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| Seadrill’s West Tellus is a sixth generation DP3 drillship rated for a maximum water depth of 12,000 ft. |
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Given the formidable regulatory, geological and operational challenges of today’s global offshore drilling industry, the importance of instilling and sustaining well control competency has been elevated to an unprecedented dimension. Consequently, it has become apparent that relying, solely, on the industry-accepted standard of biennial crew training for mandatory well control certification is wholly inadequate.
In a proactive response to this ever-changing environment, Seadrill is advancing well control proficiency in the form of new-generation interactive digital technology, which essentially brings continual training directly to the crews throughout its global fleet. Following a one-year trial on eight rigs in the North Atlantic Drilling (NAD) division, the continually evolving Well Control Virtual Instructor (VI) is now a training fixture on 51 of Seadrill’s operating rigs, and will be a standard feature on 16 newbuilds coming in 2015 and 2016. At least one Well Control VI system is in place on each of the contractor’s jackups, while two are assigned to each of Seadrill’s drillships and semisubmersibles. In addition, the repetitive computer-driven system has since emerged as a key component in providing objective performance assessments as part of Seadrill-specific training courses, designed to promote qualified personnel within the rig hierarchy, highlighted with the Assistant Driller to Driller syllabus.
The immersive, easily deployable, well control competency-maintenance training system capitalizes on the latest in 3D animation technologies, and it is patterned closely after the repetitive, hands-on, training scenarios long employed by the military and first-responders. Indeed, the aptly named system combines fighter jet pilot-inspired computer simulation with a virtual instructor, essentially replicating the same training management system employed by the military, which within 18 months converts non-pilots into professionals fully qualified to fly an F/A-18 fighter jet off a combat carrier, at night and in combat conditions. Notably, in developing the Well Control VI, Check-6 enlisted the instructional system designers from a leading aerospace company, which was responsible for the construction of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training system. The same methodology was customized into primary and secondary well control modules that have been fully vetted, and validated by respected industry and academic experts.
Fortunately, owing to thorough planning and extremely strict well barrier management, most rig hands will never have to respond to a well control event in the real world. Taking an actual kick, however, is not the time for on-the-job training. Accordingly, the functionality of the Well Control VI is rooted in the recognition that unused skills deteriorate over time, and that the industry’s long-established model, of requiring drillers and other pertinent rig hands to undergo well control training and certification only every two years, is entirely insufficient to develop and retain a high level of competency. The Well Control VI addresses that inadequacy by providing off-tour personnel with a vehicle to repeatedly, and anonymously, practice simulated well control scenarios, until they become second nature, thereby allowing the crews to respond instinctively, and appropriately, to kicks before they degrade into out-of-control situations.
The current construct of the Well Control VI comprises 126 training sessions engineered to assess and document each crewmember’s readiness and competency in kick detection and shut-in, as well as the procedures for properly managing secondary well control after shut-in.
The Well Control VI does not replace the compulsory two-year International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) WellCAP certification or International Well Control Forum (IWCF)-accreditation, but rather provides the crew a tool that, in the meantime, allows them to hone well control knowledge and skills. Moreover, it does so without incurring the expense, risk exposure and morale issues associated with bringing personnel, who are off-hitch, to a centralized training and testing facility.
TRAINING FOR THE NEW ERA
Over the past several years, the global offshore industry has undergone a profound and well documented transformation, reflected in large part by the growing number of wells being drilled in ever-increasing water depths and frequently targeting deeper and alien horizons within HPHT and equally harsh downhole regimes. These extreme sedimentary environments invariably generate extremely narrow margins between pore pressure and fracture gradient, with the resulting tight drilling windows leaving little room for chance when it comes to safely managing pressures. In tandem with hostile downhole conditions, the acceleration offshore of MPD, and similarly sophisticated drilling techniques, has further magnified well control competency as an imperative knowledge set for all crews. Consequently, Seadrill is among the contractors that have intensified their efforts by adopting competency assurance training to maintain crew skills during the two-year time lapse between well-control recertification.
