Patent attributes
A method of controlling an influx in a petroleum well with a managed pressure drilling system can include directing mud into the well; regulating a pressure of the mud proximate to a surface of the well with a choke valve; detecting, with a computing device having one or more processors, an intrusion of the influx in the well; increasing, in response to the detecting, the pressure of the mud proximate to the surface to a first level of surface back pressure by controlling the choke valve; determining, with the computing device, a volume of the influx; ascertaining an intrusion depth substantially concurrent with the detecting; and evacuating the influx in response to a correlation between both of the first level of surface back pressure and the volume of the influx relative to the intrusion depth.