Underbalanced Operations & Managed Pressure Drilling Committee

IADC Underbalanced Operations & Managed Pressure Drilling (UBO/MPD) Committee

Mission Statement

To promote the safe and efficient execution of underbalanced operations and managed pressure drilling worldwide.

Officers

Chairman
Andre Alonso Fernandes, Petrobras

Vice Chairman
Oscar Gabaldon, Blade Energy Partners

Staff Liaison
Leesa Teel, IADC

Join the Committee

To get started, please contact the IADC Underbalanced Operations & Managed Pressure Drilling (UBO/MPD) Committee.

All Committees

Looking for a different IADC Committee?

Committee Structure

A member appointed by the Chairman of IADC will chair the IADC Underbalanced Operations & Managed Pressure Drilling (UBO/MPD) Committee. The Committee Chairman may at his discretion appoint a reasonable number of Committee Vice-Chairmen to oversee specific disciplines or issues (e.g., onshore/offshore safety issues, environmental practices, specific regulatory issues, etc.)

General meetings are open to participants from all categories of IADC membership. The Chairman may invite non-members to attend when it furthers the interests of the Committee. At the discretion of the Chairman and IADC staff, the meeting or portions of the meeting may be exclusively reserved for drilling contractor members. Meetings will be held at such times and locations as may be selected by the Chairman with the advice of the Committee.

IADC Committee activities are governed by IADC’s Antitrust Policy and Guidelines. IADC Technical Committee meetings are not open to the Press.

Meeting Minutes

Date Function Location
2024
28 February-1 March General Committee Meeting IADC HQ
2023
5-7 December General Committee Meeting IADC HQ
5-6 October General Committee Meeting Grand Hyatt, Denver
28-30 March General Committee Meeting Transocean, Houston
2022
13-15 December

UltraDeep Energy Overview

UltraDeep Well Design

UltraDeep Well Design Days vs Depth

General Committee Meeting IADC Headquarters
29-30 September General Committee Meeting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
14-16 June General Committee Meeting NOV HQ, hybrid
1-3 March General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
2021
7-9 December General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
17 September General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
1 June General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
2 March General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
2020
9-11 December General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
27-28 October General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
24-25 June General Committee Meeting Virtual, online
2019
3-5 December 2019 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
17-19 September 2019 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
4-6 June 2019 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
11-12 April 2019 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
2018
4-6 December 2018 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
18 – 20 September 2018 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
19 – 20 April 2018 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
6 – 8 February 2018 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
2017
5 – 7 December 2017 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
19-21 September 2017 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
6 – 8 June 2017 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
30 – 31 March 2017 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
2016
29 November – 1 December 2016 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
23-25 August 2016 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
14-15 April 2016 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
23-24 February 2016 General Committee Meeting Rijswijk, The Netherlands

Houston, TX, USA

2015
8-10 December 2015 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
24-26 August 2015

API 16RCD Task Group

General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
15 -16 April 2015 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
10 – 12 February 2015 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
2014
9-11 December 2014 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
3-5 September 2014 General Committee Meeting Bergen, Norway
10 – 11 April 2014 General Committee Meeting Madrid, Spain
11 – 13 February 2014 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
2013
3 – 5 December 2013 General Committee Meeting Oslo, Norway
10 – 12 September 2013 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
25 – 26 June 2013 General Committee Meeting Frankfurt, Germany
15 – 16 April 2013 General Committee Meeting San Antonio, TX, USA
2012
3 – 5 December 2012 General Committee Meeting Copenhagen, Denmark
10 -12 September 2012 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
4 – 6 June 2012 General Committee Meeting Oslo, Norway
22 – 23 March 2012 General Committee Meeting Milan, Italy
2011
5 – 7 December 2011 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
22 – 24 August 2011 General Committee Meeting Houston, TX, USA
13 – 14 June 2011 General Committee Meeting Copenhagen, Denmark
7 – 8 April 2011 General Committee Meeting Denver, Colorado

Meeting Schedule

Date Function Location
4-6 June General Committee Meeting Blade Energy, Houston, TX
19-20 September General Committee Meeting Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
3-5 December General Committee Meeting WFT, Houston, TX

Committee Meetings Policy

General meetings are open to participants from all categories of IADC membership. The Chairman may invite non-members to attend when it furthers the interests of the Committee. At the discretion of the Chairman and IADC staff, the meeting or portions of the meeting may be exclusively reserved for drilling contractor members. Meetings will be held at such times and locations as may be selected by the Chairman with the advice of the Committee.

