Silicate-Based Drilling Fluids: Competent, Cost-effective and Benign Solutions to Wellbore Stability Problems

Author(s):  
E. van Oort ◽  
D. Ripley ◽  
I. Ward ◽  
J.W. Chapman ◽  
R. Williamson ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 881 ◽  
pp. 33-37
Author(s):  
Wei Na Di

The application of nanomaterials in oil and gas fields development has solved many problems and pushed forward the development of petroleum engineering technology. Nanomaterials have also been used in wellbore fluids. Nanomaterials with special properties can play an important role in improving the strength and flexibility of mud cake, reducing friction between the drill string and wellbore and maintaining wellbore stability. Adding nanomaterials into the cement slurry can eliminate gas channeling through excellent zonal isolation and improve the cementing strength of cement stone, thereby facilitating the protection and discovery of reservoirs and enhancing the oil and gas recovery. This paper tracks the application progress of nanomaterials in wellbore fluids in oil and gas fields in recent years, including drilling fluids, cement slurries. Through the tracking and analysis of this paper, it is concluded that the applications of nanomaterials in wellbore fluids in oil and gas fields show a huge potential and can improve the performance of wellbore fluids.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 3449-3466
Author(s):  
Atul Kumar Patidar ◽  
Anjali Sharma ◽  
Dev Joshi

Abstract The hydrocarbon extraction and exploitation using state-of-the-art modern drilling technologies urge the use of biodegradable, environment-friendly drilling fluid and drilling fluid additives to protect the environment and humanity. As more environmental laws are enacted and new safety rules implemented to oust the usage of toxic chemicals as fluid additives, it becomes inevitable that we re-evaluate our choice of drilling fluid additives. Drilling fluids and its additives play a crucial role in drilling operations as well as project costing; hence, it is needed that we develop cost-effective environment-friendly drilling fluid additives that meet the requirements for smooth functioning in geologically complex scenarios as well as have a minimal ecological impact. The current research work demonstrates key outcomes of investigations carried out on the formulation of a sustainable drilling fluid system, where groundnut husk is used as a fluid loss additive and a rheological modifier having no toxicity and high biodegradability. Cellulose was generated from groundnut husk at two varying particle sizes using mesh analysis, which was then compared with the commercially available PAC at different concentrations to validate its properties as a comparable fluid loss retarder additive as well as a rheological modifier. In the present work, various controlling characteristics of proposed groundnut husk additive are discussed, where comparison at different concentrations with a commercially available additive, PAC, is also validated. The API filtration losses demonstrated by the (63–74) µm and the (250–297) µm proposed additive showed a decrease of 91.88% and 82.31%, respectively, from the base mud at 4% concentration. The proposed husk additives acted as a filtrate retarder additive without much deviation from base rheology and with considerably higher pH than the base mud. This investigation indicates that the proposed fluid loss additive and rheological modifier can minimize the environmental hazards and have proved to be a cost-effective eco-friendly alternative in this challenging phase of the hydrocarbon exploration industry.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian-Bin Huang ◽  
Jin-Sheng Sun ◽  
Yi Huang ◽  
Bang-Chuan Yan ◽  
Xiao-Dong Dong ◽  
...  

Abstract High-performance water-based drilling fluids (HPWBFs) are essential to wellbore stability in shale gas exploration and development. Laponite is a synthetic hectorite clay composed of disk-shaped nanoparticles. This paper analyzed the application potential of laponite in HPWBFs by evaluating its shale inhibition, plugging and lubrication performances. Shale inhibition performance was studied by linear swelling test and shale recovery test. Plugging performance was analyzed by nitrogen adsorption experiment and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation. Extreme pressure lubricity test was used to evaluate the lubrication property. Experimental results show that laponite has good shale inhibition property, which is better than commonly used shale inhibitors, such as polyamine and KCl. Laponite can effectively plug shale pores. It considerably decreases the surface area and pore volume of shale, and SEM results show that it can reduce the porosity of shale and form a seamless nanofilm. Laponite is beneficial to increase lubricating property of drilling fluid by enhancing the drill pipes/wellbore interface smoothness and isolating the direct contact between wellbore and drill string. Besides, laponite can reduce the fluid loss volume. According to mechanism analysis, the good performance of laponite nanoparticles is mainly attributed to the disk-like nanostructure and the charged surfaces.


2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Gentzis ◽  
Nathan Deisman ◽  
Richard J. Chalaturnyk

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adamu Ibrahim ◽  
Lateef Akanji ◽  
Hossein Hamidi ◽  
Alfred Akisanya

Geofluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Pengcheng Wu ◽  
Chengxu Zhong ◽  
Zhengtao Li ◽  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Zhiyuan Wang ◽  
...  

Finding out the reasons for wellbore instability in the Longmaxi Formation and Wufeng Formation and putting forward drilling fluid technical countermeasures to strengthen and stabilize the wellbore are very crucial to horizontal drilling. Based on X-ray diffraction, electron microscope scanning, linear swelling experiment, and hot-rolling dispersion experiment, the physicochemical mechanism of wellbore instability in complex strata was revealed, and thus, the coordinated wellbore stability method can be put forward, which is “strengthening plugging of micropores, inhibiting filtrate invasion, and retarding pressure transmission.” Using a sand bed filtration tester, high-temperature and high-pressure plugging simulation experimental device, and microporous membrane and other experimental devices, the oil-based drilling fluid treatment agent was researched and selected, and a set of an enhanced plugging drilling fluid system suitable for shale gas horizontal well was constructed. Its temperature resistance is 135°C and it has preferable contamination resistibility (10% NaCl, 1% CaCl2, and 8% poor clay). The bearing capacity of a 400 μm fracture is 5 MPa, and the filtration loss of 0.22 μm and 0.45 μm microporous membranes is zero. Compared with previous field drilling fluids, the constructed oil-based drilling fluid system has a greatly improved plugging ability and excellent performance in other aspects.


SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (06) ◽  
pp. 2339-2350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pixiang Lan ◽  
Kyriaki Polychronopoulou ◽  
Larry L. Iaccino ◽  
Xiaoying Bao ◽  
Andreas A. Polycarpou

Summary Extended-reach-drilling (ERD) wells are expensive and challenging; however, in special situations, compared with conventional drilling, ERD wells are more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Application of drilling fluids with good lubrication for ERD is one of the most important methods to facilitate longer total depth (TD) of the wells. To better simulate the elevated-temperature environment in the borehole, this study proposes a method to perform tribological studies of drilling fluids at temperatures higher than 100°C by conducting experiments in a high-chamber-pressure environment, which can suppress the evaporation of the drilling fluid at high temperatures. Two lubricant additives were studied, and the results showed that, for the drilling fluid at elevated temperatures, a prototype additive (Additive A) reduced the coefficient of friction (COF) significantly by 44.8%, whereas a commercial additive (Additive B) caused only a slight reduction of the COF by 4%. After the tribological experiments, the wear mechanisms of the additives and abrasive particles were investigated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document