WELL CONTROL READINESS
Above: To accommodate the needs of an evolving workforce,
Well Control School began offering training courses that al-
low for a mix of both in-person and remote students in the
same class. These classes utilize PowerPoint presentations,
rather than traditional whiteboards, to more easily share
notes with both types of students.

Right: Another new element in WCS’ training efforts is the in-
corporation of physical and cloud-based simulators. They
can model pressure, temperature and rheology, among
other things, and provide a training experience where stu-
dents can freely make mistakes and learn from them.

Instruction and Development at Well Control School (WCS). “As
the equipment evolves, the technology level of the people evolves,
but what doesn’t change is the basic understanding of the con-
cepts behind what they’re doing. Anybody can turn a valve, but
why am I doing that? The way we might do the job does change,
but the concept doesn’t.”
Training in the virtual age
WCS, an affiliate company of Cudd Well Control, has leapt head-
first into the digital ecosystem. In April, the company announced
it was incorporating physical, portable and cloud-based simula-
tors from Applied Research International (ARI) into its in-person
and online training courses.

ARI’s drilling simulator models pressure, temperature, rheology,
drill cuttings transportation and filter cake formations. It also
models drill string dynamics, including effects like drill string
whirling, vibration, twist, stick-slip and bit bouncing. Instructors
can configure the geographical profile of the well, including
adjustments for rock hardness, rock porosity, rock permeability
and formation pressure.

“With these new simulators, the student is actually learning
something, not just operating software and watching a video. It
goes along with our basic philosophy of enveloping the student
in well control. That’s what we do with our curriculum, and now
it’s coming through simulations,” said Dana Varisco, President of
WCS. Mr Hooper described the simulators as a means to present
well control lessons in a different manner than the conventional
methods of having students read from a textbook or look at an
instructor diagram on a whiteboard. Instead, the simulators pro-
DRILLING CONTRACTOR • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023
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