Drill Cuttings Injection: A Review of Major Operations and Technical Issues

摘要

Since its first use about 15 years ago, drill cuttings injection has grown to become a routine operation performed around the world. This rapid development is due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations and improved costs compared to alternative disposal options. The regulations for overboard discharge of cuttings started with limitations on oilbased muds and has now expanded to include synthetic muds as well. The economics of injection operations have improved as the industry has gained experience with the technology, with added benefits from the economies of scale offered by large capacity injection facilities. The two critical engineering questions that must be answered for injection applications are: (1) where does the waste go and (2) how much can we safely inject into a well? These questions require integration of a variety of environmental, technical and economic factors that are important for each particular injection operation. The geometry of hydraulic fractures created during solids injection is one of the key issues in most operations. This coupling between solids injection and fracturing is the focus of this paper.