Well Control Institute to seek industry comments; Exec Board agrees on new initiative at inaugural meeting

On 19 May, the Well Control Institute (WCI) will post for review and comment its revisions to the WellCAP accreditation standard. These documents modify requirements for training-provider personnel accreditation, as well as enhance course curricula for drilling well-control training.

“WCI encourages all industry participants to offer their perspectives on these important documents,” Cason Swindle, WCI Executive Director, remarked.

Readers can post comments and input at www.iadc.org/well-control-institute from 19 May until 6 June. The WCI will review all comments and incorporate improvements prior to publishing the new well control standards and curriculum in July.

The WCI Executive Board approved a new WCI initiative on 7 May at its inaugural Executive Board meeting. The WCI’s new initiative aims at developing a comprehensive map of well control efforts worldwide.

“Whether it’s by an individual company, partnerships within companies, trade associations or regulators, we are looking to find out what efforts are being considered or are under way to improve well control around the world,” Mr Swindle noted. “We want to see where we, as an industry, are duplicating efforts or missing opportunities for improvement. We want to map those out so we can see where we are already improving well control and where we can do better.”

Executive-level representatives from many leading companies participated: BP America, Cameron, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Helmerich & Payne, KCA Deutag, Maersk Drilling, Murphy Oil, Noble Drilling, National Oilwell Varco, Petrobras, Precision Drilling, Saudi Aramco, Seadrill and Shell International E&P.

“This meeting was an historic opportunity to bring together executives from operators, drilling contractors, well-service providers and equipment manufacturers to discuss opportunities for significant improvements in well control,” Mr Swindle said. “We believe that the leadership and collaboration of these key industry stakeholders positions WCI to have a significant impact in improving human performance in well control worldwide.”