Content:
    David Izon

 Pagemasters:
    OMM Web Team

Gulf of Mexico Region

Losses of Well Control - 2000

January 2, 2000 - Callon Petroleum Operating Company
 (also listed as Fire)

Remarks: This incident is currently under investigation by MMS. Preliminary findings indicate the following: While on bottom drilling, the rig experienced a kick. The crew shut in the BOP’s. The 10 ¾ inch casing head by 16 inch casing head spool began leaking, and caught fire. This spool was located approximately 20 feet below the BOP’s. The rig personnel were evacuated via escape capsules. On January 7, the well was killed after it stopped flowing.

January 5, 2000 - Apache Corporation

Remarks: After cementing the 13-3/8 inch surface casing, and nippling up the BOP’s, the gas monitor detected a high gas concentration in the wellhead area where welding operations were being conducted. The welding was shut down. Later, gas and mud began flowing from the base of the wellhead through a gap in the base plate flange that connects the drive pipe to the surface casing. The flow was initially blowing mud and gas 25 feet above the wellhead, and there was no way to shut the well in. The flow steadily diminished, and after 8 hours, was a steady boil about 8 inches above the wellhead. The crew hot-tapped the 26-inch drive pipe at 15 feet above the water line and installed a valve to divert the flow away from the wellhead areas. They installed a clamp and packing around the 13-3/8 inch casing at the base plate, and a gauge at the valve at the +15 foot level to monitor the shut-in annulus pressure. The shut-in pressure increased to 140 psi, at which point the packing around the 13-3/8 inch casing started leaking. The flow continued for 16 hours through the +15 valve. After attempts to test the casing and repack around the packing bushing, the crew replaced the top joint of 13-3/8 inch casing and installed a new wellhead to stop the leak. They connected the new wellhead and reinstalled the BOP’s, successfully capping the well. They ran a cement bond log, which indicated marginal bonding. They drilled out the 13-3/8 inch shoe and tested to leak-off (16.3 ppg equivalent). The crew drilled the next section of hole without incident, and ran and cemented a 9-5/8 inch liner with no problems. They perforated the 13-3/8 inch casing and squeezed cement. This killed the pressure in the annulus. The 9-5/8 inch liner was tied back to the surface and cemented. The crew then resumed normal operations.

January 12, 2000 – Murphy Exploration & Production Company

Remarks: While drilling the crew increased the mud weight from 13.5 ppg to 13.9 ppg due to increased background gas. The crew decided not to use casing rams. They ran and set the 13-5/8 inch casing. The casing was not centralized, and could not be worked during cementing because the brakes on the draw works overheated while running the casing. After the cementing job was complete, the crew’s calculations indicated channeling. The crew washed out the annulus to the mud line hanger with a 1-1/4 inch tubing string using 13.9 ppg mud. They spotted 10 bbl of sugar water on top of the mud line hanger. While pulling out of the hole, the well began flowing up the annulus and the annular preventer was closed. The initial shut-in pressure was 65 psi. The pressure increased to 1900 psi, and the annular preventer began leaking gas. The crew monitored the well for 6 hours while waiting on the cement to set up. The shut-in pressure increased to 2250 psi. The crew began bleeding mud and gas through the choke at 5 bbl per 5 minutes in an attempt to reduce pressure on the annular preventer. The well pressure would bleed to zero, but would begin flowing moments later. The crew controlled the pressure by bleeding gas and pumping mud into the annulus. The crew ran noise and cement bond logs to identify the problem zone. The logs showed that the cement was contaminated with mud. The crew continued bleeding the pressure through the choke. The annular preventer started leaking at 1200 psi. All non-essential personnel were evacuated. The well began producing oil while bleeding the gas through the choke. The oil was placed into DOT tanks for off loading. Cudd Pressure Control rigged up a snubbing unit to enter the well. Cudd perforated the 13-5/8 inch casing and squeezed over 1,500 sacks of cement with gas block additive. After waiting on cement for thirteen hours, they bled the annular pressure to 180 psi and recovered 12 bbls of oil. The annular pressure was dead. They rigged down the snubbing unit, and installed 21 ¼ inch 10M BOP’s, cut the 13-5/8 inch casing, and nippled up the wellhead. The crew then drilled ahead, set and cemented a 11-7/8 inch scab liner across the cement squeeze perforations. They tested the liner top to 2500 psi and continued normal operations. During the pressure bleeding operations approximately ½ barrel of oil spilled into the Gulf.

