Blowouts
Geothermal blowouts differ from blowouts that happen during drilling for oil and gas and are generally easier to handle and less dangerous. By using the normal procedure of drilling and construction this risk is very limited. The drill rig is equipped with tools to monitor and prevent blowouts to reach the surface such as the Blowout preventers (BOPs) which have the purpose to close the well during drilling operations, if control of the formation fluid is suddenly lost. Blowouts is a risk that may occur during all types of well activities, and are not limited to a certain drilling phase, or drilling operations (REF D2,1 Geoenvi)
Informations
- Category: Environmental risks
- Id: F-1
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Phases:
- Drilling / Testing
- Exploitation / Development
- Post-closure
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Consequences:
- Economic / Performance / Acceptability
- Health / Safety / Environment
Mitigation
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Prevention:
- Thorough Drill Plan/Program and its execution
- Exploitation of suitable BOP Equipment
- Exploitation of kick detection equipment
- Training and certifying of the personnel
- Use of high density drilling mud (barite)
- Prepare appropriate drilling plans and well design according to best practices
- Maintain constant bottom hole pressure
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Monitoring:
- Monitoring of critical parameters during drilling (e.g. flow rate of drilling fluids, pressure and temperature)
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Corrective measures:
- Application of a safety protocol
More information is available on the project deliverable (link), or navigate on the online version.
