New Tools, Old Tasks by Torgeir K. Haavik

Author:Torgeir K. Haavik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ashgate
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

7.5.2 Scenario: Understanding a Mud Kick During Drilling

The following scenario might illustrate the seamless nature of a sociotechnical system, represented by drilling operations in a future where Alpha-Drill, Beta-Drill and Gamma-Drill are adopted. It describes an important category of events in drilling operations in the sense that it is a situation that occurs frequently and whose accident potential is high.

Such is the scenario: during tripping out of the hole using the automated function of Gamma-Drill, the data engineer gets an alarm from Alpha-Drill indicating mud gains, which could be the initial stage of a blowout. Beta-Drill so far shows a data pattern similar to previous trips, and in those previous operations there are no indications of mud gains. Now, numerous actions can come into consideration to cope with the situation; switching from automatic to manual tripping control by disabling Gamma-Drill; phoning the derrick-man and asking him to manually check the level of mud in the trip tank to make sure that the registration is not due to a sensor error; performing a flow check;7 consulting Alpha-Drill for support in diagnosis and possible solutions. Further immediate actions would depend on the answers these and other investigations give. However, when the situation is under control, a lot of sociotechnical work will still remain to make sure that the event and the new information is taken into account by all relevant actors. If the irregularity indicated by Alpha-Drill is real, it will be an important experience to feed into Beta-Drill. A report will have to be written about the causes of the event, which measures were taken and what the results of these measures were, and this report should be linked to the depth the event occurred at and all other relevant drilling data at the time. This paperwork is a part of the continuous engineering of Beta-Drill, making it able to detect similar situations at an earlier stage in e.g. the next well to be drilled in the same area.

The use of Gamma-Drill might have to be reconsidered for the remaining tripping operations, since its thresholds showed it to be inadequate in the specific context. A question that would have to be asked is whether this incident should be considered a unique case, not general enough to affect the tool’s functionality, or if Gamma-Drill should be adjusted to function more adequate in similar future instances. In that case, this will generate work for the tool provider onshore, perhaps weeks of meetings, reprogramming, testing and report writing to adjust the tool.

The scenario illustrates how not only the independence, but also the demarcation, of the three presumptively independent innovations, and the role of each of them in the network of human and non-human actors, are shaped by other actors in such a way that the properties cannot easily be traced back to each one of them. Instead, they must be acknowledged as properties belonging to the relations between them.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.