ORGANOPHILIC CLAY ADDITIVES AND OIL WELL DRILLING FLUIDS WITH LESS TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES CONTAINING SAID ADDITIVES

摘要

Conventional organophilic clays, when used as rheological additives in oil based invert muds, display marked viscosity loses in the mud when these muds are heated much above 350° F, whereas muds prepared according to the present invention are dramatically more viscosity stable at temperatures through 500.DELTA. F. The present invention relates to the discovery of oil based invert emulsion drilling fluids that provides more stable drilling fluid viscosity and anti-settling performance over varying temperatures when compared to conventional fluids containing organoclays. As a result, the inventive fluids of this invention are ideal candidates for high temperature applications. This invention in another aspect of this invention is a process for improving the rheological properties of oil well drilling fluids particularly useful for oil- based invert emulsion types of drilling fluids. The new process uses as a rheological viscosifer for such fluids as a specific organoclay which when added to a drilling fluid at from about 0.5 and 5% by weight creates an inventive drilling fluid composition less sensitive to the very hot temperatures found in the drilling hole, and in the long stem of drilling pipe.