Drilling Fluids
Drilling Fluids
Drilling Fluids
What is “rheology”
Colloidal phase
(eg. clay)
Viscosifier additives
OIL BASED
MUDS
Mud
types
GASES FLUIDS
WATER BASED (air, gas, mist, foam,
MUDS aerated muds)
12
Non- Mist or
True Invert Inhibitive Air Gas
inhibitive foam
Minimum
Lightly solids Ionic
Native Incapsulation
treated inhibition
• Salt-water muds
1. Sea-water muds
2. Saturated salt-water muds
• Oil-emulsion muds (oil-in-water)
• Special muds
1. Low-solids oil-emulsion muds
2. Low-clay-solids weighted muds
3. Surfactant muds
4. Low-solids muds
a. Clear water
b. Polymer muds
c. Low-solids, non-dispersed muds
A. WATER-BASE MUDS
• Most widely used
• Consist of :
– Liquid phase (e.g. water, emulsion)
– Colloidal phase (e.g. clays)
– Inert phase (e.g. barite, sand)
– Chemical phase
Inhibited muds
• A mud having an aqueous base with a chemical
composition that tends to retard or prevent (inhibit)
appreciable hydration (swelling) or dispersion of
formation clays & shales through chemical and/or
physical means
• Includes salt-water muds, chrome lignosulfonate
muds, surfactant treated muds, etc.
Spud muds
Natural muds
• Composed of water & clays from the formation
drilled, with little chemical treatment & with minor
amounts of bentonite or other clays added
• Usually used to drill the surface hole & for fast
drilling below the surface casing
• In most cases, the natural muds will be chemically
treated as the depth of the well increases & will
become one of the chemically treated muds discussed
below.
Phosphate-treated muds
• For relatively shallow wells (7,500´ or less)
cannot with stand temperatures > 180°F &
not effective when the mud is contaminated by
salt or calcium
• Complex phosphates are very effective in
reducing the , gel strength & filtration rate
Saltwater muds
• If chlorite ion > 1% (6,000 ppm)
salt water .
• Bentonite & clays hydrate less when added to
water containing >1% salt.
Seawater muds
• On offshore & buy location, fresh water is
sometimes not available for mixing water
• Sea water contains Na, Ca, Mg ions.
Oil-emulsion muds
• Oil was mixed so that the oil is suspended as
individual droplets in the water phase.
• The emulsion must be stable to prevent the oil
from suspended at top add emulsifier.
• Advantages :
1. Improved hole condition
2. Increased bit life
3. Increased drilling rate
Surfactant muds
• Surface acting agent i.e. a material capable of acting
upon the surface of a material
• Mud types:
- Calcium surfactant
- Low sodium surfactant
- Saturated salt surfactant
- Sea water surfactant
C. GASES FLUIDS
(air, gas, mist, foam, aerated muds)
• Why gases are used?
lowest ρ: to prevent from damage & lost
circulation
• Air drilling :
a. Dry drilling or dusting
b. Mist or foam drilling: water or a special mud
is injected with a foaming agent into the air
stream
c. Stable foam drilling
d. Aerated mud drilling
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
34
Rheological models
Mud properties
• Density (mud weight) • Emulsion stability
• Viscosity • Resistivity
• Gel strength • pH
• Filtration • Lubricity
• Mud cake • Etc.
Viscosity
υ A
F υ
l
υ=0
ML/T 2
shearing stress F/A L 2 M
μ
rate of shearing strain /l L/T LT
L
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
38
Plug flow
(b) Rheometer
– Determine: µa , µp , Yb , gel or shear strength
µp = Φ600 - Φ300 cp
µa = ½ Φ600 cp
Yb = Φ300 - µp lb/100 ft2
Slope proportional to µp
Dial deflection, F
Slope proportional to µa
Plug flow
300 600
Setting, rpm
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
43
Gel strength
• A measure of the shearing stress necessary
to initiate a finite rate of shear
• Measured at 3 rpm using rheometer
• Reported as initial gel strength (10 sec.) &
final gel strength (10 min.)
Filtration properties
• Filter press: measure the filtration, water
loss & mud cake thickness
• Using 100 psig, filter paper
• Filtrate volume: cc/30 min.
• Mud cake thickness: /32 in.
• In field testing, it is common practice to
double the 7 ½ min. filtration loss & report
this as the 30 min. figure
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
45
V 2 V1 t 2 / t1
where: V2 = filter loss at t2 , cc
V1 = filter loss at t1 , cc
t1 , t2 = filtration time, min.
0 1 2 3 4 5 30 6
Time
0 1 4 9 16 25 30 36
Time, min.
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
47
V2 V1 1 / 2
50
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
51
Mud Properties
Properties The Importance
Density Pressure control p = ± 200 psi (overbalance)
m
pm X 0.433 D 0.052 m D
8.33
Mud Filtrate Mud ability to form a thinner mud cake with low permeability on the
wall of porous medium.
Thicker mud cake means more solid materials settled at formation wall
and more filtration lost to the formation.
Thicker mud cake easier to collapse and cause other problem during
drilling activity such as the hole becomes smaller.
Gel Strength The ability of mud to suspend solids (especially weighting materials,
drilled cuttings).
Very important in suspended drilling operation.
Yield Point The amount of pressure (shearing stress) needed to be applied to flow
the mud.
Very important in determining pump capacity and the amount of
pressure needed to be applied to flow the mud from static positions.
Gel strength Carrying capacity of the mud.
+ Yield Point
Thinner The reduce mud viscosity (Yb, a, gel strength) without reducing the
mud density.
Weighting Materials The increase mud density without causing any reaction in the mud
(inert materials).
51
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
52
Mud Selection Criteria
Criteria Comments
Wildcat Geological information is primary consideration.
Well type
Development Generally allow full use of optimized techniques.
Sloughing shale Formulate fluid to control sloughing.
Formation Anhydrite If minor, treat out calcium; massive anhydrite requires specialized mud
Salt If salt contamination exceeds 10,000 ppm, a salt-based mud is required
High temperatures Static BHT above 225°F reduces effectiveness of additive, problem
magnified by high clay-solids content
Lost circulation Batch treatment successful for minor or intermediate losses; special
technique required for major losses
Composition Test and treat makeup water to remove calcium and magnesium; use
flocculants to remove clay solids
Makeup water
Availability Quantity and type are important in fluid selection
Rig selection Rigs should have proper solids-removal equipment and adequate
circulating horsepower.
Nature of producing formations Type of fluid selected is dependent on rock characteristic of reservoir.
Casing program Drilling fluid(s) used may be determined by casing string depths.
Availability of products In remote, international areas, drilling fluid type may depend on
product availability.
52
Assoc. Prof. Abdul Razak Ismail, UTM
53
g
454
lb lb lb g
1 1
bbl bbl 42 gal 3785 cc 350 cc
bbl gal
lb g
bbl 350 cc