Abstract
Early detection of a gas kick is crucial for preventing uncontrolled blowout that could cause loss of life, loss of assets, and environmental damage. Multiphase flow experiments conducted in this research demonstrate the capability of downhole fiber optic sensors to detect a potential gas influx in real-time in a 5000 ft deep wellbore. Gas rise velocities estimated independently using fiber optic distributed acoustic sensor (DAS), distributed temperature sensor (DTS), downhole gauges, surface measurements, and multiphase flow correlations show good agreement in each case, demonstrating reliability in the assessment. Real-time data visualization was implemented on a secure cloud-based platform to improve computational efficiency. This study provides novel insights on the effect of circulation rates, gas kick volumes, backpressure, and injection methods on gas rise dynamics in a full-scale wellbore.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 38773-38787 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Optics Express |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 26 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 21 2020 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
National Academy of Sciences (200008861). Portions of this work were presented at the OSA Optical Sensors and Sensing Congress, 22-26 June 2020. The authors would also like to thank Mauricio Almeida, Charles Taylor, Andreau Trepagnier, Adam Wilson, Dmitry Kortukov, Devin Paulk, and Douglas Hoy for their inputs and contributions. Original draft preparation, J.S.; writing-review, editing, and visualization, J.S., O.S., O.O.; analysis and methodology, J.S., O.S., G.F., O.O.; funding acquisition: W.W.