04 - PGP4108 Drilling Fluids

Department of Geology & Petroleum Studies
Makerere University
PGP4108: Drilling Fluids
Drilling Fluid/Mud Program
Wycliff Kawule
@2015
PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program
School of Petroleum Engineering, UNSW
) Mud weight selection

Role of Drilling Fluids in Maintaining Borehole Stability
Stresses around wellbore.
Mud pressure can be

calculated from:
σH P = ρ ⋅g⋅D
σh w m
Pw where:
σh
`
σH P = Mud Pressure
w
ρ = Mud Density
m
g = Gravitational Constant
D = Vertical Depth of Borehole


Role of Drilling Fluids in Maintaining Borehole Stability
Insufficient Mud Weight.
o Kick – if the mud weight is too low, formation fluids may enter the borehole.
o Blowout – excessive kick, especially if the formation fluid is a gas.
o Wellbore collapse – wellbore shear failure.
Excessive Mud Weight.

o Formation damage – invasion of mud filtrate to formation.
o Fracturing – wellbore tensile failure.
o Lost circulation – no returning mud; blowout; wellbore collapse.
Optimum Mud Weight

o Balance pore pressure;
o High enough to support wellbore without collapse;
o Low enough to prevent fracturing formation;
o Stable wellbore + high penetration rate.
1

Determination of Mud Weight
Information to be collected.
o Rock properties (Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, Tensile strength,
Compressive strength, Cohesive strength, Porosity, Permeability, Formation
water activity) – core samples, logs, well tests.
o In-situ stress profiles – regional stress distribution, logs, leak-off tests, well
completion reports, hydraulic fracturing reports.
o Formation pore pressure – logs, seismic, reference wells.
Mud weight is determined by

o Pore p
pressure g
gradient
o Wellbore collapse gradient
o Formation fracture gradient.


Mud weight window
o Formation pore pressure and wellbore collapse gradients define the lower limit of
mud weight
weight.
o Formation fracture gradient defines the upper limit of mud weight.
Pore pressure gradient

o Mud Weight > Pore Pressure Gradient = Controlled
o Mud Weight < Pore Pressure Gradient = Kick is taken
o Pore pressure is usually determined by:
¾ Data from reference wells
¾ Correlation of Seismic Data – interval transit time
¾ Correlation of Drilling Data While Drilling – d-exponent
⎛ R ⎞
log⎜ ⎟
d mod = ⎝ 60 N ⎠ ⋅ ρf
⎛ 12 W ⎞ ρ m
log⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
⎝ 1000d b ⎠
2

Pore pressure gradient
I t
Interval
l Transit
T it Time
Ti (10-66 s/ft)
/ft) dmod (d-units)
(d units)
10 100 1000 0.1 1 10
0 0
1300 ft
2000 Normal pressure
2000 trend line
Interval transit time
Normal pressure section 4000

134.1 (dmod)n=1.202*e0.000024D
4000 tn = 0.000054Ds Normal trend line
e 6000
6000
Depth (ft)
8000
epth (ft)
De
10000
8000 dmod=0.96
9000 ft
12000
10000 14,000 ft dmod=1.682
14000
12000
16000
14000 18000


Collapse gradient
o Mud Weight > Collapse Gradient = Borehole wall supported
o Mud Weight < Collapse Gradient = Borehole wall collapses
o Collapse gradient is usually determined by:
¾ Well completion report (drilling history), well logs (Four arm calliper, Formation Micro
Imager (FMI) logs)
¾ Wellbore stability analysis using geo-mechanical models – stress/strength analysis
3

Fracture gradient
o Mud Weight < Fracture Gradient = Safe Borehole
o Mud Weight > Fracture Gradient = Fractured Borehole
o Fracture gradient is usually determined by:
¾ Well completion report (drilling history) ,well logs (Four arm calliper, Formation
Micro Imager (FMI) logs)
¾ Leak-off test
¾ Hydraulic fracturing treatment report
¾ Wellbore stability analysis using geo-mechanical models – stress/strength
analysis


Fracture gradient – Leak-off test
om Hole Pressure
Botto
4

Fracture gradient – FMI

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Relaxed Areas

Isotropic horizontal stress
Mud weight @ a given depth is determined by:
Pore pressure gradient < Mud weight < Fracture gradient
Mud weight window
Mud weight window (16.35 – 18.4 ppg)
5

Safety margins:
Trip margin
The small amount of additional mud weight is added to the lower-bound mud
weight
i ht tto overcome the
th pressure-reduction
d ti effects
ff t causedd by
b swabbing
bbi when
h a
trip out of the hole is made.
Kick margins
A kick margin is subtracted from the upper-bound mud weight to overcome the
pressure-increase effects caused by surge when a trip into the hole is made.
Generally, 0.5 ppg is used as the safety margin.


