Underground Construction - October 2017 - 13

20 17 C A PA B I LITI E S G U I D E
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

The Power
to Know
IR Risk -
A Holistic Approach

For better or worse, HDD drilling
is front page news. This increased
publicity is also intersecting with
increasing environmental scrutiny
of infrastructure projects, particularly those relating to oil & gas.
Doing all we can as an industry to
mitigate environmental issues is
critical, particularly high profile
issues such as inadvertent returns
("IR"). Furthermore, if these risks
cannot be better managed, the
future of the HDD industry may
be at risk. It is not possible to
completely eliminate the risk of IR
events, but technology and best
practices exist to significantly mitigate this risk.

results are then utilized to create
a hydrofracture analysis (pressure
curve) to properly frame the IR
risk. This analysis then needs to be
incorporated into bore design and
project/contractor drilling requirements.
Once the risk is characterized,
owners, engineers and contractors need to agree in advance what
remedial actions will be taken if
pressures approach concerning
levels or if the project begins losing
returns. Finally, project agreements need to create allowances
for the various project participants
to take appropriate action if IR risk
becomes elevated.

What tools are available?

So why run pressure and EDRs?

Reliable and proven tools exist that
are able to monitor annular pressure in real time. Pressure tools are
typically deployed as an addition
to the wireline steering system for
use when drilling the pilot hole but
can be used as a standalone tool
for reaming applications. The data
from the pressure tool can then be
fed to an EDR (electronic data recorder) system to record and share
pressure data and other drilling
parameters with project stakeholders in real time. INROCK's CrossViewTM EDR combined with ParatrakTM Pressure tooling perform
these functions and are available
to deploy today.

Monitoring annular pressure allows drillers, engineering firms
and inspectors to recognize potentially dangerous trends and
take precautionary actions such as
cleaning the hole or adjusting the
fluid program before an undesirable event occurs. It provides a
record of pressure levels and other
drilling parameters which can be
used to demonstrate compliance
with project specifications and better understand drilling operations.
In addition, the cost of delivering
this solution is low in absolute
terms and practically irrelevant in
the context of an IR.

Tooling only part of the equation

The evolution has begun

However, utilizing pressure tools
and EDRs to monitor pressure
levels is only part of the solution.
Proper risk mitigation begins well
before contractors mobilize onsite.
HDD engineers and project owners
need to perform a geotechnical
analysis that collects samples at
the proposed bore depth. These

This comprehensive approach has
been successfully used in select
regions of the world to dramatically decrease IR events. However,
in order to preserve the growth in
the HDD market, these practices
will need to become commonplace.
INROCK stands ready to support
our customers in this evolution.

October 2017 Underground Construction

INROCK's CROSSVIEW® system is the first
electronic data recorder (EDR)
specifically designed for the HDD industry.
CrossView® consists of a system of sensors,
computers and networking equipment designed
to deliver critical rig information anywhere in the
world, allowing users to effectively analyze
HDD projects.

For more information,
call 1 (877) 2 INROCK or visit www.inrock.com
ucononline.com

http://www.inrock.com http://www.ucononline.com

Underground Construction - October 2017

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