LSU Blowout Prevention Facility Demonstration for Media was held on June 4

June 2, 2010

LSU's PERTT Lab is the only such facility in North America

LSU is opening its doors to the media to illustrate blowout prevention and well-control techniques at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, June 4, at the Petroleum Engineering Research & Technology Transfer Laboratory, or PERTT Lab, located at 2829 Gourrier Lane in Baton Rouge, La.

The PERTT Lab is a full-scale well-control research and training facility run by the LSU Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, and it is the only such university-based facility in North America.

Media are invited to see a well control training exercise with actual full-scale equipment and will have the opportunity to see industry equipment up close and witness an example of the kick detection and blowout prevention process in a controlled environment. Hard hats and protective goggles are required while on site, so please RSVP to mlavall@lsu.edu so that the university can provide the appropriate protective gear.

The PERTT lab is an industrial-scale facility with full-scale equipment and instrumentation for conducting training and research related to borehole technology. Much of this equipment was assembled to support past research and training activities in the area of blowout prevention. The key components are a 800-bbl. capacity drilling fluid circulating system; a high-pressure choke manifold and process control system; a 2,787-ft. model well for floating drilling operations; a 5,884-ft. model well for bottom supported drilling operations; a high pressure underground gas formation simulator; a full-scale model well diverter system; a 9,600-ft. drill pipe flow loop; and a 100-ft. derrick and 45-ft. inclined wellbore analog.

MEDIA NOTE:

Media are asked to be punctual. The system is based on timed mechanisms that cannot be stopped once initiated, so due to time constraints, there will only be one run-through of the entire simulation, which will take approximately an hour-and-a-half to complete.

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For more information, visit http://www.pete.lsu.edu/researchandfacilities.htm or contact Mimi LaValle at 225-578-5706 or mlavall@lsu.edu.