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DRILLING FLUIDS AND WELLBORE CLEANING TECHNOLOGY

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 The Proceedings of Regional Symposium of Chemical Engineering, 28 – 30 Oct. 2002, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

DRILLING FLUIDS AND WELLBORE CLEANING TECHNOLOGY

Abdul Razak Ismail, Zulkafli Hassan and Mazen A. M.

Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,

81310 UTM, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

With the introduction of horizontal and extended reach drilling, reduction in cuttings transport performance
becomes obvious and hole cleaning aggravated as hole deviation and well depths increase. The faster
particle settling velocities force cuttings to accumulate and concentrate; the mud density is more likely to
increase to the point that can cause formation fracture and lost of circulation. If the accumulation of cuttings
continues, the cuttings aggregations tend to form beds at the low sidewall of the annulus, which impede
drillpipe movement into and out of the wellbore, and often the drillpipe gets stuck, this increases non-drilling
time and cost considerably. Cuttings beds greatly increase drag, hindering drillpipe sliding; this drag can
limit the possible lateral borehole extension by hundreds of feet. Cuttings accumulations and cuttings bed
cause severe impedance, which oppose the rotation of the drillpipe and greatly reduce the amount of the
torque delivered near the bit. Torque and drag losses are the most important factors that can disturb drilling
horizontally; they reduce the penetration rate by preventing the proper weight transfer to the bit; also they
limit the length of the drain section by reaching the maximum rig capabilities. Furthermore, they could
induce twist off and over torque in the drilling equipment and make casing or liner run impossible.
Therefore, this work is aimed to provide an overview to the current understanding of cuttings transport
through wellbore annuli and will discuss the effect of hole inclination, annular fluid velocity, particle
characteristics, pipe rotation, hole eccentricity, mud rheology, and mud density.

Keywords: hole cleaning; water-based muds; oil-based muds; drilling fluids

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Since the introduction of rotary drilling, fluids are circulated through inside and then outside the drillpipe to
clean the drill cuttings generated from the disintegrated rock. The cuttings clogged in the bit teeth and those
on the bottom hole are then transported through the annulus and finally get rid of them at the surface.
With the advent of horizontal and extended reach drilling, reduction in cuttings transport performance
becomes obvious and hole cleaning aggravated as hole deviation and well depths increase. The faster
particle settling velocities force cuttings to accumulate and concentrate; the mud density is more likely to
increase to the point that can cause formation fracture and lost of circulation. If the accumulation of cuttings
continues, the cuttings aggregations tend to form beds at the low side wall of the annulus which impede
drillpipe movement into and out of the well bore and often the drillpipe gets stuck, this increases non drilling
time and cost considerably.
Cuttings beds greatly increase drag, hindering the drillpipe sliding; this drag can limit the possible lateral
borehole extension by hundreds of feet. Cuttings accumulations and cuttings bed cause severe impedance,
which oppose the rotation of the drillpipe and greatly reduce the amount of torque delivered near the bit.
Torque and drag losses are the most important factors that can disturb drilling horizontally; they reduce the
penetration rate by preventing the proper weight transfer to the bit; they limit the length of the drain section
by reaching the maximum rig capabilities; they induce wear, twist off, and over torque to the drilling
equipment and make casing or liner run impossible.

ISBN 983-41147-0-2 239

Hole drilling problems; if encountered during the course of drilling a well, require costly remedy. If the
problem persists it paves the way for other expensive problems to take place. Hole cleaning (cuttings
transport) is one of the major factors affecting cost, time and quality of directional, horizontal, extended
reach, and multilateral oil and gas wells.

2.0 DISCUSSION

Drilling muds were introduced with the introduction of rotary drilling in 1900. Initially the primary purpose
of the mud was to remove cuttings out of the drilled hole. The drilling fluids now do many tasks and
numerous drilling fluids formulations have been developed to suit various subsurface conditions. Selection of
the best fluid to meet anticipated conditions will minimize well costs and reduce the risk.
Water-based drilling fluids are by far the most desirable to drill oil wells because they are the cheapest
among other fluids and the more-friendly to the environment, but these fluids have some technical
deficiencies to cure shale problems.
Oil-based drilling fluids are excellent to deal with this problem in addition to their ability to mitigate other
problems such as torque/drag problems and high temperature stability. Though oil-based muds are more
expensive than water-base muds, the advantages they provide to suppress shale problems more than
offsetting their initial cost. Governmental regulations designed to protect the environment restrict the choice
of oil muds. Such regulations have made the handling of oil muds difficult and expensive, particularly in
offshore areas to the point that could melt their cost effectiveness. As a result synthetic-based drilling fluids
appeared to be more cost effective than oil-based drilling fluids since they can provide the same technical
advantages and yet considered environmentally acceptable.
Using different drilling fluids would affect the cutting transport process from bottomhole to the surface.
Determining the way by which such fluids may either enhance or reduce the cleaning efforts is mandatory to
the drilling operation.