Regulatory oversight, likewise, has taken on a more prominent role in offshore theaters across the world, especially in the wake of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. The industry, in response, has steadily developed new HSE standards and guidelines, many of which are oriented toward well control proficiency. The influential International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP), for one, released its OGP 476 recommendations that, in part, conclude that well control training must be more role-specific and progressive than what is now the universal standard. Specifically, the OGP recommendations outline five levels of both rotary-drilling well control and well-intervention pressure-control training, using updated curricula and accredited examinations for critical positions. The IADC Well Control Committee last year also mandated increases in simulation training for WellCAP-certified well control schools.
The Well Control VI system exceeds the requirements of both the OGP guidelines and the IADC mandate. As a case-in-point, the system maintains crewmembers’ two-year competency and includes training at OGP 476 levels three and four, meaning that personnel begin their recertification training at a much higher level than ever before. More importantly, it elevates expertise to a considerably higher degree across the drilling operation.
With accessibility as simple as logging into a standard video game, the Well Control VI provides a training medium where the student must, for instance, identify the cause and then react to real-time changes in gauge readings, much like being physically positioned in the driller’s shack, Fig. 1. By way of illustration, rather than simply define how to identify a plugged nozzle, the proprietary Downhole Vision Module, built into the Well Control VI, uses advanced 3D animation to visually depict debris clogging the drill pipe with gauges showing the pressure fluctuations as they occur.
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| Fig. 1. The Well Control VI screen replicates the driller’s shack with real-time gauge readings. |
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A corresponding Interactive Course Ware (ICW) accompanies this and all the other built-in complications and situations deemed as requiring specified learning objectives. In fact, the ICW is where the true academic learning principals of the Well Control VI take place. In the plugged nozzle case example, after reviewing only the gauge measurements and other visuals, the student will be asked to identify the specific cause, based on what is being shown on the screen, selecting from multiple choices, Fig. 2. To avoid the chance of a lucky guess, if answering correctly the student must then explain—again from multiple choices—why the selected answer was the correct one. The same process is used to lead the student through the proper steps for remediating a plugged nozzle complication. In addition, randomization is built into the platform, so the student may encounter different scenarios with each session as an additional safeguard against recognizing symptoms and reacting from memory. In other words, every facet of the system is designed as a tool for learning and not simply training.
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| Fig. 2. The Well Control VI BOP console, showing the corresponding Interactive Course Ware (ICW) that evaluates the student’s competency in responding to changing downhole conditions. |
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More importantly, the student can practice all applicable procedures and techniques as frequently as desired, increasing the retention rate considerably to the point that the deviation becomes smaller and the results more reliable. Owing to the inherent repetitiveness and the creation of experiences the student may otherwise never receive, the proper response to a well control situation becomes second nature.
The plugged nozzle scenario plainly typifies the impetus behind the Well Control VI: Quantity and quality of experience trumps years on the job, which, along with personality, historically has been the industry’s primary criterion for assessing competencies. Since the virtual instructor is incapable of distinguishing the experienced from the inexperienced, it eliminates the inherent subjective nature of typical instructor-based training where favoritism, typically, leans heavily toward the hand with multiple years of experience.
ONE-OF-A-KIND PLATFORM
The platform upon which it is built makes the Well Control VI the industry’s only learning management system, which, as its name implies, works through a virtual instructor to objectively capture training performance in real time. Conversely, conventional drilling training systems require a physical instructor, who takes the class through a prescribed program, after which the students’ responses are graded, their respective scores transferred to the designated location and, finally, recorded in the specific learning management or tracking system being used. This unwieldy, but common, process not only opens the door for miscommunication and myriad errors, but relies heavily on a single individual’s subjective opinion of how the respective student performed, and thus a potential single point of failure. The Well Control VI, on the other hand, is the only training system in the industry that delivers a completely objective assessment.
