A safety procedure to close the well with the annular BOP after a kick has been detected, consisting in opening the valve on the choke line to prevent erosion damage to the BOP packing element. In this way the well flow will bypass it to the choke manifold through the open drilling choke. The next step entails closing the choke line by the drilling choke itself and measuring the pressure.
There has been considerable discussion as to the merits of hard shut-in versus soft shut-in procedures. (...) The primary argument of against the soft shut-in procedure is that a continuous influx is permitted while the procedures are executed.