Patent ID: 7027968

Claim:
A method of simulating subsea mudlift drilling well control operations using a computer system, the method comprising: simulating a drilling circulation system, the simulated circulation system comprising at least one blowout preventer, at least one isolation line, at least one surface pump, a subsea mudlift pump, drill pipe, drilling fluid, and a wellbore; simulating drilling the wellbore at a selected rate of penetration, the simulating drilling a wellbore comprising simulating drilling selected earth formations; simulating a kick at a selected depth in the wellbore proximate a selected earth formation, the kick simulated as a two-phase mixture comprising drilling fluid and a formation fluid; simulating controlling the kick, the simulating controlling the kick comprising: simulating shutting the at least one blowout preventer; simulating opening the at least one isolation line; simulating circulating a formation fluid influx out of a well while an inlet pressure of a subsea mudlift pump is adjusted to maintain a substantially constant drill pipe initial circulating pressure; simulating pumping drilling fluid with a kill mud weight from the surface into the well; simulating reducing the drill pipe pressure according to a preselected drill pipe pressure decline schedule until the kill mud weight drilling fluid reaches a bottom of the well; simulating maintaining the drill pipe pressure at a final circulating pressure after the kill mud weight drilling fluid reaches the bottom of the well by adjusting the inlet pressure of the subsea mudlift pump; and simulating circulating kill mud weight drilling fluid from the bottom of the well to the surface at the final circulating pressure; displaying wellbore parameters via a graphical user interface operatively coupled to the computer system, the wellbore parameters comprising a drill pipe pressure, a subsea mudlift pump inlet pressure, a surface pump flow rate, a subsea mudlift pump flow rate, a formation pressure, a blowout preventer status, an isolation line status, a drilling fluid density, and a kill mud weight drilling fluid density; and repeating the simulating drilling the wellbore after the kick has been controlled.