A review of the various treatments of oil-based drilling fluids filter cakes

Treatment of the filter cake layer after drilling is essential for better cement integrity and to retain the original reservoir permeability. Compared to water-based filter cake, oil-based mud filter cake removal is more sophisticated as oil encloses the filter cake’s particles. Therefore, oil-based mud clean-up requires wettability alteration additives (mutual solvents and/or surfactants) for permitting acid/filter cake reaction. With an appropriate acid, microemulsions were reported to be very efficient in cleaning oil-based filter cakes, due to their low interfacial tension and high acid solubility. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the different techniques and treatment solutions utilized in oil-based filter cake clean-up. Furthermore, a synopsis of the various treatments for drilling fluids densified with different weighting materials is presented. Subsequently, the research limitations and opportunities have been highlighted for future work. In the light of the review that has been presented in this paper, it's recommended to conduct further investigation on some areas related to filter cake removal. The removal of filter cake formed from weighting materials other than barite, calcium carbonate, ilmenite, and manganese tetroxide needs to be investigated thoroughly. Additionally, the overall efficiency of oil-based mud removal needs to be studied under wide ranges of temperature, salinity, and pH. The utilization of surfactant-free microemulsions in filter cake treatment could also be investigated.