High-Performance Freshwater Flocculating Drilling Fluid Helps to Increase Efficiency of Extended Reach Drilling Operations and Cut Costs on Uvat Oilfield

摘要

The traditional drilling fluid of choice in West Siberia is a potassium chloride (KCl) low-solids nondispersed polymer system. The use of KCl has been justified by the need to inhibit smectite-rich clays in the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations. KCl inhibits clay swelling and coagulates dispersive clays and does not impair the rheological and filtration characteristics of a polymer water-based drilling fluid. However, there are a number of concerns about the use of KCl in drilling operations. KCl is used in relatively high concentrations (up to 210 kg/m3), requiring significant logistical resources for delivery and handling of the material, especially on remote ice-road locations. High potassium and chloride ion concentrations can also be considered to be hazardous to the environment. In recent years, regulators and operators have searched for a more environmentally, operationally, and logistically acceptable water-based mud (WBM). This has resulted in the introduction of a new generation of freshwater-based high- performance drilling fluids (Stawaisz et al. 2002). These fluids rely on polymers for clay flocculation instead of KCl. The use of a flocculating high-performance water-based fluid (HPWBF) in the Uvat Field has allowed significant reduction in fluid volumes, fluid cost, and drilling time, as well as helped to reduce logistical costs and control problems such as downhole losses, hole instability, and drilled solids contamination.