IADC/SPE 87135 The Effect Of The Synthetic- And Oil Based Drilling Fluid's Internal Water Phase Composition

On Barite Sag
Tron Albertsen, Stavanger University College; Tor Henry Omland, SPE, Statoil ASA; Knut Taugbl, M-I Norge AS; Arild Saasen, SPE, Statoil ASA and Kre Svanes, Statoil ASA insufficient displacement efficiency during cementing operations. Settled weight material may also cause problems during completion operations. Within the petroleum industry, the serious study of the sag phenomenon started in the very late 1980s. Jamison and Clements1 used an inclined tube to study barite sag in static drilling fluids. Their data shows a tendency of increased sag potential with reduced viscosity or gel strength of the drilling fluid. There was, however, a significant scatter in their sag towards rheology data. Based on this scatter, they concluded that it was not possible to relate the sag potential of a static drilling fluid to YP, PV, 10-second or 10-minute gel strength as measured by the standard API methods.2 The study by Hanson, et al.3 and Jefferson4 focused on practical guidelines to prevent sag. They also emphasized the importance of dynamic sag; the sag occurring while circulating drilling fluid. They recognised that preventing dynamic sag is more difficult than preventing static sag. Boycott settling, the effect of enhanced gravity-driven settling in deviated pipes,5 was found by all the early investigators to be a major contributor to sag in drilling fluids. When particles settle downwards in a deviated pipe or annulus, a layer of low-density fluid will be created at the upper part of the flow area. A higher density fluid develops at the lower part of the flow area. In this way, a high-density portion of the fluid higher up in a deviated well will overlay a lesser dense fluid layer further down in the well. The existence of dense fluid over less dense is unstable, and a mixing motion is created; accelerating the separation process. It was early accepted that rheological parameters measured at shear rates below the input range of standard VG-meters were needed to determine the potential of sag.6-8 Dynamic viscosity parameters, which are rheological parameters measured using an oscillatory motion,9 became a subject for sag investigations in the early 1990s8,10 and still seem to be promising parameters for measuring properties relevant for dynamic sag.11 Measuring the dynamic viscosity parameters, it is possible to determine how solid or liquid-like is the fluid. For static sag in water-based systems it was found that the drilling fluid needed sufficient solid-like behaviour to prevent sag.8 Other studies used low-shear-rate viscosity to determine the potential for sag.7,9-10,12-13 Jachnik and Robinson13 measured viscosity using parallel plate geometry at very low shear rates on a viscometer. They found that a yield stress in an oil or synthetic-based drilling fluid was usually quite low.

Copyright 2004, IADC/SPE Drilling Conference This paper was prepared for presentation at the IADC/SPE Drilling Conference held in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A., 24 March 2004. This paper was selected for presentation by an IADC/SPE Program Committee following review of information contained in a proposal submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the International Association of Drilling Contractors or Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any position of the International Association of Drilling Contractors or Society of Petroleum Engineers, their officers, or members. Papers presented at IADC/SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the International Association of Drilling Contractors and Society of Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial purposes without the written consent of the International Association of Drilling Contractors and Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to a proposal of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The proposal must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.

Abstract One important issue for drilling operations is control of down hole pressures. When drilling with synthetic or oil-based drilling fluids, the ability to maintain all the weighting agents in suspension is particularly difficult since these fluids are more vulnerable for sag than water-based drilling fluids. In the current study, it has been shown that the ability to keep barite in suspension also depends on the chemical composition of the water phase. The sag tendency of a mineral oil-based drilling fluid, a linear paraffin-based drilling fluid and both an ester and a LAO-based synthetic drilling fluid has been evaluated. For comparison, all fluids were formulated with equivalent water activity in the internal brine phase. The results show that for all these fluids, improved performance was observed if the traditional calcium chloride salt was replaced with a selection of other salts. Formates as the internal salt, gave generally better performance than if calcium chloride was used. The best performance with respect to sag stability in the tests was observed using an ammonium calcium nitrate as the internal salt phase. The paper describes in detail the effect that different salts in the internal brine phases in synthetic and oil-based drilling fluids was found to have on sag performance in a series of tests. Introduction Settling of barite in drilling fluids may cause several problems during drilling and completion of a well. While drilling, these problems range from having insufficient drilling fluid density for well control to fracturing the formation when resuspending a barite bed. Additionally, the settling of barite may hinder the running of casing as well as causing

