The following diagram illustrates the safe mud weight window for trouble-free drilling in a conventionally

stressed earth in which V>Hh. The blue curves show the compressional failure limits while the
red curve shows the tensile fracture limit. The window narrows as well deviation increases

Borehole deviation, degree

80

Tensile failure
Compressional
failure

60

40

Safe window
20

10

12

14

16

18

20

(0.24)

(0.48)

(0.72)

(0.96)

(1.20)

(1.45)

(1.69)

(1.93)

(2.17)

(2.4)

Mud weight, lbm/gal (SG)

When we drill the wellbore we replace a cylinder of rock with a cylinder of mud. The first critical
step towards designing a drilling fluid is to establish the mud weight required to provide the correct
level of bore hole pressure support.
Borehole Pressure Support
Pore pressure prediction involves the full cooperation of several different engineering disciplines,
i.e. Petrophysical, Geology, Reservoir & Geomechanics.
It is crucial that rigorous seismic and / or geological well data interpretation is done to determine the
anticipated pore pressure regimes in order to identify any pressure reversals and therefore facilitate
appropriate casing design.
Mud weight planning is based on the predicted pore pressure gradient plus, typically, 200 to 500 psi
(1379 3449 kPa).
It is crucial that the drilling engineers thoroughly review all available offset well data with a special
emphasis on procuring offset leak off and / or F.I.T. test data.
One of the key elements to successfully drilling a stable, near gauge wellbore depends upon planning
the correct mud weight.
Maintaining Borehole Support
Wellbore stability is a complex balance of mechanical (pressure and stress) and chemical factors.
The chemical composition and mud properties must combine to provide a stable wellbore until
casing can be run and cemented. Regardless of the chemical composition of the fluid and other
factors, the weight of the mud must be within the necessary range to balance the mechanical forces
acting on the wellbore (formation pressure, wellbore stresses related to orientation and tectonics).
Wellbore instability is most often identified by a sloughing formation, which causes tight hole
conditions, bridges and fill on trips.
Fluid hydrostatic pressure acts as a confining force on the wellbore. This confining force acting across
a filter cake will assist in physically stabilising a formation.