Restricted to Shell Personnel Only EP 2002-1500

Pressure Control Manual for Drilling and Workover

Operations

Sponsor: Well Engineering Forum

Reviewed by: A.H. Haldane, EPT-AWV
Approved by: S.H. Brouwer, WEF Chairman
Date of issue: January 2002
Revision: 0
Period of work: July - November 2001
Account code: A-007457-100
ECCN number: EAR 99

The copyright of this document is vested in Shell International Exploration and Production B.V., The Hague, The Netherlands.
All rights reserved.
Neither the whole nor any part of this document may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means (electronic, mechanical, reprographic, recording or otherwise) without the prior written consent of the copyright
owner.

This version supersedes the previous version (EP 89-1500)

This document is classified as Restricted to Shell Personnel Only. 'Shell Personnel' includes all staff with a personal contract with
the Shell Group of Companies, designated Associate Companies and Contractors working on Shell projects who have signed a
confidentiality agreement with a Shell Group Company. Issuance of this document is restricted to staff employed by the Shell
Group of Companies. Neither the whole nor any part of this document may be disclosed to Non-Shell Personnel without the
prior written consent of the copyright owners.
Copyright 2002 SIEP B.V.

SHELL TECHNOLOGY EP, RIJSWIJK

EP 2002-1500 - II - Restricted to Shell Personnel Only

SUMMARY

This edition of the Pressure Control Manual represents significant departure from previous
versions, not so much in content, but more in the philosophy of application.

Previously, the manual would have been taken as a set of procedural directives such as;
"When overpressured formations are anticipated, the minimum barytes stock shall be 100 tons."
While these types of directives remain valid for some operations, it has been recognized
that the nature of many operations has changed from a common approach/methodology
towards those requiring a more specific/focused engineering approach where the concept
of standard directives may no longer apply. It is also recognized that with Shell being a
global operator, a set of directives applicable in one country/region may not be
representative in another.
In addressing these concerns and to develop a Pressure Control Manual that truly
represents Shell philosophy and has global application this manual has two key
components:
A. Policies
B. Procedures & Practices.
Policies
The Policies are concise, unambiguous statements that reflect the basic tenets of how Shell
conducts its well control business.
A Policy statement now captures the directive quoted above as follows;
"Adequate material, supplies and reserves to effectively deal with well control situations in a timely manner
shall be available. The quantity and quality of materials and supplies shall conform to Operating Company
procedures and normally be documented in the well programme."
Policies help define how we operate, and under normal circumstances are to be complied
with to the letter. It is recognized that in some circumstances it may be impossible,
impractical, irresponsible or imprudent to adhere strictly to policy. In these instances
dispensation (Variance) must be sought through procedures in a timely manner. All
dispensations are to be captured for feed back via EPT-AWV on behalf of the Well
Engineering Forum, for input into future updates of this manual.
Procedures & Practices
The Procedures & Practices are now to be considered not as directives, but as a collection
of Recommended Procedures that may be applicable and applied to a particular operation.
The responsibility however lies directly with the Well/Rig Team and Operating Unit
Management to put into effect or to generate procedures that will meet Policy objectives.
For example, they must now determine how much is "adequate" in the Policy stated above.
Because well teams now have the responsibility of specifying well control procedures as an
integral part of the planning and execution of drilling and workover programmes, they also
have the responsibility to justify the adoption of procedures and will be held accountable.
Where there is the possibility to take more than one course of action it is recommended
that a risk assessment be conducted to determine the preferred course of action. This risk
assessment can be either qualitative or, preferably, quantitative. The risk assessment could
EP 2002-1500 - III - Restricted to Shell Personnel Only

entail a comprehensive study, but it also could simply involve just the engineer making and
documenting:
1 A subjective evaluation of the likelihood that events will happen.
2 The likelihood that particular consequences will occur.
3 The acceptability of this combination of likely events and consequences.
Well Control Procedures therefore must be designed with the documented management of
risks, not with the avoidance of risks. These assessments are recommended to be processed
and recorded using the best Quality Management procedures.
General
This manual, although intranet based, is set out so that it can be printed and is also
available on CD ROM. However, only the online version is controlled and all other
formats must be checked against the online version for validity.
Navigation through the manual is through the Table of Contents and appropriate
hyperlinks. A search engine is also accessible to empower users to search by topic.
EP 2002-1500 - IV - Restricted to Shell Personnel Only

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Manual is an update, based on EP 89-1500 Pressure Control Manual For Drilling And
Workover Operations. This release would not have been possible were it not for the good
work performed by the authors of earlier editions.

