LSU’s Petroleum Engineering Research, Training & Testing, or PERTT, Lab. Credit: LSU Engineering
In oil drilling, a gas “kick” is when gas enters a well and migrates up the wellbore toward the surface, which can lead to potentially dangerous situations, such as a well blowout. Understanding why kicks occur and how gas behaves while in the well can inform strategies for preventing and controlling kicks, but more data is needed to develop and validate precise models that can aid in the management of this phenomenon.
In order to help the petroleum industry better address the issue of gas kicks, Louisiana State University’s Craft & Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering (LSU PETE) recently partnered with the ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company (URC) to study gas migration in wells at LSU’s Petroleum Engineering Research, Training & Testing (PERTT) Lab.
According to ExxonMobil URC team lead Paul Gupta and senior research engineer Sai Roa, PERTT was chosen as an ideal facility to study the behavior of gas during drilling scenarios due to its unique, fully-instrumented 5,000-foot test well equipped with downhole pressure and temperature gauges and a fiber optic measurement system.
“This is a first of its kind study and comes as close to being able to ‘see’ downhole in real time without a camera,” said Gupta. “This work will benefit our industry in better planning of drilling operations, conserving resources, and improving safety. There will likely be other non-drilling applications related to gas behaviors in wells.”
Data gained from gas migration tests in synthetic-based mud at PERTT’s industrial-scale test well will be used to help fundamentally advance the industry's understanding and management of downhole gas migration, said Roa. The one-year project is part of a financial grant from ExxonMobil URC, and the principal investigator on the project is LSU PETE Professional in Residence Mauricio Almeida. The first phase of the project has already been completed and the team is currently planning the next phase.
“Even when this project is complete, this topic is something that will still be worked on,” said Almeida. “LSU hopes to work with ExxonMobil URC again on similar projects in the future.”