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IADC/SPE 87135

Other researchers suggested that a true yield stress does not exist in these types of drilling fluids.14 In 1997, Jachnik10 suggested that use of smooth surface parallel-plate viscometers, in combination with roughened parallel plate viscometers at low shear rates, could be used as a tool for measuring the sag potential of drilling fluids. From an experimental investigation, Dye, et al.8 suggested that the viscosity values measured at 0.5 s-1 could be used as indicators of sag potential. However, at this shear rate it was not possible to correlate sag in an earlier study.7 Bern, et al.15 discussed practical methods to avoid sag. Among these methods they found the importance of rotating the drill-pipe. Drill-pipe rotation may induce turbulence16, sometimes combined with a helical flow pattern that helps resuspend the weighting material. A phenomenological theory exists describing how weight materials sag in oil-based drilling fluids.17 This theory argued that at ultra-low shear rates, the oil-based drilling fluids behave like shear thickening fluids, opposed to the shear thinning effect observed at higher shear rates. A drilling fluid may thus have a low viscosity at lower shear rates than the shear rate where shear thickening occurs. This low viscosity leads to sag if the drilling fluid composition does not include sufficient amounts of organophilic clay to increase the zeroshear-rate viscosity. Invert Emulsion Drilling Fluids and the Environment Environmental restrictions on the Norwegian continental shelf limit the number of drilling fluid options for current drilling operations. If invert emulsion drilling fluids are used, the drilling fluid must be based on non-aromatic base fluids.18 It is not possible to deposit oil-wet drill cuttings on the seabed. Re-injection of drill cuttings into the subsea formation or to ship it to shore for treatment, are therefore the only possible options. If cuttings are sent onshore for treatment, it is desirable to replace the chlorides in the emulsified water phase of the invert emulsion drilling fluids. This in order to prevent the cuttings hindering growth of natural substances or earth worms in the soil.19-20 In the process of exchanging the chlorides with other salts to maintain the water activity of the water phase, it was discovered that the presence of different ions had different impact on sag stability of the drilling fluid as well. The following sections describe in detail how such an exchange of salts can affect the drilling fluid sag stability. Sag Evaluation Experiments Invert emulsion fluids were formulated using different base fluids as the continuous phase. Properties of the base fluids selected are given in Table 1. This shows a rather broad variation between the four different base fluids selected being; mineral oil, linear paraffin, linear alpha olefin and an ester. Additionally, four different brine phases were tested for all base fluids, adding up to 16 combinations of base fluid and brine. The following salts were used in the different brine phases; CaCl2, HCOONa (sodium formate), HCOOK (potassium formate) and NH4Ca(NO3). The concentration of salt in the brines was adjusted so that the water activity in the brine was 0.90 for all formulations. Base fluid/water ratio was kept constant at 80/20 in all formulations and the drilling fluid density was set to 1500 kg/m3 for all formulations. The

content of the other additives was held constant between the different formulations. Standard chemicals in use in the drilling fluid industry were used for emulsion control, rheology, fluid loss control, etc. The formulations can in detail be studied in Table 2-5. Content of base fluid, brine and barite was adjusted due to differences in density of base fluids and salt content in the different brines. The fluids were mixed in 350-mL batches using standard laboratory procedures for mixing invert emulsion drilling fluids. Hamilton Beach mixers were used followed by 10 minutes of mixing on a Silverson mixer at 6000 rpm for the last ten minutes for additional shear. The samples were then aged for 16 hours at 50C. Rheology was measured before and after aging at 50C using Fann 35 VG meter. A static sag test was performed after aging the drilling fluids static for 16 hours at 50C. After static aging, the amount of free base fluid on top of the samples was removed. The static sag test was then performed by splitting the drilling fluid below the free base fluid into five layers and measuring the density of each layer. A sag factor was then calculated using the densities of the top and bottom layer. Sag factor, which has previously been presented by Swanson, et al.21 is expressed by equation (1)

Sag factor =

MWbottom MWbottom + MWtop

(Eq. 1)

