drillers.com expert profile

Steve Collard

Well Design, Delivery & Control Specialist

About Steve

Steve Collard is a Chartered Engineer (MIMMM) with 38 years of experience in Well Engineering and Well Delivery worldwide. Over the last 20 years, as an independent consultant, Steve has specialised in MPD, Deepwater and HPHT Well Delivery with a particular focus on Well Design and Well Control.

Steve has a global reputation for delivering Advanced Well Engineering Training and Well Control Simulation. Steve pioneered the growing practise of “DWoS” – Drilling your Well on a Simulator.

Some of the Services Steve can offer:

Managed Pressure Drilling, Deepwater and HPHT Consultancy, Project Management and Training
Independent Peer Review of Primary and Secondary Control practises and procedures
DWoS – Immersive start up and project-specific Rig Team Training & Coaching
Advanced Well Control consultancy including incident investigation and analysis
HAZID, HAZOP, xWOP and AAR facilitation
Well Engineering Learning and Development consultancy
Independent Incident Investigation

Steve’s Background

Steve first went offshore on the Beryl Alpha Platform in the North Sea as a Wireline Helper in 1982. While studying for his Degree in Mining Engineering at Nottingham University he continued to work as a Roustabout and Roughneck in the North Sea during summer breaks including the installation of the Hutton platform, the world’s first TLP in 1984 .

After graduation in 1985, Steve joined Shell and, for the next 16 years, worked both in the field and office in a wide range of onshore, offshore and deepwater environments. Steve was the examiner for Shell’s “Round 2” program and facilitated the integration of Well Services into Shell’s Wells Learning and Development Program.

Having worked as both a Senior Drilling Supervisor and Senior Well Engineer, Steve left Shell in 2000 and, in 2003, established Welltrain Limited. Since then he had, provided project management, consultancy, training and rig team coaching to an array of clients covering Well Engineering, Well Design and Advanced Well Control. For 15 years he helped prepare a generation of Well Engineers for their Shell Round 2 Exams.

With more than 20 years of experience using Drilling Systems’ family of Drilling Simulators, Steve pioneered the concept of “Drilling the Well on a Simulator”. Working closely with simulator vendors, Operators and Drilling Contractors he designs and delivers realistic and relevant training environments where integrated rig teams can be exposed to well specific well control and other operational challenges. This allows the rig team to develop and then practise responses strategies. This type of training was instrumental to companies being able to demonstrate rig team competence to Regulatory Authorities; allowing them to get back to work after the Macondo disaster. Steve routinely adds further value to these projects by providing an independent expert review of proposed primary and secondary well control practises and procedures.

Steve has delivered public and in-house Well Delivery training courses worldwide for more than 15 years. Clients include BSEE, CNOOC, Conoco-Phillips, PDO, Kuwait Oil Company, Oranje Nassau, Petronas, Reliance Industries , Repsol and Shell (Brunei, Malaysia, Netherlands, USA, UK)

Steve is the technical author of several corporate Well Control and Casing Design standards and training manuals. Steve has published papers in Well Control and rig Team Training. He has lectured to SPE and IADC Well Control conferences.

David McKenna

Director at Atrina Drilling Ltd.

I have attended several lectures and training sessions held by Steve over the last few years and after each, have come away with a far greater understanding and depth of knowledge of the subject matter involved. In summary probably the best lectures in the field of Well Engineering I have had the pleasure of attending.

David Clutterbuck

Senior Wells Engineer – NOV UK at Shell

The round 2 preparation course provided by Steve Collard and thus Welltrain is an integral part of assessing your engineering knowledge and readiness prior to sitting Shell’s Round 2 Well Engineering Exam. I would highly recommend this course to anyone sitting the exam as it covers all the major topics…

More About Steve

Steve’s passion in life is Scuba Diving. He learned to dive with the Nottingham University Branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club in 1983 and reached the level of BSAC First Class Diver in 1994. He has completed thousands of dives all over the world, the highlight being a trip to Galapagos in 2018.

While working to become a BSAC Advanced Instructor, Steve acquired the theoretical and practical skills in teaching. This subsequently developed into an affinity for delivering technical training courses.

Steve is a qualified Trimix CCR Rebreather and Advanced Cave Diver. He sees direct parallels between the practical skills in risk management and mitigation that these diving discipline demands to the skills required of a rig team to manage well control in MPD, HPHT and Deepwater wells.

Get in touch with Steve

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