MPD bridging document that supplements the standard drilling-contractor and operator bridging document is seen as an operational requirement. The drilling contractor remains responsible for well control and well monitoring.