Study and Application of Nanomaterials in Drilling Fluids

2012 ◽  
Vol 535-537 ◽  
pp. 323-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Li ◽  
Jin Sheng Sun ◽  
Xian Guang Xu ◽  
Cha Ma ◽  
Yu Ping Yang ◽  
...  

Due to their special properties, nanomaterials had potential application value, and they could play an essential role in improving mudcake quality, assisting in film-forming, reducing lost circulation, and enhancing wellbore stability. Some nanomaterials, such as nanocomposite filtration-reducing agent, nanocomposite viscosifier, nanosized emulsion lubricant, nanometer organoclay, and so on, were introduced, and all of them had significantly influence on the process of drilling operations. As a result, the application of nanomaterials in the field of drilling fluids are very useful for cleaning borehole, maintaining borehole stability, protecting reservoir, and enhancing oil and gas recovery. Finally, the further application of nanomaterials in drilling fluids is also prospected.

2011 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Abdo ◽  
M. Danish Haneef

The idea of pushing the limits of drilling oil and gas wells by improving drilling fluids for undemanding and cost efficient drilling operations by extracting advantage from the wonders of nanotechnology forms the basis of the work presented here. Foremost, in order to highlight the significance of reducing the size distribution of particles, new clay ATR which has a chain like structure and offers enormous surface area and increased reactivity was tested in different sizes that were chemically and mechanically milled. Bentonite which is a commonly used drilling fluid additive was also tested in different particle size distribution (PSD) and rheological properties were tested. Significant reduction in viscosity with small sized particles was recorded. The tested material called ATR throughout this paper is shown to offer better functionality than bentonite without the requirement of other expensive additives. Experiments were performed with different size distributions and compositions and drastic changes in rheological properties are observed. A detailed investigation of the shear thinning behavior was also carried out with ATR samples in order to confirm its functionality for eliminating the problem of mechanical and differential pipe sticking, while retaining suitable viscosity and density for avoidance of problems like lost circulation, poor hole cleaning and inappropriate operating hydrostatic pressures.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sercan Gul

Abstract Drilling fluid (mud) serves various purposes in drilling operations, the most important being the primary well control barrier to prevent kicks and blowouts. Other duties include, but not limited to, maintaining wellbore stability, removing and transporting formation cuttings to the surface, cooling and lubricating downhole tools, and transmitting hydraulic energy to the drill bit. Mud quality is therefore related to most of the problems in drilling operations either directly or indirectly. The physics-based models used in the industry with drilling fluid information (i.e., cuttings transport, well hydraulics, event detection) are computationally expensive, difficult to integrate for real-time analysis, and not always applicable for all drilling conditions. For this reason, researchers have shown extensive interest in machine learning (ML) approaches to alleviate their fluid-related problems. In this study, a comprehensive review of the abundant literature on the various applications of ML in oil and gas operations, concentrating mainly on drilling fluids, is presented. It was shown that leveraging state-of-the-art supervised and unsupervised ML methods can help predict or eliminate most fluid-related issues in drilling. The review discusses various ML methods, their theory, applications, limitations, and achievements.


2012 ◽  
Vol 616-618 ◽  
pp. 720-725
Author(s):  
Qiang Tan ◽  
Jin Gen Deng ◽  
Bao Hua Yu

Reservoir pressure will decline generally along with production in the oil and gas development process. There are some problems such as borehole collapse or reduced diameter and lost circulation in drilling of initial production stage in unconsolidated sandstone. As the formation pressure declines the stress around borehole changes, and then collapse pressure and fracture pressure are affected. Especially in directional wells, variation of wellbore stability is more complex with different borehole deviation and azimuth. The calculation models of collapse and fracture pressure in depleted reservoirs were established, and relevant data in unconsolidated sand reservoir of an oilfield in Bohai Sea was used to calculate collapse pressure and fracture pressure of directional wells in the condition of pressure depletion before and after. The results showed that collapse and fracture pressure decreased as formation pressure depletion, and safe drilling fluid density window was wider when drilled to the direction of minimum horizontal principle stress. The calculation results can be reference to drilling design of adjustment wells in unconsolidated sandstones.


2012 ◽  
Vol 204-208 ◽  
pp. 699-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Li ◽  
Ying Min Li ◽  
Yu Ping Yang ◽  
Cha Ma

Nanomaterials are of great importance to improving mudcake quality, reducing lost circulation, enhancing borehole stability, and protecting reservoir. Some nanomaterials, including nanometer plugging materials, nano-sized MMH drilling fluids, nanocomposite super-short fibers, water-based film-forming drilling fluids, nano-based drilling fluid, and so on, are introduced, and all of them have significantly influence on reservoir protection. As a result, the application of nanomaterials in the field of reservoir protection is very useful for maintaining borehole stability and protecting reservoir.


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.