Results The viscosity of the different fluid systems formulated was primarily depending on the base fluid used. More viscous base fluids generally provided a drilling fluid with higher viscosity values. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the shear stress (dial reading) values differ significantly with base fluids used in the formulations at the same shear rate (rpm). In the experiments it was also shown that the type of brine phase has less effect on the rheological parameters. This was to be expected, as the base fluid was the continuous phase of the drilling fluid. Fig. 2 clearly demonstrates this effect where it is shown that all shear stress vs. shear rate values fit to the same line. Detailed rheology data of the different drilling fluids are given in Tables 6-9. The results from the static sag tests are summarised in Figs. 3-8. As indicated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, the type of base fluid, and thus the drilling fluid viscosity, is a very important factor for barite sag. The fluids formulated with thinner base fluids, like the linear paraffin or linear alpha-olefin, had the lowest viscosity. These fluids gave also the highest amount of free base fluid separated and highest sag factors. The linear paraffin and LAO are also the lightest base fluids, which will also contribute to less buoyancy of the particles leading to more sag. As can be observed in Fig. 5, the density difference between the top and bottom layer was highest with the Calcium Chloride and lowest with NH4Ca(NO3). For the formulations using linear paraffin (Fig. 6) the difference in density of each layer, i.e. sag tendency, was higher for all the salts used in the internal brine phase compared to the more viscous and dense base fluids. For the LAO, sag potential

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IADC/SPE 87135

(Fig. 7) was in general higher than with the mineral oil, but lower than with the linear paraffin. The formulations using ester as base fluid (Fig. 8), showed though the lowest sag potential of all the base fluids tested. However, variations in both amount of free base fluid separated and sag was experienced for each base fluid based on the brine phase. For all base fluids, the drilling fluid using NH4Ca(NO3) in the brine phase showed least amount of free base fluid and lowest sag factor, indicating that this type of brine phase can help stabilising the system regardless of base fluid type. Discussion The results in this study indicate that the settling velocity of a barite particle is inversely dependent on the viscosity of base fluid which it is suspended in. This is expected since the drilling fluids used in this study all were made using same concentration of organophilic clay. Increasing the viscosity by adding more clay when using thin base fluids, provides a lowshear-rate viscosity similar to those with a more viscous base fluid and will definitely help on sag stability.17 This has also been shown by Taugbl, et al.22 where sag-stable fluids with optimised viscosity have been made with linear paraffin as base fluid. Additionally, the choice of both base fluid and internal phase will certainly affect the efficiency of the emulsifier used to stabilise the emulsion. The stability of the emulsion is also important for sag stability. The results for each base fluid, presented in Fig 3-8, indicates that the emulsifier package used in this study works more efficiently when NH4Ca(NO3) is used as the internal phase. This since both the amount of free base fluid separated after the static aging was reduced, as well as the sag performance was improved compared with other brines using the same base fluid. The importance of a stable emulsion for sag stability is obvious. However, the interaction between the emulsion droplets and the organophilic clay particles are also of outmost importance. In this study a standard dry process clay was used as viscosifier additive. It might be that other clays, processed by other techniques or coated by other chemicals, could react more efficiently with other internal phases and or emulsifier packages than tested here and thereby make more stable fluids. Studies of other organophilic clays and other emulsifier packages in combinations with different base fluids and brines is outside the scope of the study presented in this paper. Conclusions Invert emulsion fluids with varying base fluids and internal phases have been studied with respect to sag stability. The following conclusions can be drawn: Selection of base fluid plays the major role in controlling drilling fluid viscosity. Different salts for the internal brine phase will have an effect on sag stability. Using ammonium calcium nitrate (NH4Ca(NO3)) salt for the internal phase, provides the best sag stability for the fluids tested in this study.