Safe mud weight window:
Taking 0.5 ppg as the safety margin:
Safe mud weight window (16.85 – 17.9 ppg)
trip margin 0.5 ppg Kick margin 0.5 ppg
6

Casing program and safety mud weight profile:
Selection of mud weight for different hole

sections is followed from the deepest point
of the well towards the surface.
The formation pressure gradient at 19,000

ft is 17.4 ppg of equivalent mud specific
weight . To control this pressure, the
equivalent mud weight at the bottom of the
hole would be 17.4+0.5 =17.9 ppg.
Formations having g fracture g

gradients less
than 17.9 lb/gal must also be protected.
Considering a kick margin of 0.5 lb/gal, the
depth at which this fracture gradient is
encountered is 14,000 ft. Hence, the
intermediate casing seat should be placed
at this depth.


Casing program and safety mud weight profile:
To drill to the depth of 14,000 ft to set

intermediate casing, a 16.85 lb/gal mud will
be required. As a result, another
intermediate casing needs to be set at
11,100 ft.
Similarly, to drill safely to 11,100 ft with a

mud weight of 12 lb/gal, a surface casing
will be required to set at a depth of 1,500 ft.
To protect shallow formation from fracturing
and fresh-water aquifers (2000 – 5000 ft),
the surface casing usually need to be set
at a deeper depth, e.g. 5000 ft in this
example.
7
) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

Stress regimes
Vertical stress, or overburden pressure, σv, is usually given by the weight of
overlying rock matrix.
The horizontal stresses come from the restriction of rock deformation and tectonic
movement.
The relative magnitudes of σv, σH and σh define the stress regimes:
o Normal fault stress regime: σv > σH > σh

o Strike-slip fault stress regime: σH > σv > σh
o Reverse fault stress regime: σH > σh > σv


Stress anisotropy and wellbore stability of a vertical wellbore
Unequal horizontal stresses cause anisotropic stress on wellbore;
Drilling problems:
o Hole sloughing and breakouts
o Tight holes
o Lost circulation
o Increased drilling time and drilling cost.
σ H (Maximum
Horizontal Stress)
σh σh
(Minimum
Horizontal Stress)
σH
8

Stress anisotropy and wellbore stability of a deviated wellbore
Anisotropic stress on wellbore is sensitive to azimuth and inclination;
Drilling direction affect:

o Rate of penetration (ROP)
o Wellbore collapse gradient
o Formation fracture gradient
Drilling in the σH-direction in a strike-slip fault stress regime (σH > σV > σh)
o Slower ROP
o Lower collapse gradient
σv
o Lower fracture g gradient
o Narrower safety margins
σh σh
σv


Drilling in the σh-direction in a strike-slip fault stress regime (σH > σV > σh)
o Higher ROP
o Higher collapse gradient σv
o Higher fracture gradient
o Larger safety margins
σH σH
σv
Note: instability is caused by differences in the stresses on the borehole. The larger the
difference, the greater the instability.
In a strike-slip fault stress regime, σH is always closer to σv than it is to σh. So, σh-
direction is always more stable than σH-direction.
9

Drilling in the σh-direction in a strike-slip fault stress regime (σH > σV > σh)
o Higher ROP
o Higher collapse gradient σv
o Higher fracture gradient
o Larger safety margins
σH σH
σv
Note: instability is caused by differences in the stresses on the borehole. The larger the
difference, the greater the instability.
In a strike-slip fault stress regime, σH is always closer to σv than it is to σh. So, σh-
direction is always more stable than σH-direction.