SPE Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 1178-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Mehrabian ◽  
Younane Abousleiman

Summary Wellbore tensile failure is a known consequence of drilling with excessive mud weight, which can cause costly events of lost circulation. Despite the successful use of lost-circulation materials (LCMs) in treating lost-circulation events of the drilling operations, extensions of wellbore-stability models to the case of a fractured and LCM-treated wellbore have not been published. This paper presents an extension of the conventional wellbore-stability analysis to such circumstances. The proposed wellbore geomechanics solution revisits the criteria for breakdown of a fractured wellbore to identify an extended margin for the equivalent circulation density (ECD) of drilling. An analytical approach is taken to solve for the related multiscale and nonlinear problem of the three-way mechanical interaction between the wellbore, fracture wings, and LCM aggregate. The criteria for unstable propagation of existing near-wellbore fractures, together with those for initiating secondary fractures from the wellbore, are obtained. Results suggest that, in many circumstances, the occurrence of both incidents can be prevented, if the LCM blend is properly engineered to recover certain depositional and mechanical properties at downhole conditions. Under such optimal design conditions, the maximum ECD to which the breakdown limit of a permeable formation could be enhanced is predicted.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozcan Baris ◽  
Luis Ayala ◽  
W. Watson Robert

The use of foam as a drilling fluid was developed to meet a special set of conditions under which other common drilling fluids had failed. Foam drilling is defined as the process of making boreholes by utilizing foam as the circulating fluid. When compared with conventional drilling, underbalanced or foam drilling has several advantages. These advantages include: avoidance of lost circulation problems, minimizing damage to pay zones, higher penetration rates and bit life. Foams are usually characterized by the quality, the ratio of the volume of gas, and the total foam volume. Obtaining dependable pressure profiles for aerated (gasified) fluids and foam is more difficult than for single phase fluids, since in the former ones the drilling mud contains a gas phase that is entrained within the fluid system. The primary goal of this study is to expand the knowledge-base of the hydrodynamic phenomena that occur in a foam drilling operation. In order to gain a better understanding of foam drilling operations, a hydrodynamic model is developed and run at different operating conditions. For this purpose, the flow of foam through the drilling system is modeled by invoking the basic principles of continuum mechanics and thermodynamics. The model was designed to allow gas and liquid flow at desired volumetric flow rates through the drillstring and annulus. Parametric studies are conducted in order to identify the most influential variables in the hydrodynamic modeling of foam flow. 


2010 ◽  
Vol 156-157 ◽  
pp. 1292-1296
Author(s):  
Jian Bing Sang ◽  
Su Fang Xing ◽  
Chen Hua Lu ◽  
Wen Jia Wang ◽  
Bo Liu

Maintaining the wellbore stability is a key factor for oil and gas drilling operations. In this paper, sock is regarded porous medium. Crevice pressure, effect of permeation and SD effect are considered. The elastic and plastic stresses around the wellbore sock were analysed according to MVM failure criterion. Distribution of stress and displacement was obtained, which can provide theory reference for the wellbore stability.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 3151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Cao ◽  
Zheng Zhang ◽  
Ting Bao ◽  
Pinghe Sun ◽  
Tianyi Wang ◽  
...  

The interaction between drilling fluid and shale has a significant impact on wellbore stability during shale oil and gas drilling operations. This paper investigates the effects of the drilling fluid activity on the surface and osmotic hydration characteristics of shale. Experiments were conducted to measure the influence of drilling fluid activity on surface wettability by monitoring the evolution of fluid-shale contact angles. The relationship between drilling fluid activity and shale swelling ratio was determined to investigate the osmotic hydration behavior. The results indicate that, with increasing drilling fluid activity, the fluid–shale contact angles gradually increase—the higher the activity, the faster the adsorption rate; and the stronger the inhibition ability, the weaker the surface hydration action. The surface adsorption rate of the shale with a KCl drilling fluid was found to be the highest. Regarding the osmotic hydration action on the shale, the negative extreme swelling ratio (b) of the shale was found to be: bKCl < bCTAB < bSDBS. Moreover, based on the relationship between the shale swelling ratio and drilling fluid activity, shale hydration can be divided into complete dehydration, weak dehydration, surface hydration, and osmotic hydration, which contributes to the choice of drilling fluids to improve wellbore stability.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaston Lopez ◽  
Gonzalo Vidal ◽  
Claus Hedegaard ◽  
Reinaldo Maldonado

Abstract Losses, wellbore instability, and influxes during drillings operations in unconventional fields result from continuous reactivity to the drilling fluid causing instability in the microfractured limestone of the Quintuco Formation in Argentina. This volatile situation becomes more critical when drilling operations are navigating horizontally through the Vaca Muerta Formation, a bituminous marlstone with a higher density than the Quintuco Formation. Controlling drilling fluids invasion between the communicating microfractures and connecting pores helps to minimize seepage losses, total losses, wellbore fluid influxes, and instabilities, reducing the non-productive time (NPT) caused by these problems during drilling operations. The use of conventional sealants – like calcium carbonate, graphite, asphalt, and other bridging materials – does not guarantee problem-free drilling operations. Also, lost circulation material (LCM) is restricted because the MWD-LWD tools clearances are very narrow in these slim holes. The challenge is to generate a strong and resistant seal separating the drilling fluid and the formation. Using an ultra-low-invasion technology will increase the operative fracture gradient window, avoid fluid invasion to the formation, minimize losses, and stop the cycle of fluid invasion and instability, allowing operations to maintain the designed drilling parameters and objectives safely. The ultra-low-invasion wellbore shielding technology has been applied in various fields, resulting in significantly improved drilling efficiencies compared to offset wells. The operator has benefited from the minimization of drilling fluids costs and optimization in drilling operations, including reducing the volume of oil-based drilling fluids used per well, fewer casing sections, and fewer requirements for cementing intervals to solve lost circulation problems. This paper will discuss the design of the ultra-low-invasion technology in an oil-based drilling fluid, the strategy for determining the technical limits for application, the evaluation of the operative window with an increase in the fracture gradient, the optimized drilling performance, and reduction in costs, including the elimination of NPT caused by wellbore instability.


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