Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Drilling and Well Engineering
HPHT Well Engineering
Format and Duration:
5 days
High Pressure, High Temperature (HPHT) wells present significant engineering and operational challenges. This course delivers a detailed understanding of the latest drilling techniques, well design considerations, and operational strategies for HPHT wells, focusing on drilling efficiency, well integrity, and risk mitigation.
Participants will gain a comprehensive insight into HPHT well planning and execution, learning from historical case studies that highlight what can go wrong when proper planning and operational discipline are not followed. This is a highly operationally focused course, providing knowledge that can be immediately applied not just in HPHT wells but also to improve overall drilling performance and reduce costs across all well types. All topics are discussed within their operational context, ensuring participants understand how each discipline is interconnected and how HPHT techniques can impact overall well costs, safety, and risk exposure. This course can be delivered at Foundation or Skilled level depending on the audience's experience.
This course is delivered in partnership with Black Reiver Consulting Ltd.
Schedule
Duration and Training Method
This is a classroom course comprising a mixture of lectures, discussion, case studies, and practical exercises.
- Hands on classroom demonstrations using simulations, case studies, and interactive exercises.
- Instructor led sessions combining PowerPoint, whiteboard discussions, and operational modelling.
- Step by step explanations of HPHT planning, drilling, and risk management.
- Extensive Q&A sessions for participants to discuss real-world HPHT challenges.
- Emphasis on operational decision making, ensuring participants leave with actionable knowledge.
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn how to:
- Understand the key challenges and limitations of HPHT well drilling.
- Apply well integrity principles and international standards to HPHT well planning.
- Identify the operational differences in well design and casing selection for HPHT wells.
- Manage the effects of temperature and pressure on tubulars, drilling fluids, and well control systems.
- Implement advanced drilling techniques such as Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) and Underbalanced Drilling (UBD).
- Use Realtime formation evaluation data to optimize drilling efficiency and reduce NPT.
- Interpret wellbore stability models and geomechanical data to enhance performance.
- Evaluate human factor influences on HPHT operations and risk mitigation.
- Integrate new HPHT technologies into well design and execution strategies.
Course Content
1. HPHT Well Challenges & Well Integrity Considerations
- Introduction to HPHT Drilling
- Defining HPHT, UHPHT (Ultra HPHT), and XHPHT (Extreme HPHT) environments.
- HPHT history and challenges – Lessons learned from past projects.
2. Key Well Integrity Considerations
- Barrier envelope principles – API, ISO, and regulatory standards.
- Variations in well design and operational practices for HPHT environments.
- Overpressures & High Temperature Gradients
- Understanding the geological settings that lead to HPHT conditions.
- Formation Integrity Testing (FIT, LOT, XLOT) in HPHT Wells.
3. Well Design & Casing Selection for HPHT
- Effects of Temperature & Pressure on Tubulars
- Thermal derating of steel and casing selection criteria.
- Annular pressure buildup (APB).
4. Casing & Tubular Selection
- API/ISO nominal issues and material selection for HPHT wells.
- Managing corrosion, erosion, and casing wear.
- Casing design and stress analysis for HPHT wells.
5. HPHT Drilling Fluids, Well Control, and Pressure Management
- HPHT Drilling Fluids & Stability Challenges
- Properties of drilling fluids in high temperature conditions.
- Issues with measuring mud properties and maintaining stability.
6. Well Control in HPHT Environments
- Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) & Managed Gradient Drilling (MGD).
- ECD fingerprinting and using downhole pressure measurements.
7. Surface & Downhole Equipment Challenges
- Mud coolers and corrosive fluid management.
- Impact of HPHT fluids on rig equipment.
- Practical Exercise: Interpreting well control scenarios and BHP management.
8. HPHT Drilling Operations & Risk Mitigation
- HPHT Drilling Strategies
- Selection of drilling motors and staging criteria.
- Rotary tendency considerations for high-differential pressure environments.
- Torque & Drag Modelling in HPHT Wells
- The origins of torque and drag – Model types, use, and limitations.