By incorporating the Well Control VI, training departments’ primary roles would consist of tracking up-to-the-minute progression of hands in their training schedule, identifying precisely where additional help is needed and generally making training very targeted.
The genesis of what is now the Well Control VI evolved from earlier work to develop a computer-driven training system devoted to crane safety, long identified as one of the largest contributors to lost-time incidents (LTI) on the rig. Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon explosion on the Macondo deepwater well, focus shifted to the engineering of a similar interactive training system, but one oriented strictly to well control.
With its first iteration, and the one placed originally on the eight NAD rigs, the system included eight built-in training lessons, consisting of numerous modules covering the procedures for managing secondary well control scenarios, post shut-in. Like any new technology, the first-generation Well Control VI system on the NAD rigs encountered its share of growing pains. Among the lessons learned, and the one that resolved many of the glitches early on, was the decision to host the learning management system on the Check-6 server. Doing so provided a dedicated and singular focus, thereby maintaining performance at an appreciably higher and consistent level.
More recently, the newest-generation Well Control VI augmented the secondary post shut-in modules considerably with the development of five primary well control lessons, specifically comprising the identification and remediation of kicks while drilling, tripping, making connections, running casing and wireline logging, Fig. 3. The current Well Control VI model also includes ballooning and complications modules, which, like all the others, has an accompanying ICW, specially designed to test competencies for responding to each of the various well control situations that are to be formally scored, documented and tracked.
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| Fig. 3. The Well Control VI tripping panel that leads students through the identification and remediation of kicks while tripping. |
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On the rig, the Well Control VI is, usually, accessed through a laptop in a chosen location. However, if a more elaborate system is desired, and the space is available, the learning management system can be displayed on large screens and within a dome configuration.
Exploiting the latest in video game technology, the Downhole Vision Module very clearly illustrates the new-age training approach designed into the Well Control VI. With this module, the student actually visualizes the origin and extent of the pressure influx from the formation and how the gas bubble migrates during an influx. Consequently, the student can actually see and come to fully understand what occurs downhole.
Furthermore, internal with each of the pre-built well control scenarios, the student must complete the applicable rig math. As such, during the session they will be required, where appropriate, to complete a number of calculations, such as kill weight mud, effective weight muds and hydrostatic pressures, among others. Any incorrect calculation is immediately pointed out by the virtual instructor, which will then provide the applicable formula, with the appropriate values, allowing the student to make the necessary corrections as they go through the process. Typically, after working through the Downhole Vision Module, and completing all the required calculations, the student will receive an actual kill sheet that must be filled out completely.
Quite simply, the Well Control VI explains, through animation, rather than often-canned lectures, exactly how to identify a kick, and afterwards takes them visually through the applicable shut-down and shut-in procedures. As a result, the Well Control VI adheres to the tenants of behavioral research, which conclude that humans retain 10% of what they read, 30% to 50% of what they see and hear, but upwards of 90% of what they actually do.
In a related acknowledgment of basic human nature, the so-called Sandbox feature has become one of the more popular components of the advanced learning management system. The Sandbox allows the student to anonymously practice well control exercises over and over, without the inherent peer pressure that comes with having their exercises scrutinized by colleagues and others, where not making a mistake often takes precedence over actual learning. The way it works is, if an assistant driller, for instance, logs into the Well Control VI using his/her designated access credentials, a schedule appears showing that they are required to satisfactorily complete Driller’s Method, First Circulation in 15 days. Before their performance is to be actually graded and documented, the assistant driller can anonymously log-in to the Sandbox and practice the exercise as many times as needed to feel comfortably proficient.