All dates and times are subject to change.

Subcommittees

Dual Gradient Drilling (DGD) Subcommittee

Chair
Jonathan Thain, Transocean

Vice Chair
Rudy Flores, Enhanced Drilling

As defined by the IADC, DGD is “Two or more pressure gradients within selected well sections to manage the well pressure profile.”

Dual Gradient technology is not a new concept; the technology was thought of and developed on paper several decades ago.  A field trial was successfully deployed in 2001 but never commercially developed.  Today several developmental projects are under deployment on a commercial scale primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and several areas of the world.

Active Initiatives

Support the planning and organization of the 2015 combined Dual Gradient Well Control Workshop/IADC Well Control Conference of the Americas & Exhibition in Galveston.

Regularly update educational material on the four categories of Dual Gradient Drilling Techniques (click each link for additional information):

Helpful Links

Riser Gas Handling (RGH) Subcommittee

Chair
Mike Van der Staak, Halliburton

Vice Chair
Austin Johnson, NOV

HSE & Training Subcommittee

Chair
Matt Kvalo, Stasis Drilling Solutions

Vice Chair
Guilherme Vanni, Petrobras

Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) Subcommittee

Chair
Anthony Spinler, Weatherford

Vice Chair
Adam Keith, Patterson-UTI

An adaptive drilling process used to precisely control the annual pressure profile throughout the wellbore.

The objectives are to ascertain the downhole pressure environment limits and to manage the annular hydraulic pressure profile accordingly.  It is the intention of MPD to avoid continuous influx of formation fluids to the surface.  Any influx incidental to the operation will be safely contained using an appropriate process.

  • MPD process employs a collection of tools and techniques which may mitigate the risks and costs associated with drilling wells that have narrow downhole environmental limits, by proactively managing the annular hydraulic pressure profile.
  • MPD may include control of back pressure, fluid density, fluid rheology, annular fluid level, circulating friction, and hole geometry, or combinations thereof.
  • MPD may allow faster corrective action to deal with observed pressure variations.  The ability to dynamically control annular pressures facilitates drilling of what might otherwise be economically unattainable prospects.

Active Initiatives

The MPD Subcommittee is currently drafting the following recommended practices for multiple variants of MPD including:

Category 5: Pressurized Mud Cap – systems used to drill without returns with an annulus fluid column assisted by surface pressure.

In addition, the subcommittee is focused on completing the deepwater supplement to the Category 2 (Surface Pressure) and Category 5 (Pressurized Mud cap) documents.

Future Initiatives

Category 1: Annular Friction – systems allowing for constant circulation during drill pipe connections, thereby using annular friction to maintain constant bottom hole pressure.

Category 3: Delta Energy – systems where energy is added to manipulate the wellbore pressure by the use of equipment within the wellbore.

Category 4:  Hydrostatic Pressure – systems creating a non-uniform hydrostatic profile.

Completed Documents

The MPD Subcommittee has completed the following recommended practices for multiple variants of MPD.

Category 2:  Surface Pressure – systems manipulating annular pressure at surface to control and manage downhole pressures.  This document is currently being reviewed by an API work group.

16RCD Subcommittee

Chair
Micah Spahn, Pruitt

Vice Chair
Joe Karigan, Halliburton

Underbalanced Operations (UBO) Subcommittee

Chair
Antonio Torrealba, Air Drilling Associates

Vice Chair
Martyn Parker, Pruitt

Liaison Reports

Regulatory Liaison
Konstantin Puskarskij, Noble Drilling

Well Control Liaison
Paul Sonnemann, Safekick

Certifying Authority Liaison
Harish Patel, ABS

Resources & Links

This page contains lists of all available resources, documents, videos for the Underbalanced Operations & Managed Pressure Drilling (UBO/MPD) Committee. These may include best practices, guidelines, and/or special reports, as well as documents on topics such as onshore/offshore safety issues, environmental practices, specific regulatory issues and more. Also included is a section for links to useful websites.

