A kick is an influx of formation fluid into the wellbore, and it happens when wellbore pressure falls below formation pressure. The causes are a short list: insufficient mud weight, failure to keep the hole full while tripping, swabbing, lost circulation and drilling into unexpected pressure. Each has warning signs that appear before the influx is large.

Detection speed determines everything that follows. A kick detected at ten barrels is a routine operation; one detected at a hundred barrels is a serious event with high casing pressures and a real risk of exceeding equipment or formation limits. That is why pit volume, flow and drilling break monitoring are continuous rather than occasional.

Killing a well is arithmetic plus discipline. The kill mud weight comes from the shut-in drill pipe pressure, the pressure schedule comes from the kill sheet, and the job is to follow it while keeping bottomhole pressure constant. Where kills go wrong is usually in the deviations: pump rate changes, choke adjustments made too fast, or a kill sheet prepared with the wrong data.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Apply pressure concepts including hydrostatic, formation and fracture pressure.
• Explain the barrier principle and identify barriers during each operation.
• Identify kick causes and recognise warning signs while drilling and tripping.
• Execute shut-in procedures and record shut-in pressures.
• Interpret shut-in drill pipe and casing pressures and identify influx type.
• Prepare a kill sheet and calculate kill mud weight and pressure schedules.
• Apply driller's, wait and weight and other kill methods.
• Explain gas behaviour, migration and expansion during a kill.
• Identify well control equipment and explain its function.
• Apply crew roles, responsibilities and drill practice in well control situations.

The course is instructor-led. Principles are developed with worked calculations, and participants complete kill sheets and work through kick scenarios from detection to the end of the kill, including the decisions at each stage. Case studies cover well control events and the actions that contained them. The course is aligned with recognised well control practice and does not award accredited certification.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Reduce the risk and consequence of well control events.
• Improve kick detection and response times.
• Improve crew competence and drill performance.
• Strengthen barrier discipline during drilling and tripping.
• Build a common well control understanding across the team.

Participants will:

• Understand well control principles and why they work.
• Be able to recognise kick warning signs early.
• Be able to shut in a well and interpret the pressures.
• Be able to prepare a kill sheet and circulate out a kick.
• Understand well control equipment and crew responsibilities.

• Drilling engineers
• Rig site supervisors and company representatives
• Drillers and senior rig crew
• Well engineers and completion engineers
• Service company personnel working at the rig
• Graduate engineers in drilling roles

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.