Amendments to Well Blowout Prevention and Well Control Certification and Methods under Directives 008, 036, and 037
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has revised its requirements for well control methods and well control and well blowout prevention certification to provide companies flexibility in selecting control methods and training providers.
We recognize the following training providers as adequate: International Well Control Forum (IWCF), the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), and Energy Safety Canada (ESC; the successor of Enform). If an operator wishes to use a different provider, they are to submit a gap analysis of the training material to the AER (@email) for a determination on whether the training is equivalent.
Directive 036: Drilling Blowout Prevention Requirements and Procedures has been updated to reflect this. A further change to Directive 036 is the incorporation of the Directive 036 addendum of May 19, 2015, which is rescinded. Directive 037: Service Rig Inspection Manual was not updated; instead, an addendum to Directive 037 has been issued.
Directive 008: Surface Casing Depth Requirements has been revised to refer to well control methods by the IWCF, the IADC, and ESC.
References to Enform have also been replaced with ESC in Directives 008 and 036.
These changes are effective immediately. No other requirements have been changed.
The directives are available on the AER website, www.aer.ca. Printed copies of the directive can be purchased from AER Order Fulfillment, Suite 1000, 250 – 5 Street SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 0R4; telephone: 403-297-8311 or 1-855-297-8311 (toll free; option 0); fax: 403-297-7040; email: @email.
<original signed by>
Mark Taylor
Executive Vice President
Operations