Flat-rheology oil-based drilling fluid for deepwater drilling

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhao ◽  
Zhengsong Qiu ◽  
Jiangen Xu ◽  
Chao Zhao ◽  
Jian Gao
Author(s):  
John Shelton ◽  
John Rogers Smith ◽  
Anuj Gupta

A dual gradient, deepwater drilling system based on dilution of riser mud requires economically separating the riser mud into a low density dilution fluid and a higher density drilling fluid. This study investigated the practicality of accomplishing this separation using hydrocyclones and centrifuges and examined the possible benefits and efficiency of each. The separation experiments were conducted using a laboratory centrifuge and 2 inch hydrocyclones. The laboratory centrifuge was able to separate the riser mud into near ideal densities for dilution and drilling fluid. However, the dense slurry retained in the centrifuge had lower emulsion stability than the feed stream. The hydrocyclones achieved much less contrast in density between the low and high density discharges, but consistently resulted in a beneficial increase in the stability of the mud emulsion in all of the flow streams and had more desirable rheological properties. A qualitative comparison indicates that the hydrocyclone separation system may offer a feasible and desirable alternative to centrifuge separation system.


SPE Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (05) ◽  
pp. 2206-2219
Author(s):  
Changbin Kan ◽  
Deli Gao ◽  
Jin Yang

Summary Drill-conductor-jetting technology is a high-efficiency, good-adaptability, and low-cost technology that has been widely applied in deepwater drilling. However, a reaming effect will be produced easily because of jet breaking and bit rotation during the jetting process, and the critical displacement would be notably affected. Also, it will experience a relatively short soaking time after installation because of the requirements of drilling timeliness, which is an important factor on the bearing safety of a conductor. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the influencing factors of construction conditions and establish a model for evaluating the value of critical displacement. In this study, field experiments on critical displacement for simulating the deepwater-drilling conditions were conducted. By analyzing the drilling hydraulic factors, the effects of soil-stress-recovery time, and the injection rate of pipe, the influence laws of different factors were obtained. The results suggest that the critical displacement increases linearly as the circulation rate of the drilling fluid increases, decreases exponentially with the increase of soil-stress-recovery time, and decreases linearly with the increase of injection rate. One model for estimating the critical displacement using experimental data and the least-squares method was proposed. The predictions showed good agreement with experimental data within suitable ranges of models. This work is expected to provide the basis for predicting conductor stability and wellhead-bearing settlement.


Author(s):  
Syed Y. Nahri ◽  
Yuanhang Chen ◽  
Wesley Williams ◽  
Otto Santos ◽  
Ting Sun

Abstract Riser gas migration has been an area of interest since the last three decades due to its importance in gas handling in deepwater drilling operations. A previously conducted full-scale test at LSU Petroleum Engineering Research & Technology Transfer (PERTT) well facility indicates, as contrary to traditional belief, significant migration of dissolved gas taking place even when circulation had ceased. In order to understand whether a reduction in density of the underlying contaminated mud resulting from gas absorption is the contributing factor to the above-mentioned phenomenon, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted to study the transport of the gas influx while in solution due to buoyancy induced convective mass transfer and simultaneous diffusion. Simulations performed in this study include the hydrodynamics of the upward moving gas cut mud and simultaneous mass transfer of natural gas into the under-saturated drilling fluid. The parameters studied here are the distance traveled of the gas cut mud and saturation levels in the drilling fluid along the length of the riser. The dense phase behavior was shown to have considerable effects on gas loading capacities which in turn affected the density of the gas cut mud, and at pressures upwards of 5,000 psi, the solubility of a natural gas influx can be seen to be infinite in certain synthetic and oil-based drilling fluids. The rate and extent of mass transfer are dependent on drilling fluid density gradients, which in turn are based on gas influx saturation level. Results obtained from this study can help better comprehend migration phenomena of a dissolved influx in oil-based muds in a riser with the BOP shut in and when circulation has ceased.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erna Kakadjian ◽  
April Shi ◽  
Justin Porter ◽  
Prahlad Yadav ◽  
Dennis Clapper ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
Wen-Xing Duan ◽  
Cheng-Wen Xiao ◽  
Yong Ai ◽  
Yi Xin ◽  
Lei Zhu

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Zhao ◽  
Zhengsong Qiu ◽  
Yongjun Zhang ◽  
Hanyi Zhong ◽  
Weian Huang ◽  
...  

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