Prevent Barite Static Sag of Oil-Based Completion Fluid in Ultra-Deep Wells

Oil-based mud (OBM) is the first choice for complex deep wells due to its advantages of high-temperature resistance, good lubrication and borehole stability. But barite sagging under ultra-high temperature during the long-time stationary completion operation may lead to serious problems in ultra-deep wells, for instance, pipe sticking, density variation and well control problems. In this paper, the influence of high-temperature and high-pressure (HTHP) on the performance of oil-based completion fluid was studied, and a model of rheological parameters was established with HTHP static sag law. The barite sagging stability was evaluated by a high temperature (220°C) and high pressure (100MPa) sag instrument. The results indicated that RM6 value and static shearing force were the main factors of affecting the settlement stability. The viscosity of the completion fluid significantly decreased with the increase of temperature, but increased with the increase of pressure. In addition, the relationship was also studied between HTHP rheology and atmospheric pressure rheology at 50°C. The results showed that when RM6 value was kept above 10, the sag stability factor (SF) of oil-based completion fluid was less than 0.52 at 190°C for 10 days, which proved a good high-temperature sag stability. Furthermore, the anti-high temperature property of oil-based completion fluid was improved through enhancing the temperature-resistance of the additives. And the high-temperature-resistant organic soil was introduced to raise the RM6 value and the static shearing force. Based on these solutions, the barite sag under high temperature of the oil-based completion fluid was prevented during drilling and completion operation in ultra-high temperature wells. The oil-based completion fluid was successfully used in Well Keshen 17 (175°C,7475 m) in Kuche piedmont structure and TT 1 well (210°C,6500 m) in Sichuan basin. The casing run smoothly, the oil-test operation was completed smoothly for 15 days, and no barite sag happened. It testified that the oil-based completion fluid had excellent of high-temperature sag stability. Therefore, this oil-based completion fluid is expected to be used widely in ultra-deep wells.