3.0 WATER-BASED DRILLING FLUIDS

In these fluids solid particles are suspended in water or brine; oil may also be emulsified in the water, in
which case water is termed the continuous phase.

3.1 Effect of Hole Inclination

Previous studies have well documented the effect of hole-inclinations on hole cleaning efficiencies. All of
the previous work has observed that cuttings transport aggravated or worsened as hole inclination increases.
In a vertical annulus the cuttings have the entire vertical section to settle, while in a horizontal one they have
only a few inches. The phenomenon was in more than one occasion described to be the effect of the reduced
fluid velocity component, which opposes the particle settling velocity. In vertical wells there are two
velocity vectors at the particle acting in opposite direction, gravity pulling downward and flow velocity
pushing upward. Whenever the fluid velocity is appropriate to exceed the gravity effects on the cuttings
(work together with the buoyancy effects caused by density difference) drill cuttings in the vertical annulus
are more likely to be transported out of the hole.
In inclined and horizontal wells the settling velocity vector of the particle is analyzed into two components
one works against the fluid velocity and this component decreases as hole inclination increases (0% at Φ =
90°), and the other push the particle towards the low sidewall of the annulus. This force increases with hole
inclination (maximum at Φ = 90°). As a result the particles are forced toward the low sidewall of the
annulus. The case becomes critical at horizontal where these forces act 90° apart. The resultant vector is
always downward and bed formation is almost instantaneous. The height of the bed takes to increase as fluid
flow rate and viscosity decreases.

ISBN 983-41147-0-2 240

Tomern et al (1986) and Zamora et al (1992) pointed out that hole inclination affect badly hole cleaning tasks
and that the intermediate angles of inclination (35° – 55°) are difficult sections to clean. In these intervals
cuttings displayed potentially hazardous behavior tending to form beds that slip downward during drilling
and to avalanche toward bottom hole during periods of stop circulation7, this activity is much more prevalent
with oil muds than rheologically similar water base muds.13 At angle from 60° to 90° the sliding effects are
not obvious, the cuttings beds are quiescent with little sliding or tumbling tendency.19 In inclined annuli
different transport mechanisms are prevalent, and that the minimum transport velocities required is dependent
on the transport mechanism being considered.

3.2 Effect of Drill Cuttings Characteristics

Drill solids are often have specific gravities around 2.5 which are much higher than that of common drilling
fluids, this fact dictates the down slip of the particles in these fluids while they are in quiescent. The way by
which such slipping takes place is governed by fluid rheology, particle size and shape, and if the fluid is
flowing the flow regime and rate of flow must be considered. These parameters are prevalent during vertical
drilling since the particles have the entire vertical depth to settle through, however in horizontal sections the
cuttings are fast to settle and reach the bottom hole. The cuttings in highly deviated wells are lie down as
cuttings beds and often move upward by saltation mechanism. This picture says that particle size and shape
are of importance in vertical sections but are less significant in horizontal sections of the well where the
particles move in blocks rather than discrete particles.
The settling velocity increase with particle diameter but the rate of increase is different for different particle
size range. For particles < 0.018 cm in diameter, settling velocities increase approximately proportionally to
the square of the particle diameter. For particles > 0.13 cm in diameter the settling velocity increases
proportionally to the square root of the particle diameter.
Smaller cuttings are transported more efficiently at all angles of inclination when using low viscosity fluids
whilst between 0°-50° large cuttings are transported most efficiently with high viscosity fluids.