References
1. Jamison, D.E. and Clements, W. R.: "A New Test Method To Characterize Setting/Sag Tendencies of Drilling Fluids In Extended Reach Drilling," ASME 1990 Drilling Technology Symposium, PD Vol. 27 (1990) 109. 2. API RP 13B-1, Recommended Practice Standard Procedure for Field Testing Water-Based Drilling Fluids, American Petroleum Institute, Washington D.C. (1990). 3. Hanson, P.M., Trigg, T.K., Rachal, G. and Zamora, M.: Investigation of Barite Sag in Weighted Drilling Fluids in Highly Deviated Wells SPE 20423, presented at the 1990 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, 2326 September. 4. Jefferson, D.T.: New Procedure Helps Monitor Sag in the Field, paper ASME 91-PET-3 presented at the 1991 Energy Sources Technology Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, 2024 January. 5. Boycott, A.E.: Sedimentation of Blood Corpuscles, Nature vol. 104 (1920) 532. 6. Saasen, A., Marken, C., Sterri, N. and Jakobsen, J.: "Monitoring of Barite Sag Important in Deviated Drilling," Oil & Gas Journal vol. 89, no. 34 (26 August 1991) 43. 7. Saasen, A., Liu, D., Marken, C.D., Sterri, N., Halsey, G.W. and Isambourg, P.: "Prediction of Barite Sag Potential of Drilling Fluids from Rheological Measurements," paper IADC/SPE 29410 presented at the 1995 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Amsterdam, 28 February - 2 March. 8. Dye, W., Brandt, M., Wesling, T., Hemphill, T., and Greene, R.: Rheological Techniques to Minimize the Potential for Barite Sag, presented at the 1999 American Association of Drilling Engineers Annual Technical Forum in Houston, March30 1999. 9. Barnes, H.A., Hutton, J.F., and Walters, K.: An Introduction to Rheology, Elsevier (1989) 27. 10. Jachnik, R.P.: Rheological Characteriasation of Oil Based Drilling Fluids Utilising Parallel Plate Geometries, Ann. Trans. Nordic Rheology Soc., vol. 5 (1997) 135. 12. Hemphill, T.: New Viscometer Allows for Improved Understanding of Drilling Fluid Behavior at Low-Shear Rates, presented at the 1999 AADE Annual Technical Forum, Houston, 3031 March. 13. Jachnik, R. and Robinson, G.: Application of Rheological Models to Oil and Synthetic Based Drilling Fluids, Ann. Trans. Nordic Rheology Soc., vol. 4 (1996) 12. 14. Ehrhorn, C. and Saasen, A.: "Barite Sag in Drilling Fluids," Ann. Trans. Nordic Rheology Soc., vol. 4 (1996) 66. 15. Bern, P.A., van Oort, E., Neusstadt, B., Ebeltoft, H., Zurdo, C., Zamora, M. and Slater, K.: Barite Sag: Measurement, Modelling and Management, SPE Drilling and Completion, vol. 15 (March 2000) 25. 16. Marken, C., He, X. and Saasen, A.: "The Influence of Drilling Conditions on Annular Pressure Losses," paper SPE 24598 presented at the 1992 SPE Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition, Washington D.C., 4-7 October. 17. Saasen, A.: Sag of Weight Materials in Oil Based Drilling Fluids, paper IADC/SPE 77190, presented at the 2002 IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 911 September. 18. Saasen, A., Berntsen, M., Lklingholm, G., Igeltjrn, H. and snes, K.: "The Effect of Drilling Fluid Base Oil Properties on the Occupational Hygiene and the Marine Environment," SPE Drilling and Completion, vol. 16 (2001) 150. 19. Srheim, R., Amundsen, C.E., Kristiansen, R. and Paulsen, J.E.: Oily Drill Cuttings From Waste to Resource, SPE paper no. 61372, presented at the Fifth SPE International Conference on Health, Safety and Environment, Stavanger, Norway, 26-28 June 2000.

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IADC/SPE 87135

20. Paulsen, J.E., Norman, M. and Getliff, J.: Creating Near-Zero Discharge in Norway: A Novel Environmental Solution, World Oil vol. 223, no. 12 (December 2002) 37. 21. Swanson, B.W., Munro, R., Sanders, M.W. and Kelly, R.: Application of Novel Technolgies in the Design and Engineering of Synthetic-Based Mud Used to Drill and Complete Horizontal, High Temperature/High Pressure Wells in the Central North Sea Marnock Field, Paper IADC/SPE 59187 presented at 2000 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, New Orleans, 23-25 February.

22. Taugbl, K., Sandberg, G.M., Grevstad, H.J., Cullum, D. and Dyrkolbotn, E.: Reformulating Oil-Based Drilling Fluid by Using Especially Selected Chemicals Led to Development of a Low-Viscosity, High-Sag Stability Drilling Fluid, paper IADC/SPE 87139 presented at the 2004 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference held in Dallas, 24 March.

SI Metric Conversion Factors (F 32) /1.8 bbl x 1.589 873 E-01 cP x 1.0 * E+00 in. x 2.54* E+00 lb x 4.535 924 E-01 lb/gal x 1.198 264 E+02 lb/gal x 1.198 264 E-01 lbm/bbl x 2.853 E+00
* Conversion factor is exact.

