1998 ENVIRONMENTAL D RIL RILL LIN G
& COMPLETION FLUIDS
Directory
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1998-99 ENVIRONMENTAL DRILLING & CO COM M PL PLE ETI TIO ON FLUI FLUIDS DS DI DIRE RECTO CTOR RY
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he development of drilling and completion fluids beyond the basic liquid pumped downhole reflects much of the petroleum industr y’ y’ss gr owth. At At one time, drilling drilling fluids fluids were expected to do little li ttle more th an cool and lubricate the bit, transport cuttings , and control pressur e. Completion Completion fluids were of little consequence beyond protecting the tubing string from corros ion. By 1988, a handbook of drilling fluids, published by a still viable if differently named mud supply company, listed listed ten drilli drilling ng m ud functions. Today, the role of completion fluids has grown with the complexity and creativity of completion scenarios, driven by such innovations as high-angle wells, overbalanced perforating, and gr avel pack pack operations. Drilli Dril ling ng fluids fluids r esearch through the years has revealed the negative effects of using drilling or completion fluids incompatible with with pr oducing formation chemistry. Proper fluid selection protects the formation during th e drilling, drilling, completion, and and cleanup stage s of the well,, while well while the wrong fluid fluid che mistr y can inhibit production via excessive skin damage or fluid invasion that can drastically reduce formation permeability abili ty at the ne ar wellbore.
additiv addit ives es del deliver iver premium boreholes
New drilling and completion technologies demand fluids responses . The proliferation proliferation during the 1990s of high-angle and horizontal wells have spawned a unique set of responses to the need for non-stick, non-invasive fluids as prospective producing formations must often remain exposed to drilling mud for extended periods of time. In h ighigh-angle angle wells, the effecti effective ve circulating density of the mud mu st naturally rise rise with measured depth while the fracture gradient of the Water, oil, oil, synthetic s One re sult of the environmental environmental movement rock remains essentially the same, the chemon fluids fluids chem istry h as been fundamen tal. At istry of invasion, and even lost circulation, one time, all muds were water-based, oil-based, becomes more chall challenging enging as reach sections or a combination inverted emulsion. In re- grow ever longer. sponse to environmental restrictions on overAs the oil and gas industry expands its board cuttings discharge when drill drilling ing with drilling and completion theaters, fluids must evolve. evol ve. The immediate ch all allenges enges to the fluid chemists are in deepwater and in drilling drilling through subsea s alt. In deepwater, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, shallow, flowing aquifers are causing considerable problems for drillers drill ers attempting to s et conductor pipe. One approach to the problem has been to seek a polymer to act act as a water shut off. Drilling Drill ing and casing through e xtended salt sections is fraught with danger. Salt is capable of near-fluid movement, Wellbore stability impinging on the wellbore, and at the Beyond pressure and formation same time, it can be washe d out e asily. damage control and remediation, fluid fluid As the following fluids survey bears selections now must cons ider wellbore wellbore witness, proper fluid selection is as ’s n e w R e t u r n P e r m e a b i l i t y M et et e r . I t r e p r e s e n t s t h e n e x t critical and complex a pre-drilling constability,, sh ale and clay sensitivities, stability sensitivities, B a r o i d ’s penetration rates, and countless other g e n e r a t i o n o f t e c h n o l o g y f o r c o n d u c t i n g t h e s e t e s t s , a l l o w i n g a sideration as casing size, bits, or any of subtle and not-so-subtle effects of 5 0 h o u r m a n u a l p r o c e s s t o b e a u t o m a t e d . I t a l s o s i m u l a t e s the myriad decisions involved involved in plan dynamic downhole conditions not possible in static manually downhole chem ical reactions. reactions. ning a n ew well. performed tests. Drilling and completion fluids suppliers h ave become adept at targeting individual individual oil oil--based muds, th e su bstitutes, called called s ynthetic, Fluids direct direct ory well problems. or pseud oo-oil oil muds, were bor n. The 1998-1999 Environmental Drilling & Special additives are m ade available for wells These fluids fluids res ponded to a need to u se oil Completion Fluids Directory is a comprehenwhose geometr y or lithology lithology suggest the risk base mu ds in the high r isk world of high-a high-angle ngle sive listing of 56 of the industry’s top fluid of stuck pipe pr oblems. Additives Additives exist to help drill drilling ing and to maintain the h igh penetr atio ation n manufac manufacturers turers and th eir individual individual products. release pipe differentially plastered to the side rates as sociated with with oil oil--based muds whil whilee com- The directory is differentiated into 14 sections of the wellbore. Fluids recipes are dictated by plying with increasingly strict environmental based on the type of fluid. everything from wellbore angle to degree of regulation. Where OBMs must be used in a Six Si x new companies h ave been included in formation depletion. closed, zero-discharge system, cuttings from this year’s year’s director y: Hydro Che micals that has Hydraulic fracture fluids have become a synthetic muds may be discharged overboard in taken over the products of Forbrico, Deep science of their own as fracturing fracturing h as grown to many areas (though in some areas where the South Chem ical ical,, Integrity Industries, Cabot include huge volumes of proppant deposited practice is allowed, it is under scrutiny - most Specialty Special ty Chem ical icals, s, Sun Drill Drilling ing Pr oducts far from the wellbore to increase production notably the UK North Sea). who has acquired the products of Coastal from low-perm low-perm eability formations formations to r elativ elatively ely While synthetics are, by-volume, more Superior Solutions, Solutions, and txi En ergy Ser vi vices. ces. small fractures in h ighigh-perm perm eability formations expensive than water- or oil-based oil-based systems, th ey Each listing listing includes new and u pdated prodfor sand control and near well bore, post- are less costly than other muds when their use ucts provided by each company with a descripperforation cleaning. results in fewer drilling days by virtue of tion of the product and the product’s general A factor factor of the times h as been added to th e improved improv ed pene tration rates. characteristics. ∆ 7 4 • O ff ff s h o re re • S e p t e m b e r 19 19 98 98
world of fl fluids uids as pr ese r vation of the e nvironment becomes a more pronounced issue worldwide. wi de. The ch oice of base mu d and additiv additives es bes t suited to the sur rounding environment environment is critical. Drill Drilling ing through an under pressu red zone in the American west, for example, requires a fundamentally different chemistry than might the same set of circumstances circumstances in the Nor wegia wegian n Continental Shelf.
How fluid flui d products, products,