3.3 Drillstring Rotation

The influence of pipe rotation on velocity profile is difficult to account for. The literature was unclear to
define this effect properly. While some researchers claimed that the pipe rotation has no or negligible effect,
others has stressed on the importance of pipe rotation, meanwhile the remainder suggest that the effect may
be valuable in certain situations and useful-less in other situations. Williams and Bruce (1951), Hopkins
(1967), Zeidler (1972), and Belavadi et al (1994) have noted that pipe rotation is desirable for cuttings
transport; it can provide an offset force to the tendency of the flat particles to turn on thus preventing
unnecessary lag time; pipe rotation may add a tangential flow to the axial flow and hence increasing cuttings
recovery at the surface. It is worth mention that their studies were restricted to vertical wellbores.
Tomern et al (1986) extend these investigations to include different hole inclination. He concluded that pipe
rotation has a great effect in vertical flow as centrifugal forces tend to swirl cuttings into the high velocity
middle section of the annulus, it also plays an important role while in highly deviated and horizontal flow.
Pipe rotation seemed to destabilize the bed and sway the bed circumferentially and continually shook the
cuttings out of the bed into the moving stream above the bed.
Martin et al (1987) related the effectiveness of pipe rotation to the viscosity of the flowing fluid and
concluded that drillstring rotation has little influence when the fluid in circulation is water and appreciable
effect when the fluid is mud. They added that this improvement in hole cleaning is more prevalent at low
annular flow rates.
Sifferman et al (1992) showed that the effect of pipe rotation becomes substantial at lower mud velocities at
the 90° hole angle and deduce that higher yield values considerably enhance the effectiveness of pipe
rotation. The rotation effects are capable to remove small cuttings from the bed, but this effect is diminished
as the cuttings bed got smaller and cuttings size increases.

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Lockett et al (1993) has related the efficacy of the rotation to the angular speed of the pipe and expect Taylor
vortices to appear at higher speeds of rotation (once the rate of rotation exceeds some critical value). The
vortices according to them provide regular re-circulation, whether in laminar or turbulent flow, which
circulates fluid from the inner cylinder wall to the outer and back to the inner wall. When horizontal the
convection of the fluid between the annulus walls is alternately aligned with and opposed to gravity and can
therefore provide a lift to the cuttings in a similar way to the instantaneous action of the eddies in turbulent
flow.
Sanchez et al (1999) postulated that the rotational and orbital like motion of the drillpipe at rotational speeds
of 100-175 rpm significantly improve the hole cleaning.

3.4 Eccentricity

During horizontal and directional drilling the drillstring tends to lie at the low sidewall of the hole due to
gravity effects. This tendency is referred to as drillpipe eccentricity. Eccentricity is the phenomenon where
the pipe moved away from the center of the hole.
Since pipe eccentricity is synchronous with directional drilling the focus was to determine its effect on hole
cleaning. Pipe eccentricity was found to increase the bulk annular flow rate for a given pressure drop, but the
increased local velocities were found to occur on the high side of the hole where they help very little in
cleaning process. Hussain et al (2000) claimed that pipe rotation and associated angular velocity contribute
also to the increase in flow rate for the same axial pressure gradient and that the torque required to rotate
inner pipe at a fixed angular velocity also increase with increasing eccentricity.
The effect of eccentricity on hole cleaning was found to depend on hole inclination. The impairment in hole
cleaning with eccentricity seemed to be rather small for low angle wells in both laminar and turbulent flow;
the injury becomes moderate at higher inclinations (55°- 90°) especially under turbulent flow and turns to
significant in the same region when the flow turns to laminar.
Azar and Sanchez (1997) had confirmed that pipe eccentricity cause very low fluid velocity in the narrow
gap below the drillstring where the cuttings are at rest and higher velocities in the upper widened gap
resulting in a considerable loss in hole cleaning efficiencies. This trend was found to worsen as the viscosity
of the flowing fluid increases, since it encourages the flow diversion from the narrow gap to the wide gap.

3.5 Density
Mud density increase is more likely to improve hole cleaning, since this increase, help reduce the slip
velocity of the drilled particles due to increase in the buoyancy forces imposed to the settling particles. Mud
weight has also a significant effect on cuttings bed area. Increasing the mud density to approximately 15
lb/gal should reduce the slip velocity of the particle to approximately 50% its slip velocity in water. By the
same way Becker has showed that cuttings concentration with mud weighted to 14 lb/gal often where only
about on third the amount of accumulations with un-weighted muds.
It was stressed that increasing flow rate without increasing the mud density to improve transport of large drill
cuttings seemed to be insignificant and negligible.
It is obvious that mud weight enhances the cuttings transport process, however, unless the mud weight is
required to contain formation pressures, this procedure is probably an impractical solution to improve
carrying capacity of the drilling fluid. Increased mud densities cause lost circulation problems and reduction
in penetration rate and therefore increase drilling cost and mask the improvement in hole cleaning.