While the name of the individual remains anonymous, the system administrator can track and graphically illustrate overall performance trend lines, based on aggregate results of those logging into Sandbox. This capability provides a vehicle to document the group progression of performance improvements, or lack thereof, for a particular exercise. Again, by way of example, data could reveal that as a group, generic Sandbox scores of those practicing the kick while tripping exercise was 60% and four months later had improved to an 80% level.
As reinforced by military and first-responder training, this repetitiveness breeds competence. If someone has not practiced kick detection and shut-in, they would be ill-prepared to follow the proper sequence of events that must be followed. For example, he might immediately shut down, whereas one who has practiced the exercise frequently, would instantly know, through practice and repetition, that the correct response when taking a kick is to first space-out, followed by shutting down the pumps, then shutting in and monitoring the annular gallon count to ensure the annulus is, in fact, fully closed.
It is also noteworthy that before any module was incorporated into the system, it was evaluated thoroughly, and often re-evaluated, by industry experts. A number of petroleum industry and university physicists, for instance, fully vetted the physics models and other scientific components, to assure complete accuracy in the final version. In addition, countless highly experienced drilling personnel reviewed the “look and feel” of the Well Control VI in order to validate the system’s authenticity and user-friendliness. As a testament to its validity, the system is a fundamental component of the joint training partnership between Check-6 and Wild Well Control, announced at the 2014 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Fig. 4.
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| Fig. 4. As part of a joint training partnership, Check-6 specialists conduct Well Control VI training for Wild Well Control personnel. |
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OBJECTIVITY RULES
The virtual instructor scores each crewmember on his or her performance of every skill, or learning objective, tracking every individual’s progress over time, regardless of location. An assistant driller, for instance, can complete a session onboard a rig off West Africa, and the results are easily accessed and replayed, as needed, by designated personnel in the corporate office. For operators, the system provides unbiased assurance that contractors meet or exceed industry standards, while contractors, on the other hand, maintain the privacy and security of their training records.
For each task the virtual instructor evaluates, the student is assessed a score that corresponds with his/her demonstrated competency level, with grading standards ranging from:
4–Flawless performance
3–Minor errors, self-corrects, and does not detract from overall performance
2–Moderate errors, self corrects
1–Significant errors, requires instructor assistance
0–Unable to accomplish task.
One is evaluated as being proficient in the assigned task if scoring a two or above on each objective, Fig. 5. A lesser score requires the student to simply redo the session until grading out at a two or higher for all objectives. This systematically engineered training methodology enables training managers to both clearly define and measure proficiency, and make course adjustments based on the results. In the future, it is hoped that all scores eventually could be compiled into a comparative analysis of the WellCAP recertification grades.
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| Fig. 5. The Well Control VI platform allows company training departments to track the well control competency of key rig hands. |
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The granularity built into the system also provides an impartial means of looking at the resultant competencies in all the individual skill sets. As such, administrators can look at the comparative performance of a group of drillers and ascertain, for example, that they collectively are very proficient in shutting in, but are less-than-proficient in bringing the pumps back up to speed. By studying these trends, the company can accurately determine specific areas that require additional training across-the-board.
Since its offshore debut, the Well Control VI has been incorporated as a key tool in Seadrill’s Dubai training center, where eight units have been installed as a cornerstone of the contractor’s Assistant Driller to Driller curriculum—the first of several planned courses designed to prepare and promote individuals to other rig positions. The Well Control VI raises the confidence level for promoting the right personnel, at the right time, when they are fully prepared and competent without having to rely, solely, on subjective criteria, such as years of experience, personalities and word-of-mouth.
Going forward, the ingrained flexibility of the Well Control VI will allow for continual evolution, with the addition and modification of modules and training tasks to meet new requirements as they arise. Unchanged, however, will be the singular focus on exponentially closing the gap between reliance on years of experience to competency that is centered strictly around precise, knowledge-based criteria. Like the F-35 instructional management system upon which it was grounded, the Well Control VI accelerates experience to a higher level and helps the industry meet its goal of developing experts faster than ever before. 
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