A Complementary Safety Tool for Blowout Preventers

摘要

Hydrocarbon exploration and production relies on Blowout Preventers (BOPs) to prevent catastrophicrnaccidents; however, currently there are no in-situ or rapidly deployable backup systems for BOPs. Thisrnpaper presents a method and machine for predictably stemming an uncontrolled flow resulting from arnfailed Blowout Preventer. The tool, referred to as the u0002Hampering Active Wellbore Kitu0002 (HAWK), is arnmachine that can feed wire (with varying material properties along its length) through a BOP’s existingrnports and into the wellbore. The wire, initially stored in spools inside the device, forms a tangled wirernmass (TWM) inside the wellbore that serves to gradually stem the uncontrolled flow. A design theory isrndescribed for wire feeding in order to form a TWM in a free flowing conduit, and the efficacy of thernmethod is evaluated by comparing flow rates of a single wellbore before and after the introduction of thernTWM. A prototype machine for direct attachment to a BOP as a backup safety system is presented basedrnon operating constraints and industry requirements.