3.6 Drilling Fluid Rheological Properties

The rheological properties of drilling fluids are of utmost importance. These properties are often optimized
to ensure the drilling fluid can perform in a perfect manner and yet minimize the well cost. Drilling fluids
should be prepared well to minimize pumping cost, maximize bit penetration rate, lift drill cuttings
ISBN 983-41147-0-2 242
efficiently, lower swab and surge pressures, lower pressure required to initiate circulation, separate drill
cuttings and entrained gas at the surface, minimize hole erosion, maintain wellbore stability both
mechanically and chemically, cool and lubricate the bit and the drill string, allow formation evaluation,
reduce the suspended weight of heavy casing strings, prevent severe invasion of drilling fluids to inside
permeable formations (filter cake building mechanism), and provide the energy necessary to drive bottom
hole motors.
High viscosities are desirable to improve hole cleaning and cuttings transport. Mud viscosity affects cuttings
slip velocity in vertical and non-vertical annuli, since high viscous fluids impress higher drag forces, which
greatly reduce the rate of slipping. Highly viscous fluids were found to have no benefit in removing cuttings
bed once they form, and that light fluids may perform well since the flow is high enough to induce
turbulence. This turbulence help drill cuttings removal by increasing the force near the sidewall.
The increase in yield point to plastic viscosity is observed to increase carrying capacity of the mud at all hole
inclinations. However yield point is important at low hole inclinations and less effective at higher
inclinations. Mud yield value appears to be the most important component of the viscosity, which affects the
slip velocity. Hopkins2 has outlined that increasing yield value above 15 lb/100 ft2 will cause a significant
reduction in particle slip velocity.
It is obvious that the role of rheological properties is important at near vertical sections where the particles
undergo slipping along the entire vertical depth thus an increase in fluid rheology will indeed retard this
tendency and improve hole cleaning. For vertical drilling the effect of rheology becomes apparent at low
flow rates whenever the net movement of the particle is downward. However, this effect vanished out as the
flow rate increase to force the particles up ward. Higher viscosities are not preferred while drilling highly
deviated holes.28 Viscous fluids perform worse in cleaning highly deviated holes than lighter fluids because
lighter fluids require low flow rate to induce turbulent flow.
Other researcher has come out with important notices and pointed to the importance of low shear rate
viscosity in determining the capability of drilling fluids to clean the hole. Drilling fluids are non Newtonian
fluids and undergo shear thinning, it is the viscosity at low shear rate (low shear rates are more likely occur at
annuls), that must be considered while formulating the mud under consideration.

3.7 Drilling Fluid Annular Velocity

Williams and Bruce (1951) were among the first researchers to recognize the need for establishing a
minimum annular velocity to remove drill cuttings from borehole. Turbulent flow was their choice for better
hole cleaning. It is suggested to use laminar flow for cleaning vertical and near vertical sections and
turbulent flow for horizontal and near horizontal. Several researchers have designated to consider annular
flow as the main contributor for designing hole cleaning programs. However, erosion of cuttings-beds was
observed while circulating the annular fluid in high velocity mode.
The effect of the annular velocity on hole cleaning has been conceded and the literature reach an agreement
regarding the effectiveness of the annular velocity. However an upper limit of the flow is dictated usually by
the designed impact force at the bit face, the permissible equivalent circulation density, the rig hydraulic
power availability, and the sensitivity of the open hole to hydraulic erosion.

3.8 Rate of Penetration

Continuous increase in rate of penetration causes a tremendous increase in the volume of drill cuttings that
are waiting to be transported out of the hole. Since higher rate of penetration are desirable because they
allow the operator to fast complete the well and lower cost per barrel; an optimum value should be
maintained to avoid hole-cleaning problems. Azar and Sanchez (1977) suggested altering other controllable
parameters such as hydraulic and rotary speed to transport the generated cuttings and reduce their annular
concentration without exceeding their maximum limits. If this treatment was not sufficient to keep the
cuttings concentration within the safe range a decrease in penetration rate is dictated.