February 28, 2000 - Murphy Exploration and Production Company

Remarks: The Ocean Concord was in the process of running a liner on drill pipe when the lower marine riser package was inadvertently disconnected from the blowout preventer stack. The disconnect resulted in the discharge to the sea of approximately 806 barrels of synthetic mud and 150-200 barrels of crude oil from the wellbore. See Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Report MMS 2001-005 for more details.

March 22, 2000 – Forcenergy Inc.

Remarks: This incident is currently under investigation by MMS. Preliminary findings indicate the following: The crew had run and cemented the 7-5/8 inch casing. They picked up the BOP stack to cut the casing and install the tree, when the well started flowing through the 10-3/4 inch by 7-5/8 inch annulus. They attempted to reset the BOP stack, but a line parted and the stack fell and damaged the flange. The crew lifted, reset, and bolted the stack, and then closed the rams. The flange began leaking. The pressure built to 1,700 psi after 20 minutes, with dry gas to the surface. The rig was evacuated. The well eventually died, and the crew re-entered the well and killed it.

April 7, 2000 -- Union Oil Company of California

Remarks: On April 6, 2000, the crew ran and cemented 18-5/8 inch casing with returns to the surface at 10:45 p.m. At 2:00 a.m. on April 7, 2000 they cut a hole in the 30-inch casing to wash cement from the 18-5/8 inch by 30-inch annulus. They finished washing cement at 3:00 a.m., and the well began flowing. All nonessential personnel were evacuated at 7:00 a.m. The crew then installed a plate and valve over the hole in the 30-inch casing, and brought the well under control.

August 15, 2000 -- The Houston Exploration Company

Remarks: The crew finished the cement job for the 10-3/4 inch casing. They were waiting on the cement and washing out the mud line hanger when gas began pouring out of the 10-3/4 by 16-inch annulus. The driller closed the annulus element on the diverter, then opened the diverter valve on the west side. The crew attempted to pump 9.4 ppg mud into the choke line with no success. They then tried to pump 112 bbls of seawater in to keep the gas wet, also without success. The well started to bridge over, but was still blowing. The crew pumped 14.4 ppg mud down the choke line, and then the well started blowing out. The well unloaded all the 14.4 ppg mud and cement, and then blew out dry gas. All personnel were evacuated. The well bridged over.

November 18, 2000 - Houston Exploration Company

Remarks:  On November 17, 2000, the crew began running casing at 11:30 a.m., and landed the casing at 10:00 p.m. By 1:30 a.m. on November 18, they had rigged up for cementing, but had trouble getting cement from the bulk tanks. They shut down for 25 minutes to correct the problem. They then began mixing and pumping cement. At 5:30 a.m., they began displacing cement with 9.5 ppg mud. After 120 bbl displacement, foamed cement reached the surface. Pumping was shut down, and the diverter lines were opened. Displacement was resumed, they bumped the plug, and pressured up to 1000 psi. Pressure was released, and the floats held. At 6:30 a.m., the +10 valve was closed, and very gaseous foamed cement continued to flow through the diverter. They began pumping seawater and mud through the tubing washout strings, but the flow continued. At 10:00 a.m., they closed the diverter lines, but the diverter began leaking around the tubing strings used for washing the cement. They reopened the diverters. At 10:30, they began pumping seawater through the tubing strings. At 1:30 p.m., they shut down the seawater pumping, and shut down the rig. At 2:10 p.m., they evacuated the rig. At 5:35 p.m., they reported that the well was dead. The crew reboarded the rig and began pumping seawater and mud. They regained control of the well, and completed the cementing job. On November 22, they continued with the well plan.