To understand the various influences and reasons behind well control incidents and to understand whether automated well control systems could have minimised the impact of the incident, Safe Influx have recently performed a detailed analysis of the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) Well Control Incidents database.

The report is presented here and concludes with some confidence that an automated system that responds to a series of pre-agreed parameters to initiate a well shut-in could indeed minimise the influx size and therefore the impact of a loss of control in over 70% of the reported incidents.

Mark Gillard, our Technical Manager, commented that using real data to support the concept of well control automation is a big step forward in engaging with industry to support this exciting new technology.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: Safe Influx