ISBN 983-41147-0-2 243

4.0 OIL-BASED DRILLING FLUIDS
Addition of crude oil to mud systems for reducing sticking of the drill string was a common practice in 1934
-1938 while the use of oil muds for well completion in low pressure or low permeability reservoirs was in
1935-1950, and the first use of an oil-base emulsion was in 1960.2
It is well documented in oil field operations that OBMs have many advantages over WBMs. They have the
capability to reduce torque/drag problems, minimize pipe sticking occurrence, eliminate bit balling, maintain
hole stability and shale inhibition, prevent severe formation damage, and finally provide better stability in
deep high temperature wells. OBMs were popular in offshore drilling before 1990s. They are preferred to
drill highly deviated, horizontal, and extended reach well, because of their distinct advantages over WBMs in
curing problems encountered during such drilling practices. In general, few studies have been conducted on
oil-based muds to evaluate their cuttings transport abilities.
Other resercher measure the critical flow under which cuttings settling and bed formation become critical.
He found that critical flow rates are higher for base oil than for the oil muds something unlike the case of
WBMs were the critical flow rates are lower for plain water. Some of his observations agree well with the
previous outcomes especially those regarding the reverse effect of increased mud rheology at higher hole
inclinations. Meanwhile, other conclusions warrant more investigation, because they look different from the
rest of the literature. First of these is regards the effect of hole inclination, while the previous studies on
conventional and OBMs had considered intermediate angles to be the most difficult to clean he concluded
that the 45° angle require the lowest pump rates to keep the annulus clean. The second conclusion is
regarding the effect of pipe rotation since he pointed that pipe rotation does not promote hole cleaning when
there is no lateral and orbital movement of the pipe, which contradicts with previous studies. The third is
regarding dial readings’ correlation with hole cleaning, as most of the previous studies found better
correlation of hole cleaning with 6 and 3 fann dial readings, he observed poor correlation and suggest to use
higher shear rates’ rheology to predict hole cleaning. The final important observation touches the oil/water
ratio that was found to be of less significant in promoting hole cleaning. It is well known that an increase in
water/oil ratio leads to an increase in viscosity and it is well documented the sensitivity of hole cleaning to
this parameter.
Hemphill and Larsen (1993) reconfirmed the observations made by Seeberger that OBMs and WBMs under
equivalent velocity and rheology will clean inclined annulus similarly, while under the same conditions base-
oil does not clean the annulus as well as water. While n (flow index) was known to flatten velocity profile26
as they get smaller and hence increase hole cleaning, they outlined that smaller n values will encourage flow
diversion from below the eccentric pipe to the wide gab just above it and thus decreasing its ability to sweep
drill cuttings from the cuttings bed surface.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS
• Drilling fluid properties that are desirable in vertical drilling may be detrimental in highly deviated
drilling.
• In a vertical hole, solids removal is guaranteed with both viscosity and velocity while in highly deviated
wells there is some limit exercised on the working velocity because of high depths, sensitive ECD, and
pump size and capacities. In addition, high annular velocities are more likely to erode unconsolidated
formations. Excessive viscosity is also not preferred in highly deviated annuli because of the pressure
that can be generated by viscous flowing fluids in the wellbore.
• The literature seriously pointed to the dangerous range of hole inclination (35° - 55°) which require more
attention while formulating the drilling fluid. This range of angles usually included in the section
through which the well sliding from vertical position to the horizontal position (build up section) and in
the tangent section if present.

ISBN 983-41147-0-2 244

• Slip velocity depends upon the viscosity and density of the fluid as well as the shape and size of the
particles. While the cuttings characteristics are not controllable we can alter the fluid characteristics; the
more dense the fluid the lower the slip velocity. For effective hole cleaning, annular mud velocity must
be high enough to overcome slip velocity.
• It is obvious that the mud weight enhances the cuttings transport process, however unless the mud weight
is required to contain formation pressure this procedure is probably an impractical solution to improve
carrying capacity of the drilling fluid under consideration. Actually this action may pave the way for
several serious related problems to take place, e.g. lost of circulation, barite sag, higher ECD, low
penetration rates; the final result is an increase in drilling cost which in many cases more than
overweighs the improvements in hole cleaning.
• The effect of the annular velocity on the cuttings transport has been conceded and the literature reaches
an agreement regarding the effect of the drilling fluid annular velocity. However, an upper limit of the
flow is dictated by the impact force requirements; permissible equivalent circulation density; rig
hydraulic power availability and sensitivity of the open hole to hydraulic erosion. Circulating more fluid
than needed will increase cost for unnecessary additional fluid, require higher pumping and fluid-
handling capacity, increase frictional pressure loss along the flow path, consume more power, and
increase erosion of both the wellbore and drilling equipment due to the high-speed of the cuttings.
• Although the effect of eccentricity was shown to be in little bias in the previous studies, the general trend
is that it has a reverse effect on hole cleaning capabilities of the drilling fluids.
• At vertical and near vertical drilling oil-based muds having the same rheology as water-based muds will
clean the hole at efficiency a little bit lower than water-based muds. Water-based mud will out perform
their counterparts in cleaning highly deviated and horizontal wells.

