WELL CONTROL READINESS
a must. A lot of this can be done with our homework and our
side learning tools. Microlearning is going to continue to be
refined so it can accompany the in-learning experience with
easy-to-digest, engaging homework, leading to a much better
experience. I look at the younger generation and how they’re
digesting material vs the traditional ways, and clearly that is
the future.”
Simulators are also set to play a role in bolstering the in-person
experience, primarily through Wild Well’s partnership with
Endeavor Technologies. The partnership, announced in February,
calls for Endeavor to provide drilling simulators for well control
training simulator rooms across Wild Well’s seven training cen-
ters across the US. The simulator implementation is expected to
be completed by year-end.

The appeal of Endeavor’s simulators is in its computational
fluid dynamics model, which consists of a circulation system
that solves and analyzes problems involving fluid flows, Mr
Smith said. There is also a proprietary hydraulics model that
demonstrates the flow and pressure of the drilling fluid, which the
simulator uses in a multi-layered approach to model the complex
physical phenomena that occur inside the hydraulics system.

These phenomena include the state, movement and interactions
among the drilling fluid, gas, cuttings, formation, surface and
underground equipment.

While most simulators are more drilling-focused, the fluid
dynamics and hydraulics model provide a specific well control
focus, Mr Smith said.

“A lot of companies out there make drilling simulators, but that
doesn’t help us a lot because we’re focused on well control. There
is some drilling on our simulators, but we’re not teaching you how
to drill through a formation. We’re teaching how to control a well
and control the gas in the well,” he explained.

Another feature of the Endeavor simulators is their capability to
simulate specific well intervention operations, such as installing
packers and the upper completion, fishing and cement squeeze.

Mr Smith also touted their ability to enable a more granular level
of training by simulating, for example, the higher pressures and
temperatures of the Haynesville Shale or the slower drilling seen
in the Bakken.

Outside of the classroom or the virtual training session, stu-
dents also will have access to simulation-based exercises they
can undertake to bolster the well control concepts that they’re
taught by the instructors. “The education received ensures the
principles are understood prior to running a simulator, but I
compare the concept to running a motorcycle: You need a core
of understanding prior to riding the bike,” Mr Smith said. “The
simulator is like riding the bike. You need to truly understand the
principles so that, by the time you’re using the simulator, you’re
focusing on muscle memory and developing a deeper under-
standing of the knowledge you’re getting in class.” DC
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C O N N E C T I O N
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