Completed Documents

Guidance for UBO and MPD Techniques for Land Operations This document has been created to provide a referenced guidance for MPD operations executed specifically on land locations ensuring it remains aligned to API RP 92M that applies to MPD operations executed on drilling rigs/hoists with surface blowout preventers (BOPs) installed. The document also touches on other techniques UBD, RMD & PMCD.
Guidance for UBO and MPD Techniques for Land Operations Tool (Zip file) The purpose of this tool is to give a concise quick reference guidance for MPD land operations. This document is aligned to API RP 92 series recommended practice and aims to give guidance on the recommended level of equipment , planning and competency that is required to mitigate the potential operational risks based on the following: Formation risks, Planning & Execution Competence. The driver / reason for utilizing MPD. Ultimately, the goal is to assist drilling engineers to deliver safe MPD operations.
MPD Tool This is a Selection Guide for Users unfamiliar with Managed Pressure Drilling Techniques and their relative capabilities and limitations. By selecting the appropriate well data and objectives, this Selection Guide will give the User a ranking of potential technologies.

(Register to gain access to the MPD Tool by filling out the form. Your account will be created and a unique password will be assigned for this download. These credentials will be emailed to the email you provide. Once you log in, you will be able to download the MPD Tool.)

MANAGED PRESSURE DRILLING OPERATIONS – Question submission form As you might be aware, the IADC UBO & MPD Committee is working to establish an Accreditation Program on Managed Pressure Drilling Operations, Surface Backpressure, and Pressurized Mud Cap modes. The program will guide core curriculum development in three levels, Fundamental, Operations, and Supervisory, containing a body of knowledge and a set of job skills that can be used as a component of a competency program for Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) operations. The final aim is to build and assure competency within the Industry on MPD operations by setting a standardized curriculum, minimum qualification requirements for instructors, and providing an industry-recognized certificate. This will support the promotion of safe and efficient execution of managed pressure drilling operations, SBP and PMCD, worldwide. We have currently finalized the revision of the Curriculum for the three levels and the next step is to create the test database.

We respectfully invite your participation to support this initiative with your technical expertise. Our intent is to collect questions anonymously from IADC members and industry contributors, to compose a preliminary question collection. These will be processed by the IADC UBO/MPD Committee, HSE and Training Subcommittee task force, building the Test Database for the MPD Accreditation Program.

Riser Gas Handling Guidelines The Gas in the Riser Subcommittee of the IADC UBO&MPD Committee has released the ‘Riser Gas Handling Guidelines’ to address the challenges of handling gas in deepwater rig risers. These guidelines provide practical recommendations for safely managing gas, enhancing operational capabilities, and protecting the environment. The guidelines, developed through the collaboration of industry professionals and research teams, offer valuable resources to improve safety and operational efficiency in deepwater drilling operations, and the IADC encourages industry members to embrace and contribute to these guidelines for ongoing improvement.
Riser Gas Tolerance Worksheet This worksheet is freely provided by the IADC Riser Gas Handling Subcommittee in order to promote awareness and discussion of riser system gas handling capabilities when utilizing the recently published IADC Riser Gas Handling Guidelines. It is “version 1.0,” not intended as final solution, but offered to help quantify related gas behaviors in a way that promotes both better understanding of the FCCO method as well as stimulating further work toward developing reliable modeling and simulation techniques.

Document Archives

IADC provides web links as a member service. IADC does not warranty or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information, content, or advertisements contained on websites linked to www.iadc.org or any of its subsidiary pages.

Committee Initiatives

API 16RCD Task Group
Updating API 16RCD, Specification for Rotating Control Devices

Underbalanced Operations Subcommittee
Updating API 92U, Specification Underbalanced Drilling Operations

Managed Pressure Drilling Subcommittee
Development of Influx Management Annex for API 92S and API 92M, Specification for MPD with Surface Back Pressure

Dual Gradient Drilling Subcommittee
Development API 92C, Specification for Controlled Mud Level Operations

HSE/Training Subcommittee
Seeking funding to implement MPD training program as an IADC accredited course

Riser Gas Subcommittee
Alternative methods for handling gas in the riser

Well Control Committee Liaison
Maintain communication between Well Control and UBO/MPD Committee. Seeking opportunities to create MPD awareness in Wellsharp curriculum

Regulatory Liaison
Maintain communication between regulators and UBO/MPD Committee