= C = m3 = mPas = cm = kg = kg/m3 = sg = kg/m3

Table 1 - Properties of the Base Fluids @ 40 oC Base Fluid

Mineral oil Linear paraffin Linear alpha olefin Ester

Intrensic Viscosity (cSt)

3.50 1.76 2.09 3.95

Kinematic Viscosity (cP)

2.84 1.34 1.63 3.40

Density (g/m3)
0.81 0.76 0.78 0.86

Additive

Table 2 - Drilling Fluid Formulations with Mineral Oil Sample 1 2 3

603.86 31.60 599.49 28.94 40.26 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 762.40 150.97 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 769.71 149.86 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 762.97 148.80 595.17

4
590.69

Mineral oil (mL/L) CaCl2 (g/L) NaCOOH (g/L) KCOOH (g/L) NH4Ca(NO3) (g/L) Primary Emulsifer (mL/L) Secondary Emulsifer (mL/L) Fluid Loss Control (g/L) Lime (g/L) Viscosifer (g/L) Barite (g/L) Water (mL/L)

74.40 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 733.60 147.69

Table 3 - Drilling Fluid Formulations with Linear Paraffin Additive Sample 5 6 7

Linear paraffin (mL/L) CaCl2 (g/L) NaCOOH (g/L) KCOOH (g/L) NH4Ca(NO3) (g/L) Primary Emulsifer (mL/L) Secondary Emulsifer (mL/L) Fluid Loss Control (g/L) Lime (g/L) Viscosifer (g/L) Barite (g/L) Water (mL/L) 596.20 31.20 591.94 28.57 39.74 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 803.14 149.06 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 810.09 147.97 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 803.11 146.94 587.74

8
583.37

73.46 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 773.83 145.83

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Table 4 - Drilling Fluid Formulations with Linear Alpha Olefin Additive Sample 9 10 11 12
Linear alpha olefin (mL/L) CaCl2 (g/L) NaCOOH (g/L) KCOOH (g/L) NH4Ca(NO3) (g/L) Primary Emulsifer (mL/L) Secondary Emulsifer (mL/L) Fluid Loss Control (g/L) Lime (g/L) Viscosifer (g/L) Barite (g/L) Water (mL/L) 598.43 31.34 594.14 28.69 39.91 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 791.17 149.60 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 798.23 148.54 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 791.34 147.49 73.74 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 762.03 146.37 589.91 585.51

Additive

Table 5 - Drilling Fluid Formulations with Ester Sample 13 14 15

213.17 11.16 211.62 10.21 14.21 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 257.13 53.29 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 259.78 52.90 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 257.47 52.52 210.09

16
208.49

Ester (mL/L) CaCl2 (g/L) NaCOOH (g/L) KCOOH (g/L) NH4Ca(NO3) (g/L) Primary Emulsifer (mL/L) Secondary Emulsifer (mL/L) Fluid Loss Control (g/L) Lime (g/L) Viscosifer (g/L) Barite (g/L) Water (mL/L)

26.26 20.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 15.00 247.18 52.12

Table 6 - Rheology of Mineral Oil-Based Drilling Fluids* Salt CaCl2 HCOONa HCOOK NH4Ca(NO3)
600 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 62 62 61 2 300 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 33 36 33 2 200 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 26 29 28 2 100 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 17 20 19.5 2 6 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 7 9.5 7.5 2 3 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 6 8.5 7 2 10-s Gel (lb/100 ft ) 8 10 8.5 2 10-min Gel (lb/100 ft ) 10 13 10 AP (cP) 31 31 30.5 PV (cP) 29 26 28 2 YP (lb/100 ft ) 4 10 5 2 * Properties measured at 50C after aging in accordance with API RP 13B-1.
2

59 32 24 15 5 4.5 6 7 29.5 27 5

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IADC/SPE 87135

Table 7 - Rheology of Linear Paraffin-Based Drilling Fluid Salt CaCl2 HCOONa HCOOK NH4Ca(NO3)
600 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 43 40 38 2 300 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 24 24 21.5 2 200 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 19 19 15 2 100 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 13 13 10 2 6 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 6 6 4 2 3 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 5.5 5.5 3 2 10-s Gel (lb/100 ft ) 7 7 5 2 10-min Gel (lb/100 ft ) 9 7.5 6.5 AP (cP) 21.5 20 19 PV (cP) 19 16 16.5 2 YP (lb/100 ft ) 5 8 5 2 * Properties measured at 50C after aging in accordance with API RP 13B-1.
2

