Early kick detection methods for deepwater drilling and its future development

The lack of deepwater drilling techniques is one of the factors restricting deepwater oil and gas exploration and development. Deepwater drilling features in a high risk, high cost, and high returns. Well control is one of the difficulties in deepwater drilling. How to effectively forecast and detect kick is the critical to well control. Various well-kick detecting methods are analyzed. Combined with some special operating conditions in deepwater drilling, it is pointed out that the commonly used methods are not qualified. Finally LWD and PWD are introduced to monitor kick. PWD is used to monitor real-time bottom hole pressure changes and amendment to the hydraulic model. A normal trend line of bottom hole pressure is established at the same time. It is shown that early kick monitoring can be fulfilled by using LWD real-time formation parameters, monitoring the change of mud resistivity through shallow lateral resistivity measurement while drilling (MWD) tools.