6.0 REFERENCES
1. Al Samarraie, Layth: “Polymer Mud System Improves Well Condition,” Oil & Gas Journal (Jun.12
2000) Vol. 98 Issue 24, pp 43-51.
2. Azar, J.J. and Sanchez, R. Alfredo (1997), “Important Issues in Cuttings Transport for Drilling
Directional Wells” SPE paper 39020, this paper was presented at the 5th Latin America and Caribbean
Petroleum Engineering Conference & Exhibition held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 30 Aug. - 30 Sept. 1997.
3. Belavadi, M.N. and Chukwu, G.A.: “Experimental Study of the Parameters Affecting Cutting
Transportation in a Vertical Wellbore Annulus,” SPE paper pres. at the Western Regional Meeting held
in Long Beach, California, 23-25 Mar. 1994
4. Darley, H.C.H., and Gray, G.R. (1988), “Composition and Properties of Drilling and Completion Fluids,
(184-277), (282-318), (401-484), and (491-537),” Gulf Publishing Company.
5. Estes, Jack, Randal, Bill, and Bridges, Ken: “Bingham Plastic Fluids More Effectively Clean Horizontal
Holes” Oil & Gas Journal (Nov. 1996), pp 89-93.
6. Ford, J.T., Peden, J.M., Oyeneyin, M.B., Erhu GAO, and Zarrough, r.: “Experimental Investigation of
Drilled Cuttings Transport in Inclined Boreholes,” SPE paper no. 20421, presented at 65 Annual
Technical Conference & Exhibition Held in New Orleans, LA. Sep. 23-26 1990. AND “Comprehensive
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October 1990.
7. Gatlin, C (1960), “Drilling and Well Completions.” 1st. Ed. USA: Prentice Hall, Inc., pp 238-253.
8. Hemphill Terry (1990), “Tests Determine Oil-Mud Properties to Watch in High-Angle Wells” Oil & Gas
Journal, Nov 26, 1990, pp 64-69.

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 9. Hemphill, Terry: “Cuttings Transport in Extended Reach Wells,” Oil & Gas Journal (Jul.1997) Vol. 95,
Issue 28, Pagination 56-64.
10. Hemphill, Terry and Larsen, T.I. (1993), “Hole-Cleaning Capabilities of Oil-Based and Water-Based
Drilling Fluids: A Comparative Experimental Study” SPE 26328, this paper was presented at the 68th
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society Of Petroleum Engineers held in Houston,
Texas, 3-6 October 1993.
11. Hopkins, E.A.: “Factors Affecting Cuttings Removal During Rotary Drilling” J.P.T. (June 1967) 804-
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12. Hussain, Q.E., and Sharif, M.A.R.: “Numerical Modeling of Helical Flow of Viscoplastic Fluids in
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Drilling Muds,” S.P.E.J. (Feb. 1983) 11-20.
14. Lockett, T.J., and Worraker, W.J.: “The Importance of Rotation Effects for Efficient Cutting Removal
During Drilling” SPE/IADC paper pres. in the Drilling Conf. held in Amsterdam 23-25 Feb. 1993.
15. Martin, M., Georges, C., Bisson, P., and Konirsch, O.: “Transport of Cuttings in Directional Wells,”
SPE/IADC paper 16083, pres. at SPE/IADC Drilling Conf., New Orleans, LA.Mar. 15-18 1987
16. Okrajni, S.S., and Azar, J.J.: “The Effect of Mud Rheology on Annular Hole Cleaning in Directional
Wells,” S.P.E. Drilling Eng. (August 1986) 297-308.
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Hole Cleaning During Directional Drilling” SPE J. 4 (2), June, 1999. SPE paper 56406 was revised for
publication from paper SPE 37626 first presented at the 1997 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference held in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 4-6 March.
18. Sifferman, T.R. and Becker, T.E.: “Hole Cleaning in Full-Scale Inclined Wellbores,” S.P.E.D.E., Jun.
1992 115-120.
19. Tomern, P.H., Iyoho, A.W., and Azar, J.J.: “Experimental Study of Cuttings Transport in Directional
Wells,” S.P.E. Drilling Eng. (Feb 1986) pp 43-56, 253.
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21. Yuejin, Luo et al: “Hole Cleaning Charts” Oil & Gas Journal (Jul.11 1994) Vol. 92 Issue 28, p. 59.
22. Zamora, M., and Hanson, P.: “Rules of Thumb to Improve High-Angle Hole Cleaning,” P.E.I, Jan.1992
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39-48; Trans AIME.

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