Publications

Two main things needed to be scrutinized before treating the blowout at well YYA-1: to stop the flow as efficiently as possible, and to minimize the environmental effect to the surrounding sea. In the process, the oil spill combat team was deployed to contain the hydrocarbon release, while to kill the blowout was managed by drilling a relief well instead of using the existing well due to the collapse of the original platform. After drilling the relief well, PHE ONWJ initiated the conversion of the relief well into a production well. Three important parts leading to the success of this project were the oil spill combat, the drilling of a relief well, and the conversion of the relief well into a production well. The oil spill combat operation included vessel and aerial surveillance, shoreline assessment, deployment of oil booms, and shoreline clean-up. The blowout well was killed by drilling YYA-1RW relief well to intercept YYA-1 well which created a conduit to secure the well. The last sequence was to convert the relief well into a production well with barrier integrity as the important issue requiring special attention. The oil spill combat focused on handling socio-environmental impacts due to the hydrocarbon release. The relief well design itself had considerations such as a well-placed surface location, quality assurance of the existing well trajectory, execution and abandonment. Multiple observations, well barriers, pressure tests and logging operation were done in the preparation phase, hence increasing PHE ONWJ’s confidence level to convert the relief well into a production well. The drilling phase was designed with high profile to mitigate the uncertainties of formation below. PHE ONWJ successfully managed to kill the blowout in YYA-1 well and has become the first in the world to convert the relief well into a production well. As documented, the technical and operational aspects were carefully engineered to achieve the target.