The activities regulations § 86

§ 86 Well control

In the event of a well control incident, it shall be possible to regain well control by intervening directly in or on the well or by drilling one (1) relief well. This applies to wells where planning of drilling activities has been decided on after 1 January 2016.
In special cases, drilling activities that require more than one (1) relief well to regain well control in the event of a well control incident, can be planned for. When planning such activities, the solutions for regaining well control shall be verified by a party of organisational independence, no later than three months before planned start-up.
Where capping can be a measure in a well control incident, the operator shall have access to capping equipment for subsea wells.
Plans that describe how to regain the well control, shall be prepared.
Section last changed: 01 January 2016

Well control incident as mentioned in the first subsection, means the failure of one or more well barriers where the failure results in unintended flow of formation fluid into the well, cross flow in the well or outflow to the external environment.
Intervening directly in or on the well as mentioned in the first subsection, means re-establishment of barriers by using established well control methods or by using capping equipment.
In the event of using established well control methods, the NORSOK D-010 standard, Chapter 5.2.8 should be used.
In the event of using capping equipment for subsea wells, the NORSOK D-010 standard, Chapter 5.8.3 should be used.
In order to regain well control by relief well drilling as mentioned in the first subsection, the NORSOK D-010 standard, Chapter 5.8.2 should be used.
When planning activities as mentioned in the second subsection, the NORSOK D-010 standard, Chapter 5.8 should be used, with the following addition: evaluation of technical and operational feasibility, plus location, operation and well specific risk assessments for the method chosen.
Organisational independence as mentioned in the second subsection, is described in the guidelines to Section 19 of the Framework Regulations.
To fulfil the requirement to plans as mentioned in the fourth subsection, the NORSOK D-010 standard, Chapters 5.8 should be used, with the following additions:
  1. the plans should describe the need for and availability of facility(ies) and services,
  2. plans for relief well drilling and capping operations that require modifications of facility(ies), use of additional equipment, vessels or new technology, should detail how this can be mobilised and operative prior to start-up of the operation that requires this.