Well Control Testing Part 3 of 3: Digital Pressure Testing

Well Control Testing Part 3 of 3: Digital Pressure Testing—Setting the New Standard

How can you virtually eliminate errors and improve the efficiency of typical BOP testing?

Throughout the Well Control blog series we have discussed ways to improve your BOP test performance both prior to and during the actual testing, leading us to the introduction of a new, better way to conduct pressure testing. OTC, in partnership with Hecate Software, has unveiled OTC GREENLIGHT, a new BSEE-approved digital pressure testing software suite designed to provide reliable pressure analysis and compliance oversight while improving the efficiency of BOP testing.

OTC GREENLIGHT improves the performance and accuracy of pressure testing and removes the subjectivity associated with interpreting conventional circle chart recordings—the current industry standard. OTC GREENLIGHT offers its users an easy-to-use, predictive software which requires no benchmark for testing, thereby streamlining the overall digital BOP testing process.
OTC GREENLIGHT uses proprietary algorithms called “Analysts” to conduct, evaluate and document a wide variety of pressure tests. For BOP pressure testing OTC GREENLIGHT uses a non-predictive low pressure Analyst and a predictive high pressure Analyst. During testing, OTC GREENLIGHT records and analyzes each second of collected pressure data to predict at what point the current test will pass or fail as determined by federal regulatory guidelines. Once OTC GREENLIGHT has collected enough data to predict the outcome of the test, a ‘first light,’ either green or red, is shown in the comprehensive job history—green, for a passed test, and red, for a failed.
During a six-month testing period in deepwater Gulf of Mexico, OTC GREENLIGHT was run in tandem with conventional circle chart recordings. In the tic-tac-toe charts below, you can see that each time a pressure test was conducted, OTC GREENLIGHT produced the same results when compared to the use of circle chart recordings. This is especially evident in the high pressure chart in which you can see that OTC GREENLIGHT was able to predict whether or not a test would pass or fail prior to a cementer being able to determine the end-test results based on a circle chart reading.

OTC is available to offer 24/7 test result support which can be accessed through its call center or operations team in the field. Test results can also be thoroughly reviewed by OTC’s team of registered petroleum engineers and compliance professionals to ensure regulatory compliance and documentation accuracy are achieved. OTC is committed to offering our clients the most advanced and comprehensive compliance-related services, and since we already offer continuous support to many of our clients prior to, during and after completing BOP testing, it was only fitting that we expand our services to include an advanced technology like OTC GREENLIGHT which allows us to further improve the efficiency and overall testing performance of our clients. Next month we will focus on the time savings results achieved by using OTC GREENLIGHT for digital BOP pressure testing.