37 20 16 11 4 3.5 5 6 18.5 17 3

Table 8 - Rheology of Linear Alpha Olefin-Based Drilling Fluid Salt CaCl2 HCOONa HCOOK NH4Ca(NO3)
600 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 43 48 44 2 300 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 25 31 25 2 200 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 19 24 19 2 100 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 13 17.5 13 2 6 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 6 9 6 2 3 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 5 8 5 2 10-s Gel (lb/100 ft ) 7 9.5 7 2 10-min Gel (lb/100 ft ) 9.5 12 8 AP (cP) 21.5 24 22 PV (cP) 18 17 19 2 YP (lb/100 ft ) 7 14 6 2 * Properties measured at 50C after aging in accordance with API RP 13B-1.
2

42 22 16 11 4 3.5 5 6 21 20 2

600 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 82 69 74 2 300 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 50 41 46 2 200 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 40 35 37 2 100 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 30 25 28 2 6 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 14 11.5 13 2 3 rpm (lb/100 ft ) 13 10.5 12 2 10-s Gel (lb/100 ft ) 14 12.5 13.5 2 10-min Gel (lb/100 ft ) 18.5 14.5 18 AP (cP) 41 34.5 37 PV (cP) 32 28 28 2 YP (lb/100 ft ) 18 13 18 2 * Properties measured at 50C after aging in accordance with API RP 13B-1.

Table 9 - Rheology of Ester-Based Drilling Fluid Salt CaCl2 HCOONa HCOOK NH4Ca(NO3)
78 48 39 28 13 12 14 18 39 30 18

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IADC/SPE 87135

90

80

70

60 Dia l 50 rea din g 40

30

20

10

0 0 100 200 300 RPM Mineral oil Linear paraffin Linear alpha olefin Ester 400 500 600

Fig. 1. Rheology measured at 50 C using Fann 35 VG meter of fluids with varying base oil but similar brine phase (CaCl2).

90

80

70

60 Dial reading

50

40

30

20

10

0 0 100 200 300 RPM CaCl2

o

400

500

600

HCOONa

HCOOK

NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig. 2. Rheology measured at 50 C using Fann 35 VG meter of fluids with varying brine phase but base oil (Mineral oil).

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IADC/SPE 87135

35 30 25 Free oil [%] 20 15 10 5 0 Mineral oil Calcium Chloride Linear paraffin Sodium Formate Linear alpha olefin Potassium Formate Ester NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig 3. Percent free oil after static aging for 16 hours.

0.55

0.54

Sag Factor

0.53

0.52

0.51

0.5 Mineral oil Calcium Chloride Linear paraffin Sodium Formate Linear alpha olefin Potassium Formate Ester NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig 4. Sag factor calculated on samples aged static for 16 hours

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IADC/SPE 87135

Mineral oil
1,75 1,7 1,65 1,6 1,55 1,5 1,45 1 2 3 4 5 Layer

Density [sg]

Calcium Chloride Potassium Formate

Sodium Formate NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig.5 Drilling fluid density of the different layers (given from top (1) to bottom (5)) after static aging for 16 hours. This is when using a mineral oil as base fluid.

Linear paraffin

1,75 1,7 Density [sg] 1,65 1,6 1,55 1,5 1,45 1 2 3 4 5 Layer

Calcium Chloride Potassium Formate

Sodium Formate NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig.6 Drilling fluid density of the different layers (given from top (1) to bottom (5)) after static aging for 16 hours using a linear paraffin as base fluid.

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IADC/SPE 87135

10

Linear alpha olefin

1,75 1,7 1,65 1,6 1,55 1,5 1,45 1 2 3 4 5 Layer

Density [sg]

Calcium Chloride Potassium Formate

Sodium Formate NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig.7 Drilling fluid density of the different layers (given from top (1) to bottom (5)) after static aging for 16 hours when using linear alpha-olefinl as base fluid.

Ester
1,75 1,7 1,65 1,6

Density [sg]

1,55 1,5 1,45 1 2 3 4 5

Layer

Calcium Chloride Potassium Formate

Sodium Formate NH4Ca(NO3)

Fig.8 Drilling fluid density of the different layers (given from top (1) to bottom (5)) after static aging for 16 hours when using ester as base fluid.

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