10
) Weighting Materials
Weighting materials are high-specific gravity and finely divided solid materials
used to increase density of a drilling fluid.
Weighting materials
o Have
H hi
high
h specific
ifi weight
i ht to
t keep
k solids
lid content
t t llow
o Be chemically inert:
¾ non-corrosive so it doesn’t corrode the drill string
¾ does not change viscosity so it won’t need further additives
o Be easily ground to preferred particle size so it can be tailored to any particular
application
o Be non-abrasive (low hardness) so no wear occurs on circulation equipment or
drill bit
o Have wide distribution of particle sizes as this reduces filter cake porosity
Weighting materials can be classed as:

o Suspended solids, such as barite (barium sulfate) [BaSO4]
o Dissolved salts, such as calcium bromide [CaBr2], KCl, CaCl2
¾ Dissolved salts are used mainly as packer fluid, workover fluid and completion fluid
because they are solids free, and so do not settle.
¾ Dissolved salts are corrosive

) Weighting Materials
Some common weighting materials.
Material Principal Specific Gravity Maximum weight Comments
Component attainable
BaSO4 barium
Barite 4.2 – 4.6 22 Widely used. API
sulfate
Galena 6.8 – 6.9 32 rarely used
PbS lead sulfide
Tendency to increase water loss and mud cake
Hematite Fe2O3 iron oxide 4.9 - 5.3 thickness, possible abrasive effects of iron oxide
on bits, drill string and pump parts. API
CaCO3.MgCO3
Dolomite 2.8 - 2.9 Used as lost-circulation material in completion
Limestone 12 and work over operations due to its acid
CaCO3 Calcite solubility.
2.6 - 2.8
Ilmenite FeO.TiO2 4.5 - 5.1 Used in cement and mud
FeCO3 ferrous
Siderite 3.7 - 3.9 soluble in acids
carbonate
11
) Mud Weight Calculations

General Formula for Density and Volume Increases by Adding Weighting Agents
Assuming:
o density of weighting agent (including clay) is ρwa in ppg,
o initial mud density is W1, ppg
o final mud density is W2, ppg
The amount of weighting agent needed:
X = 42*ρwa (W2 - W1)/( ρwa - W2), lb/bbl, or sack/100 bbl
X is the amount of weighting

g g agent
g in p
pound needed to raise the densityy of 1 barrel
of mud from the initial density of W1 to the required target density of W2
The increase in volume after adding the weighting agent:
V = lb of weighting agent / (42*ρwa)
V is the volume of weighting agent in barrel (bbl).

23


Weight and Volume Increases by adding Bentonite
Assuming:
o density of bentonite is 20.8 ppg,
The amount of bentonite needed:
X = 42*ρwa (W2 - W1)/( ρwa - W2)

= 42*20.8 (W2 - W1)/( 20.8 - W2)
= 875 (W2 - W1)/( 20.8 - W2), lb/bbl
The increase in volume after adding bentonite:
V = lb of bentonite/ (42*ρwa)
= lb of bentonite/ (42*20.8)
= lb of bentonite/ 875, bbl
24
12

Weight and Volume Increases by adding Barite
Assuming:
o density of barite is 35.5 ppg,
The amount of barite needed:
X = 42*ρwa (W2 - W1)/( ρwa - W2)

= 42*35.5 (W2 - W1)/( 35.5 - W2)
= 1491 (W2 - W1)/( 35.5 - W2), lb/bbl
The increase in volume after adding barite:
V = lb of bentonite/ (42*ρwa)
= lb of bentonite/ (42*35.5)
= lb of bentonite/ 1491, bbl
25


Sample calculations
Suppose 500 barrels of 14.0 lb/gal mud is needed to be prepared. Starting with water.
Bentonite is added to the water to obtain viscosity and then barite is added to the clay
slurry to obtain the desired mud weight.
Question:
o How much fresh water is needed?
o How much bentonite is needed?
o How much barite is needed?
Solution:
o Assuming density of bentonite is 20.8 ppg, density of barite is 35.5 ppg.
o Step 1 Begin by assuming 100 barrals of water.
o Step 2 Determine the amount of bentonite required.
A 15-cp viscosity is required for suspending barite. From the chart of clay yield, about 20 lb/bbl
of bentonite is needed
needed.
26
13
Example: about 20 lb/bbl of bentonite is required to produce a 15-cp viscosity mud:

5.5% solids by weight,
yield 100 barrels per ton,
have 2.5% solids by volume and
weigh about 8.6 lb/gal.
27


