Training Division - DFSG

INHIBITION

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INHIBITION
CONTENTS

DEFINATION

Effect of Insufficient Inhibition

HYDRATION

DISPERSION

EFFECT OF HYDRATION/DISPERSION

MECHANISM

LIMITATIONS

DF RELATIVE INHIBITION

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INHIBITION
DEFINATION
An inhibitive mud system is one that tends to retard
or even prevent (inhibit) appreciable hydration
(swelling) or dispersion of formation clays and
shales by chemical or physical means
Inhibition also applies to salt and gypsum
formations (halites) which may dissolve.
Hydration is of two types:

Adsorption – Surface phenomenon water molecules

adhere on the broken valencies

Absorption – Water migrates inside the lattice

structure
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INHIBITION
What Are We Inhibiting ?

60 - 80% of the worlds sedimentary rocks that we drill are

Shales - most require some degree of inhibition to
prevent:-

• Hydration

• Dispersion

• Wellbore stability problems

The hydration of clay and shale particles in the reservoir rock.

• These can block the pore space, and in the worst case
can completely block a producing reservoir.

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INHIBITION
Insufficient Inhibition - Effect

Clay swelling
• Increases torque and drag
• Increased tripping time
• Mud rings - Gumbo attacks
• Stuck pipe or casing

Clay disintegration
• Washouts - poor hole cleaning
• Increased viscosity
• Poor solids removal efficiency
• Increased mud costs

Clay disintegration typically follows clay swelling

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INHIBITION
Shale Cutting-Hydration/Dispersion

Take one idealised shale cutting!

This is the IDEAL situation.

It can SWELL! We call this

HYDRATION! This not a
desirable situation!

It can DISPERSE! This

also is undesirable.

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INHIBITION

Hydration?

Hydration may occur because the

concentration of ions in the
crystalline water is greater than
that in the drilling fluid or the cation
has strong water affinity.

As a result, water in the drilling

fluids will invade the pore spaces
between the clay platelets and
forces them apart.

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INHIBITION

Dispersion?

Dispersion results from water

migrating in he clay crystal breaking
down the internal structure of a clay
lattice. The particles expose new
faces that break down further.

MECHANICAL degradation can also

break down drilled solids!

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INHIBITION

Why Dispersion is a Concern?

Dispersion results in many additional
faces exposed to the fluid phase, each
requiring a portion of the fluid phase to
coat, or wet, the solid resulting in the
decrease of free/available fluid.
In case of WBM, free water availability
for chemicals to disperse/dissolve is
reduced. Result chemical in-effectivity.
Increases
 Viscosity
 Fluid loss
 Gel strengths
 COSTS.
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INHIBITION
Reasons for Inhibitions
To improve drilling efficiency by

 avoiding hole size reduction due to the plastic flow of the

rock. This causes torque, drag, reaming and backreaming,
and stuck pipe problems.
 avoiding hole enlargement due to incompetent formations
(sloughing shale). This gives rise to: fill on trips, poor
directional control, poor cementing.
Steeply dipping shale beds, pressured shale sections and
turbulent flow in the annulus tend to increase the wash out.

Reduce reservoir damage - hydrated clay/shale will reduce

permeability/porosity

To prevent Pore Pressure Transmission (will be discussed in

Wellbore Stability)

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INHIBITION
Mechanisms of Inhibition

Oil wetting the surface rocks

Polyol Chemistry

Cation Exchange

Reducing the pH

Encapsulating polymers

Reducing the fluid loss

Increasing the Chloride content

Precipitates Don’t let those

shale problems
Salt Saturated mud for halites get on top of you

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INHIBITION
Mechanisms

Minimise crystalline swelling by ion replacement.

KCl is a good example, since potassium ion
replaces sodium ion in clay lattice, and due to its
much smaller size, inhibits swelling. K+

Minimise osmotic swelling, by increasing the

chloride content of the mud

Reduce the fluid loss and plug up micro fissures.

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INHIBITION - MECHANISM

Avoid chemical additions which assist hydration, eg.

dispersants and excessive pH's.

Add chemicals which precipitate in the formation

such as Silicates

Coat the solid with an impermeable layer, eg.

PHPA, PAC, Glycols etc.

Drill with a Non Aqueous Fluid (OBM / SBM)

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INHIBITION - MECHANISM
Coating – Reducing Dispersion

We can coat the solid in a protective shell, preventing

water intrusion.

PHPA (HYDRO-CAP) provides a thick viscous coating that

surrounds a shale cutting and prevent dispersion –
Encapsulation.

Glycols are soluble until a certain temperature is

reached, when they cloud and fill pore spaces with an
insoluble glycol. They also coat the surface of the particle
as well as the wellbore surface.

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INHIBITION

Limitations of Inhibition

We must remove the cuttings at the surface the first time it

arrives there.

The importance of an efficient solids removal equipment

cannot be under-estimated.

Shale shakers must be capable of handling the maximum

flow rate of the pumps. Rely upon the shale shakers as
the primary device to remove solids.

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INHIBITION
Relative Inhibition

Lower Overall well costs Higher Very high

O Examples of failures
P
Lower Risk Higher
C I
TI
Choice of drilling fluid systems: R
M N
U I
M Synthetic oil based mud T • Poor shale inhibition C
I • Hole stability problems R
D Enhanced KCL / Polymer / C E
R • Stuck pipe
IL Glycol & Surfactants A A
L • Low ROPs
LI
KCL / Polymer / Glycols S
N • Consequences of poor E
G
Silicates F
drilling practices D
A
P
E
Dispersed muds I
R Brine systems L H
Exception: U
F
Dispersed muds are often Fully dispersed fresh water / • Failure to run & &
O
lignosulfonate / Lime / gyp R S
the most economical low
R
risk option for drilling muds E retrieve quality logging
M
A shallow, young, weakly data
consolidated shales
Bentonite muds / spud muds
L R
N • Reservoir damage, etc I
C I
E SW / viscous sweeps N S
E K
Higher Lower S
Inhibitive properties
16 Evaluate
DRILLING FLUIDS risk ie potential value of success vs the potential cost of failure
 Training Division - DFSG

THANK YOU
QUESTIONS
ON INHIBITION

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