DRILLBITS
Monthly eNewsletter from the IADC

Members Gather in New Orleans for Well Control Conference of the Americas

3 September 2025

Topics

The 2025 IADC Well Control Conference of the Americas & Exhibition took place 19-20 August at the Ritz-Carlton in New Orleans, Louisiana. Thank you to everyone who joined us for two days of exploring the innovations that are shaping the future of well control.

Congratulations to Andrew Barry, Vice President Business Development at Wild Well Control, for receiving an Exemplary Service Awards at this year’s conference! Thank you for your outstanding commitment to the advancement of this industry.

Andrew Barry (right) receiving an Exemplary Service Award while standing next to Jim Rocco (left)

The keynote presentation was delivered by Laura Robbins, Gulf of America Regional Director, BOEM. Topics covered throughout the event included, among others:

Blow-out Trends
Human Factors
Well Control Training
Well Integrity
Managed Pressure Drilling
Utilizing Well Control Incidents to Develop a Geothermal Workforce
Electrification of BOPs
CO2 Storage

IADC gladly sponsored 15 students to attend from the Colorado School of Mines, Missouri University of Science & Technology, University of Houston, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Texas Permian Basin.

Drilling Contractor Interviews from the 2025 IADC Well Control Conference of the Americas

Incorporating human factors into training is key for mitigating well control events

Conventional well control training, when delivered by experienced facilitators, provides the proper procedures to keep people safe on the rig. It has worked well for a long time, yet it has limitations in that it may not sufficiently address human factors, said David Hazell, Senior VP at CAVU International. Conventional training “tests what one person learns from a book, how one person manages a simulator under exam conditions,” he noted. In a dynamic environment like a drilling rig, however, there are other factors that are just as critical as technical knowledge for mitigating risk – for example, communication under pressure, decision-making under pressure and situational awareness. Training programs, he said, must provide space for building those non-technical skills.

In this video taken from the 2025 IADC Well Control Conference of the Americas on 19 August in New Orleans, La., Mr Hazell discussed the limitations of conventional well control training further. He also talked about the strategies trainers can implement to better integrate human factors, communication and team dynamics into well control training programs.

Nabors reexamines BOP testing standards after Bakken trial with extended intervals

In 2024 on four land rigs in the Bakken, Nabors began a trial of running BOP pressure tests at 30-day intervals instead of the industry standard 21-day intervals. The trial was initiated at the operator’s request. Over the course of six months, this meant 10 fewer tests were run overall, and Nabors’ operational team reported no equipment failures and no negative consequences on the rigs’ operations.

These results have opened up conversations within Nabors about best practices for equipment maintenance and current industry guidance on testing intervals. In this video with DC, Richard Grayson, Senior QHSE Manager and Global Well Control Focal Point at Nabors Corporate Services, discussed the genesis of this trial run and the impact it’s had on Nabors’ operations so far. In January 2025, the company began implementing 30-day testing intervals for all of its land rigs in North Dakota.

Thank you to everyone who attended, presented, exhibited, sponsored, and organized this conference!

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