PLANS are underway to roll out an on-the-rig simulator across other North-sea projects following its success.
Wellsley Petroleum commissioned a mobile ‘On-the-Rig’ (OTR) drilling simulator, which is designed and manufactured by advanced simulator developer, Drilling Systems, to train Dolphin Drilling’s crews on the Borgland Dolphin in advance of its drilling programme in the North-sea off Norway earlier this year.
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The licence prospect included shallow reservoir conditions, with the target depth of 1,100 metres almost three times shorter than the usual 3,000 metres for the UK and Norwegian Continental Shelf. Shallow wells mean drillers have far less reaction time to deal with well control issues.
To minimise the risks, Wellesley worked closely with Drilling Systems and training partner, Survivex, to configure the OTR with well-specific conditions and drilling scenarios based on the drilling programme. This allowed the crew to rehearse possible scenarios before the rig even left the quayside.
The training and well preparation work helped to deliver Wellesley’s lowest-cost well for 2020, coming in on time and on budget with high-quality safety performance.
Callum Smyth, Wellesley operations manager, said: “Oil exploration is all about uncertainty and mitigating risks and our latest well-posed particular technical challenges.
“Drilling Systems’ OTR simulator provided a great tool for reducing our risks by enabling the crew to practise drilling scenarios on essentially a realistic, virtual model of the well.
“Tailored and accurate training like this creates a really strong team with excellent communication, who all work effectively together and are extremely focused. I’ve no doubt that this played a part in helping us run an extremely safe operation. In terms of improving safety for the industry this type of on-the-rig training should be rolled out across every rig. We are certainly looking at using the OTR for our next well in 2020.”
Drilling Systems is part of the 3t Energy Group, which is the UK’s largest energy sector training provider and includes leading training providers, AIS Training and Survivex and technology company 3t Transform.
