A Discussion on Oil and Gas and Geothermal Drilling Environment Differences and Their Impacts to Well Control Methods

Abstract

Drilling is one of the key activities on geothermal and petroleum projects that could face hazards such as kick and blowout. Those conditions are hazardous to the equipment and personnel on the drilling site, thus the drilling personnel should be prepared to apply any well control technique to prevent the kick becoming blowout. The current condition in the drilling industry is that the well control method for oil and gas drilling is more established compared to for geothermal practices. Even though the objective of the well control is similar between them, but the differences of the subsurface conditions, the formation fluid, and the origin of the formation pressure may render the oil and gas well control methods to be less suitable for geothermal environment, especially in Indonesia. With geothermal exploration in Indonesia is currently on the rise, there is a tendency of drilling personnel from oil and gas industry to work on geothermal project without proper knowledge of the differences and implications. The condition is aggravated by the absence of accepted national standard or training center for geothermal well control in Indonesia.