- HPHT Surveying & Wellbore Positioning
- Understanding how errors in survey data can impact well positioning.
9. Human Factors in HPHT Operations
- How human actions can cause failures in high-risk wells.
- Practical Exercise: Simulating HPHT tripping and connection practices.
10. Advanced HPHT Techniques & Project Implementation
- New Technologies in HPHT Drilling
- Next generation HPHT drilling innovations & Geothermal wells.
- Downhole equipment advancements for HPHT operations.
11. Directional Drilling Challenges in HPHT Wells
- Selecting and tools and equipment for HPHT environments
- Managing circulating temperatures
- How increasing hole angle affects wellbore stability issues and NPT.
12. Completion Considerations for HPHT Wells
- Selecting and deploying HPHT rated completion equipment.
This comprehensive HPHT well engineering course provides participants with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to successfully plan, execute, and optimize HPHT well operations. Attendees will leave with a deep understanding of HPHT drilling, casing design, pressure control, and advanced risk mitigation techniques, ensuring they are fully equipped to handle the unique challenges of HPHT wells. This course can be adapted to client specific projects, well conditions, and operational challenges.
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
This course is ideal for:
- Drilling Engineers, Wellsite Supervisors, Tool Pushers, Rig Managers involved in HPHT projects.
- Well Integrity Engineers & Operations Teams managing barrier envelopes and annular pressure buildup.
- Project Managers & Asset Teams responsible for planning and risk assessment of HPHT wells.
- HSE and Well Control Personnel overseeing HPHT well safety and emergency preparedness.
Instructors
Kevin Gray
Kevin can offer the experience of over 5000 days of operational experience and operations support positions from an oilfield career of over 31 years as well as working as lead trainer for a multi award winning ERD engineering team based in Perth Scotland. Kevin has been consistently the highest rated drilling training instructor in a major multinational training company over the last four years and throughout his offshore career was repeatedly graded in top 5% within both offshore and onshore positions for the largest oilfield service company.
Kevin has designed and overseen the delivery of multi week training programs for offshore drilling, well intervention and fluid supervisors for a number of clients. This has included competency assessment and skills gap analysis throughout the programs. Kevin is also able to draw on his well documented teaching skills to deliver courses or programs in directional drilling and surveying, stuck pipe, extended reach drilling and various other drilling related subject areas. He wrote the first Operation support centre SOP for directional drilling which was later adopted globally. In addition, he has designed and delivered various 'Real Time Centre' training courses including human dynamics training. In his former role as directional drilling coordinator, based in Aberdeen he still holds a number of world records for drilling achievements with motor and RSS tools.
In his earlier career he led an offshore team that developed the first multi axis drill vibration measurement tool to report measurements in real time, and subsequently wrote the core documentation on vibration control for D&M. Later he was responsible for the introduction and field testing of Powerdrive RSS tools and had considerable input into their re-design as the X5 variant. Kevin has led many teams into both new fields and mature field redevelopment. Outside the industry he enjoys skiing and exploring, taking these two activities to the extreme in 2015 when he skied to the South Pole dragging a sledge behind him.
Courses Taught
- N687: Advanced Directional Drilling and Advance Surveying Techniques
- N688: Drillstring Design
- N689: Drilling Fluids
- N690: Stuck Pipe, Design and Operational Practices for Avoidance
- N691: Well Integrity Management & Barrier Verification
- N692: Well Cost Control & Forecasting
- N693: Casing Design & Well Integrity Engineering
- N694: Basic Drilling Technology
- N695: Introduction to Drilling, Completion, and Workover Operations
- N696: Drilling Rig Selection & Inspection for Performance Optimization
- N697: Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) Program
- N698: HPHT Well Engineering
Accreditation and Certification
CEU: 3.5 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 35 Professional Development Hours
Certificate: Certificate Issued Upon Completion
RPS is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. We comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognised internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices.
We issue a Certificate of Attendance which verifies the number of training hours attended. Our courses are generally accepted by most professional licensing boards/associations towards continuing education credits. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the courses and certificate of attendance meet their specific criteria.