Well Control can be a contentious subject and while the basic principles may be relatively
simple, the practice can be made difficult by well conditions and exacerbated by hardware
limitations. As this manual covers all Shell well control operations worldwide, it attempts to
capture available experience, tempered by current philosophy and best practice.
This release introduces new formalizations of Well Control Policy, recommended
Procedures & Practices, and presents the well control issues in new technologies where
applicable. This manual supersedes the previous version (EP89-1500), having been updated
and revised as necessary.
In order to ensure agreement in content, each section was distributed to a team of Shell
well engineering personnel across the Group for comment and QA/QC. In addition,
workshops were held with Operating Company representatives to capture the needs and
best practices of experienced drilling and production engineers across the group. The Shell
team is listed on the next page.
EP 2002-1500 -V- Restricted to Shell Personnel Only

PROJECT PERSONNEL

Pressure Control Manual / (EGIS Project WP355)

Name Core Team Company, Location, Designation
SHELL Team
Andrew Kelland SIEP, Noordwijkerhout, EPT-HL
Andrew Parkinson SIEP, Noordwijkerhout, EPT-HL
Andy Haldane Y SIEP, Rijswijk, EPT-AWV
Arie Bakx Y NAM, Simwell Well Control Centre
Bert Beltman Y NAM, Assen, TWE-S
Co Vleugel SPDC, Lagos, SNWM
Colin Leach Y SEPCO, Houston, EPT-DW
David Lawler SEPCO, New Orleans
Ernie Cowell Y SUKEP, Aberdeen, UESE
Fokko Schroeder Y SPDC, Lagos, DSV-709
Gerard De Blok Y Shell Sakhalin
Gert Jan Rook Y PDO, Muscat, TWX1
Grant Lintern Woodside, Perth, WDS
Jeff Campbell Y SEPCO, Robert Training Centre
Jottit Schreuder Y BSP, Seria, TSW/1
Landale Cranfield SIEP, Houston, EPT-DW
Maarten Kornaat Y SPDC, Lagos, DSV-709
Mei Choate SIEP, Rijswijk, EPT-AWO
Paul Cernocky SIEP, Houston, EPT-AWP
Tor Taklo Y Norske Shell, EPTW16

EGIS Team
Richard Conway Y EGIS, Aberdeen, Well Technology Manager
Mark Murtagh Y Mars Energy, Australia, Well Control Specialist
Ian Knott EGIS, Aberdeen, UK Regional Manager
Keith Whitehead EGIS, Aberdeen, Well Engineer
Jim Dalton EGIS, AFSU, Well Engineer
Lewis Laird EGIS, Aberdeen, Production Technologist
Mark Cullen EGIS, Aberdeen, Production Technologist
Phil Taylor EGIS, Aberdeen, Production Technologist
Ian Fraser EGIS, Aberdeen, Software Engineer
EP 2002-1500 - VI - Restricted to Shell Personnel Only

USING THIS MANUAL

Security Classification
This document is classified as Restricted to Shell Personnel Only. 'Shell Personnel'
includes:
• All staff with a personal contract with the Shell Group of Companies
• Designated Associate Companies
• Contractors working on Shell projects who have signed a confidentiality agreement
with a Shell Group Company
Issuance of this document is restricted to staff employed by the Shell Group of
Companies. Neither the whole nor any part of this document may be disclosed to Non-
Shell Personnel without the prior written consent of the copyright owners.
System Requirements
The following software is required for viewing the Guide:
• browser - Netscape 3.0 and upwards, or Internet Explorer 4.0 and upwards
• pdf viewer - the Guide is in pdf format and is best viewed with a search-enabled
version of Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or later.
DED Website & Guide URLs
This Guide is part of the SIEP Drilling/Well Engineering Documents (DED) website,
which contains over 60 EP reports and guidelines. URL : http://sww.siep.shell.com/ded
CD-Rom Version
The DED website including the Pressure Control Manual (EP2002-1500) will also be
available on CD-Rom, obtainable from the SIEP Library. Note however that a CD-Rom
version may not reflect the latest changes.
Searching the Well Control Manual
If you are browsing off the CD-Rom copy of the Guide, you need a search-enabled version
of Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or later, to be able to search the Guide. Note also that you
should include the search pdf files option when downloading the free copy of Acrobat
Reader.
Updates and Change Management
The online version of the DED website including the Pressure Control Manual is updated
on a regular basis. An update log including version information is kept as part of the site
and is the recommended entry point for next and subsequent access to the site.
EP 2002-1500 - VII - Restricted to Shell Personnel Only

OU Intranet Version
Note that it is also possible to copy the online website to an OU Intranet webserver, in
cases where access to the SIEP webserver is restricted. For more information consult the
DED Online Help.