BOP Test Assembly Ejected from Well

Following well kill operations, the BOP was tested with a tubing hanger (BOP test assembly). Upon conclusion of BOP testing, the tubing hanger was being disengaged when it was ejected from the well due to the residual energy below. The well was secured by closing the blind rams.

The Wells Expert Committee/Well Control Incident Subcommittee believes that this incident description contains sufficient lessons to be shared with the industry. We further encourage the recipients of this mail to share it further within their organization.

What happened?:

During a workover operation the well had been killed using kill weight fluid and a tubing hanger (BOP test assembly) had been installed prior to testing the rig's BOP. Following the BOP test the tubing hanger was being disengaged when the hanger and handling joint were ejected from the well. The well was secured using the BOP's blind rams; returns from the well were routed through the choke line to the rig's mud gas separator until well pressure was relieved.

What Went Wrong?:

Failure to demonstrate zero energy below tubing hanger prior to disengaging the tubing hanger.

Corrective Actions and Recommendations:

Reinforce the use of procedures to verify process safety, including site supervisor verification of equipment alignment and procedure adherence.

safety alert number: 320
IOGP Well Control Incident Lesson Sharing http://safetyzone.iogp.org/

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