– The Effects of Contaminants on the Rheological Properties of Water-Basedmud –
ABSTRACT
This project focuses on Investigation of effect of contaminants on the Rheological Properties of Water-based Drilling Mud. For any drilling operation to be termed successful, care must be taken during the selection and application of the drilling fluid which are key factors that should be considered. Any actions contrary to carefully selection and application of drilling fluids could have very direct consequences.
Based on the experiment work done on water base mud system to ascertain the effect of contaminants (salt, Calcium Sulphate, and carbonate) on the rheological properties and performance of the mud, it shows that the presence of a contaminant on the drilling mud either reduces or increases the rheological properties of the mud system and in turn affects the rate of penetration, it performance and also poses serious drilling problems.
It was observed that the presence of Sodium salt in the mud system increased the fluid loss into the formation. It was further observed that while Apparent Viscosity, Gel Strength increases as the mass increase from 3g, 6g & 9g, the pH and Plastic Viscosity almost did not change. The Yield point increases little. With Calcium Sulphate as contaminant, it shows all rheological properties of the mud increased significantly, as the quantity of the calcium used is increased from 3g, 6g, 9g to 12g and the pH does not change.
Sodium Carbonate contamination has showed noticeable effect on the nature of the drilling mud. In fact, the more the amount of the contaminant is added, the closer it properties are to the blank sample that do not have contaminants. The carbonate effect is largely on the Gel strength which decreases as the amount of added carbonate increases. The pH has no charges, which also means carbonate keeps the mud in it alkaline state, as it was the case with Sodium.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title Page
Declaration i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Abstract v
Table of Content vi
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction 1
1.1 Background of Study 1
1.2 Drilling Mud Contaminant 2
1.3 How to Recognize Contaminant 4
1.4 Natural Occurring Contaminant 5
1.5 Rheological Properties 7
1.6 Statement of Problem 17
1.7 Objective of Study 17
1.8 Scope of Study 18
CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review 19
CHAPTER THREE
Materials and Methods 24
3.1 Methods 24
3.2 Equipment 25
3.3 Materials 25
3.4 Mud Properties Test 26
CHAPTER FOUR
Experimental Results and Discussion 32
4.1 Mud System 1 32
4.2 Mud System 2 38
4.3 Mud System 3 44
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Conclusion 51
References 53
INTRODUCTION
The drilling of oil and gas well is a high risk and challenging venture with some associated problems. Despite the challenges, Wells are still being drilled to meet up with the escalating demand for oil and gas. It is the aim of every field operator to get the oil or gas from the reservoir rock to the surface production facilities in a safe and cost-effective way thereby maximize profit by reducing the cost of drilling the required number of wells to drain the reservoir fluid.
Drilling mud is very important to both rotary and directional drilling processes. Although most oil and gas wells drilled nowadays use rotary drilling technique. Without drilling muds and their additives, corporations would find it difficult if not impossible to drill for oil and gas and we would hardly have any of the fuels and lubricants considered essential for modern industrial civilization.
Basically, drilling mud is a mixture of water, clays, special minerals and chemicals called additives. Drilling mud can also be in non-aqueous form usually called oil-based mud (OBM) and in gaseous phase called gaseous drilling fluid, in which a wide range of gases can be used. A successful drilling operation requires enhanced quality of drilling mud with well formulated properties that will enable them to perform creditably during drilling operations.
REFERENCE
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API RP13B-1. (2004): Recommended Practice for Field Testing Water-Based Drilling Fluids, Third Edition.
API SPEC 13-A. (2011): Specification for Drilling-Fluid Materials, Seventeenth Edition.
Basirat B., Vipulanandan C. and Richardson D.(2013): Noitle Proceedings of THC-IT Conference & Ehibition.
Bourgogne, A.T. (1996): “Applied Drilling Engineering, SPE Textbook Series, Volume 2, Richardson.
Baker Hughes INTEQ. (1995): Drilling Fluids and Hydraulics”, Drilling Engineering Workbook Series.
Carney, L.L. and Guven, N (1980) Investigation of Changes in the Structure of Clays During Hydrothermal Study of Drilling Fluids, Journal of Petroleum Technology, Max R. Annis 1996.
Carney, L.L., Guven, N. and McGrew, G.T. (1982) Investigation of High-Temperature Fluid Loss Control Agents in Geothermal Drilling Fluids, Proceedings, California Regional Meeting, San Francisco.
Carney, L.L. and Meyer, R.L. (1976): A New Approach to High Temperature Drilling Fluids, Proceedings, 51st Annual Fall Meeting of Society of Petroleum Engineers, New Orleans.
Fosso, S.W., Tina, M., Frigand, I. A. and Crawshaw, J. P. (2000) Viscous-Pill Design Methodology Leads to Increased Cement Plug Success Rate; Application and Case Studies from Southern Algeria, Paper presented at the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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