Sample calculations
Solution:
o Step 2 Determine the amount of bentonite required.
100 bbl water × 20 lb/bbl bentonite = 2000 lb.
o Step 3 Volume increase from bentonite = 2000 lb/875 lb/bbl = 2.3 bbl
o Step 4 Calculate the density of bentonite-water slurry. Note that water density = 8.34 ppg*42
gallon/bbl = 350 lb/bbl
Weight of water: 100 bbl × 350 lb/bbl = 35,000 lb
Weight of bentonite: 2,000 lb
Total weight = 35,000 + 2,000 = 37,000 lb
Total volume of mud = 100 + 2.3 = 102.3 bbl
Mud density = weight/volume = 37,000 lb/(102.3 bbl × 42 gal/bbl) = 8.6 ppg.
28
14

Sample calculations
Solution:
o Step 5 Determine the amount of barite for raising mud density to 14.0 ppg.
X = 1491 (W2 - W1) / (35.5 - W2) = 1491 (14.0- 8.6) / (35.5 - 14.0) = 374.5 lb/bbl
For 102.3 bbls of mud, we need 102.3 × 374.5 = 38,311.4 lbs or 383 sacks of barite.
Volume increase due to barite = 38,311.4 / 1491 = 25.7 bbl.
The total volume of the mud is: VTotal = 100 + 2.3 + 25.7 = 128 bbl
o Step 6, Determine the amount of water, bentonite and barite for 500 bbls of mud by using a
volume factor K
K = Volume desired / current volume = 500/128 = 3.91
The amount of water = K × 100 = 3.91 × 100 = 391 bbls
The amount of bentonite = K × 2,000 = 3.91 × 2,000 = 7820 lbs, or 78 sacks
The amount of barite = K × 38,311.4 = 3.91 × 38,311.4 = 149,798 lbs, or 1,498 sacks
29


Density Reduction With Light Fluid
Light fluid such as water is sometime used to dilute the mud to reduce its density.
Assuming:
o the density of light fluid is ρw in ppg.
o desired mud density is W2, ppg
o original mud volume is Vmud, bbl
The amount of light fluid is then:
Vw= Vmud (W1 - W2)/(W2 - ρw), bbl
30
15

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Department of Geology & Petroleum Studies

PGP4108: Drilling Fluids

Drilling Fluid/Mud Program

) Mud weight selection

Mud pressure can be

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Mud weight selection

 Excessive Mud Weight.

 Optimum Mud Weight

) Mud weight selection

 Mud weight is determined by

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Mud weight selection

 Pore pressure gradient

) Mud weight selection

Normal pressure section 4000

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Mud weight selection

) Mud weight selection

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Mud weight selection

) Mud weight selection

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Relaxed Areas

Mud weight window (16.35 – 18.4 ppg)

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Relaxed Areas

Generally, 0.5 ppg is used as the safety margin.

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Relaxed Areas

Taking 0.5 ppg as the safety margin:

Safe mud weight window (16.85 – 17.9 ppg)

trip margin 0.5 ppg Kick margin 0.5 ppg

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Relaxed Areas

 Selection of mud weight for different hole

 The formation pressure gradient at 19,000

 Formations having g fracture g

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Relaxed Areas

 To drill to the depth of 14,000 ft to set

 Similarly, to drill safely to 11,100 ft with a

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

o Normal fault stress regime: σv > σH > σh

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

 Drilling direction affect:

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Selection of Mud Weight in Tectonically Active Areas

 Weighting materials can be classed as:

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

Ilmenite FeO.TiO2 4.5 - 5.1 Used in cement and mud

) Mud Weight Calculations

 The amount of weighting agent needed:

X = 42*ρwa (W2 - W1)/( ρwa - W2), lb/bbl, or sack/100 bbl

X is the amount of weighting

 The increase in volume after adding the weighting agent:

V = lb of weighting agent / (42*ρwa)

V is the volume of weighting agent in barrel (bbl).

PTRL 4024 Drilling Fluids & Cementing Mud Program

) Mud Weight Calculations

Excessive Mud Weight.

Optimum Mud Weight

Mud weight is determined by

Pore pressure gradient

Selection of mud weight for different hole

The formation pressure gradient at 19,000

Formations having g fracture g

To drill to the depth of 14,000 ft to set

Similarly, to drill safely to 11,100 ft with a

Drilling direction affect:

Weighting materials can be classed as:

The amount of weighting agent needed:

The increase in volume after adding the weighting agent:

The amount of bentonite needed:

The increase in volume after adding bentonite:

The amount of barite needed:

The increase in volume after adding barite:

The amount of light fluid is then: