functions

section 2

drilling fluid functions

section 2 Scomi Oiltools

Introduction 2
primary functions 2
control formation pressure 2
transport cuttings 3
maintain stable wellbore 4
secondary functions 10
support weight of tubulars 10
cool and lubricate bit and drill string 10
transmit hydraulic horsepower to bit 10
provide medium for wireline logging 10
assist in formation evaluation 10
Section

2 drilling fluid functions

drilling fluid functions

introduction
The objective of a drilling operation is to drill, evaluate and complete a well that will produce oil and/or
gas efficiently. Drilling fluids perform numerous essential functions that help make this possible.

A properly designed drilling fluid will enable an operator to reach the desired geological objective
at the lowest overall cost. A fluid should enhance penetration rates, reduce hole problems and
minimise formation damage.

Removing cuttings from the well, maintaining wellbore stability and controlling formation pressures
are of primary importance on every well. Though the order of importance is determined by well design,
conditions and current operations, the most common drilling fluid functions are:

1 Transport cuttings from the well

2 Control formation pressures
3 Maintain stable wellbore
4 Seal permeable formations
5 Suspend cuttings downhole and release them on surface
6 Minimise reservoir damage
7 Cool, lubricate, and support the bit and drilling assembly
8 Transmit hydraulic energy to tools and bit
9 Ensure good data recovery
10 Control corrosion
11 Facilitate cementing and completion
12 Minimise HSE risk

primary functions
Drilling fluids are designed and formulated to perform three prime functions:

ƒ Control Formation Pressure

ƒ Transport Cuttings
ƒ Maintain Stable Wellbore

control formation pressure

A drilling fluid controls the subsurface pressure by its hydrostatic pressure. Hydrostatic pressure is
the force exerted by a fluid column and depends on the mud density and true vertical depth (TVD).

Borehole instability is a natural result of the unequal mechanical stresses and physico-chemical
interactions and pressures created when surfaces are exposed in the process of drilling a well. The
drilling fluid must overcome both the tendency for the hole to collapse from mechanical failure
and/or from chemical interaction of the formation with the drilling fluid.

Normal formation pressures vary from a pressure gradient of 0.433 psi/ft (9.79 kPa/m) (equivalent
to 8.33 lb/gal or SG 0.99 freshwater) in inland areas to 0.465 psi/ft (10.51 kPa/m) (equivalent to
8.95 lb/gal or SG 1.07) in marine basins. Elevation, location, and various geological processes and
histories create conditions where formation pressures depart considerably from these normal values.
The density of drilling fluid may range from that of air (essentially 0 psi/ft or 0 kPa/m), to in excess
of 20.0 lb/gal (1.04 psi/ft) or SG 2.40 (23.51 kPa/m).


In most drilling areas, a fresh water fluid which includes the solids incorporated into the water from
drilling subsurface formations is sufficient to balance formation pressures. However, abnormally
pressured formations may be encountered requiring higher density drilling fluids to control the
formation pressures. Failure to control downhole pressures may result in an influx of formation fluids,
resulting in a kick, or blowout.

Hydrostatic pressure also controls stresses adjacent to the wellbore other than those exerted by
formation fluids. In geologically active regions, tectonic forces impose stresses in formations and may
make wellbores unstable even when formation fluid pressure is balanced. Wellbores in tectonically
stressed formations can be stabilised by balancing these stresses with hydrostatic pressure. Similarly,
the orientation of the wellbore in high-angle and horizontal intervals can cause decreased wellbore
stability, which can also be controlled with hydrostatic pressure.

transport cuttings
As drilled cuttings are generated by the bit, they must be removed from the wellbore. To do so,
drilling fluid is circulated down the drillstring and through the bit, transporting the cuttings up the
annulus to the surface. Cuttings removal is a function of cuttings size, shape and density combined
with Rate of Penetration (ROP), drillstring rotation, plus the viscosity, density and annular velocity of
the drilling fluid.

Cleaning the hole is an essential function of the mud. This function is also the most abused and
misinterpreted. The drill solids generally have a specific gravity of 2.3 - 3.0 SG; an average of 2.5 will
normally be assumed. When these solids are heavier than the mud being used to drill the hole, they
slip downward through the mud.

The rate at which a cutting settles in a fluid is called the slip velocity. The slip velocity of a cutting
is a function of its density, size and shape, plus the viscosity, density and velocity of the drilling fluid.
If the annular velocity of the drilling fluid is greater than the slip velocity of the cutting, the cutting will
be transported to the surface

While the fluid is in laminar flow, the slip velocity of cuttings is affected directly by the viscosity or
shear characteristics of the mud. Thus, when the annular mud velocity is limited by pump volume or
enlarged hole sections, it often is necessary to viscosify the mud to reduce the slip velocity of the
formation cuttings to keep the hole clean.

Sometimes the decision to increase the lifting capacity of the mud is complicated by the fact
that any viscosifying of the mud may adversely affect other drilling conditions. For example, if the
mud is viscosified, circulating pressure losses increase and the danger of lost circulation increases.
Small batches of viscous mud can be used to lift cuttings and to minimise the requirement for
viscosifying all of the mud.

Fluid flowing from the bit nozzles exerts a jetting action to clear cuttings from the bottom of the hole
and the bit, and carries these cuttings to the surface. Several factors influence cuttings transport.

If the cuttings generated at the bit face are not immediately removed and carried towards the surface,
they will be ground very fine, stick to the bit and retard effective penetration.

Velocity - Increasing annular velocity generally improves cuttings transport. Variables include pump
output, borehole size and drill string size.

Density - Increasing mud density increases the carrying capacity through the buoyant effect on
cuttings.


Section

2 drilling fluid functions

Viscosity - Increasing viscosity often improves cuttings removal.

Pipe Rotation - Rotation tends to throw cuttings into areas of high fluid velocity from low velocity
areas next to the borehole wall and drill string.

Hole Angle - Increasing hole angle generally makes cuttings transportation more difficult.

Drilling fluids must have the capacity to suspend weight materials and drilled solids during
connections, bit trips, and logging runs. Otherwise they will settle to the low side or bottom of the
hole. Failure to suspend weight materials can result in a reduction in the drilling fluid density, which
in turn can lead to kicks and a potential blowout.

The drilling fluid must also be capable of transporting cuttings out of the hole at a reasonable
velocity that minimises their disintegration and incorporation as a fine solid into the drilling fluid
system. At the surface, the drilling fluid must release the cuttings for efficient removal. Failure to
adequately clean the hole or suspend drilled solids are contributing factors to hole problems such as
fill on bottom after a trip, hole pack-off, lost returns, differentially stuck pipe, and inability to reach
bottom with logging tools.

maintain stable wellbore

Wellbore instability during drilling causes

ƒ Packoffs
ƒ Excessive trip and reaming time
ƒ Mud losses
ƒ Stuck pipe & BHA’s
ƒ Loss of equipment – Sidetracks
ƒ Inability to land casing
ƒ Poor logging and cementing conditions

There are 3 stresses acting on the formation

sv Vertical Stress – Weight of rock and water above

sH Maximum Horizontal Stress – Regional Stress
sh Minimum Horizontal Stress – Regional Stress

Overburden
stress

Maximum
horizontal
stress

Manimum
horizontal
stress


The following diagram illustrates how the earth stresses adapt to the borehole as mud pressure
substitutes for the load bearing capacity of the drilled rock

Earth stresses Borehole stresses

SV

So

SH Sr

So
Sh

Wellbore failure problems can be categorised in two groups;

Tensile failure: where the well pressure is too high for the wellbore at a given trajectory, losses occur
through opening pre-existing natural fractures and initiation of new (induced) fractures occurs if the
well pressure exceeds the fracture gradient e.g. when mud weight overcomes borehole stresses and
rock strength.

Compressive failure: when the well pressure is too low for a particular well trajectory, wellbore
stress builds up and the wellbore wall tries to contract and close. This can occur at high or low mud
weights. The mode of failure depends on mechanical properties of the rock, varying from creep
closure in weak and soft ductile formations like salt to while in competent and brittle rocks, this leads to
cavings and overgauge holes, when the cavings fall into the wellbore.

These generalised failure types are illustrated below and overleaf

Tensile failure
Circulation lost
through
induced fractures

Mud pressure


Section

2 drilling fluid functions

Compressional failure

Elastic formations such as Hole enlargement

sandstones and shales through
breakouts

Ductile formations
such as salt Hole reduction

OVERGAUGE HOLE
Breakout
OVERGAUGE HOLE
Washout Shale
(Brittle
)
Shale
/ muds
tone

Friab
le sa
n
dsto
ne / s
Lime and
ston
e
San
dsto
ne
Salt

LOST CIRCULATION
Induced fractures HOLE CLOSURE
Creep


The following diagram illustrates the safe mud weight window for trouble-free drilling in a conventionally
stressed earth in which ÓV>ÓH≥Óh. The blue curves show the compressional failure limits while the
red curve shows the tensile fracture limit. The window narrows as well deviation increases

80
Tensile failure
Compressional
failure
Borehole deviation, degree

60

40

Safe window

20

0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
(0.24) (0.48) (0.72) (0.96) (1.20) (1.45) (1.69) (1.93) (2.17) (2.4)

Mud weight, lbm/gal (SG)

When we drill the wellbore we replace a cylinder of rock with a cylinder of mud. The first critical
step towards designing a drilling fluid is to establish the mud weight required to provide the correct
level of bore hole pressure support.

Borehole Pressure Support

Pore pressure prediction involves the full cooperation of several different engineering disciplines,
i.e. Petrophysical, Geology, Reservoir & Geomechanics.

It is crucial that rigorous seismic and / or geological well data interpretation is done to determine the
anticipated pore pressure regimes in order to identify any pressure reversals and therefore facilitate
appropriate casing design.

Mud weight planning is based on the predicted pore pressure gradient plus, typically, 200 to 500 psi
(1379 – 3449 kPa).

It is crucial that the drilling engineers thoroughly review all available offset well data with a special
emphasis on procuring offset “leak off” and / or F.I.T. test data.

One of the key elements to successfully drilling a stable, near gauge wellbore depends upon planning
the correct mud weight.

Maintaining Borehole Support

Wellbore stability is a complex balance of mechanical (pressure and stress) and chemical factors.
The chemical composition and mud properties must combine to provide a stable wellbore until
casing can be run and cemented. Regardless of the chemical composition of the fluid and other
factors, the weight of the mud must be within the necessary range to balance the mechanical forces
acting on the wellbore (formation pressure, wellbore stresses related to orientation and tectonics).
Wellbore instability is most often identified by a sloughing formation, which causes tight hole
conditions, bridges and fill on trips.

Fluid hydrostatic pressure acts as a confining force on the wellbore. This confining force acting across
a filter cake will assist in physically stabilising a formation.


Section

2 drilling fluid functions

Stable Mud Weight Window

STABLE WINDOW

+/- 200 psi (1379 kPa)

to 500 psi (3449 kPa)
overbalance
Pore pressure gradient Fracture gradient

Wellbore stability is greatest when the hole maintains its original size and cylindrical shape. Once
the hole is eroded or enlarged in any way, it becomes weaker and more difficult to stabilise. Hole
enlargement leads to a number of problems, including low annular velocity, poor hole cleaning,
increased solids loading, fill, increased treating costs, poor formation evaluation, higher cementing
costs and inadequate cementing.

Borehole stability is also maintained or enhanced by controlling the loss of filtrate to permeable
formations and by careful control of the chemical composition of the drilling fluid. Most permeable
formations have pore space openings too small to allow the passage of whole mud into the formation;
however, filtrate from the drilling fluid can enter the pore spaces. The rate at which the filtrate enters
the formation is dependent on the pressure differential between the formation and the column of
drilling fluid, and the quality of the filter cake deposited on the formation face.

Large volumes of drilling fluid filtrate, and filtrates that are incompatible with the formation or
formation fluids, may de-stabilise the formation through hydration of shale and/or chemical interactions
between components of the drilling fluid and the wellbore. Drilling fluids, which produce low quality
or thick filter cakes, may also cause tight hole conditions including stuck pipe, difficulty in running
casing and poor cement jobs.

Chemical wellbore instability is due to chemical interaction between the formation being drilled
and the drilling fluid. This occurs primarily in shales and salt formations. In both cases, it is an
interaction with water that causes instability. Thus, chemical instability is always minimised by using
oil-base muds.

In shales, if the mud weight is sufficient to balance formation stresses, wells are usually stable - at first.
With water-base muds, chemical differences cause interactions between the drilling fluid and shale,
and these can lead (over time) to swelling or softening. This causes other problems, such as sloughing
and tight hole conditions. Highly fractured, dry, brittle shales, with high dip angles, can be extremely
unstable when drilled. The failure of these dry, brittle formations is mostly mechanical and not normally
related to water or chemical forces.

When shales react with water, they can soften, disperse, swell, and crack. These effects can cause a wide
range of operational problems, as shown in the table below.


Table 1

Shale Type Typical Hole Problems MBT* Clay Types

(meq/100g)
Soft • Tight hole due to swelling 20-40 smectite
(shallow) • Hole enlargement due to washout + illite
• Ledges if interbedded with sandstones
• Bit balling, mud rings, blocked flowlines
Firm • Tight hole due to swelling 10-20 illite + mixed
(deeper) • Possible washout layer
• Prone to bit balling
• Occasional cavings
Hard • Cavings 3-10 illite + poss.
(deep) • Cuttings beds causing packing off smectite
• Tight hole in stressed formations
• Possible stuck pipe
Brittle • Cavings 0-3 illite kaolinite
(very deep) • Hole collapse chlorite

* MBT = methylene blue test - a measure of cation exchange capacity; high MBT equates to smectite
rich shale.

Various chemical inhibitors or additives can be added to help control mud/shale interactions.
Systems with high levels of calcium, potassium or other chemical inhibitors are best for drilling into
water-sensitive formations. Salts, polymers, asphaltic materials, glycols, oils, surfactants and other shale
inhibitors can be used in water-base drilling fluids to inhibit shale swelling and prevent sloughing.
Shale exhibits such a wide range of composition and sensitivity that no single additive is universally
applicable.

Oil or synthetic-base drilling fluids are often used to drill the most water sensitive shales in areas
with difficult drilling conditions. These fluids provide better shale inhibition than water-base drilling
fluids. Clays and shales do not hydrate or swell in the continuous oil phase, and additional inhibition
is provided by the emulsified brine phase (usually calcium chloride) of these fluids. The emulsified
brine reduces the water activity and creates osmotic forces that prevent adsorption of water by the
shales.

In salt formations, chemical instability occurs if the formation is soluble in water. Using an incorrectly
formulated fluid will lead to uncontrollable washouts in these formations. Formation types which
exhibit this behaviour are:

ƒ Halite (NaCl)
ƒ Carnallite (KMgCl3.6H2O)
ƒ Bischofite (MgCl2.6H2O)
ƒ Sylvite (KCl)
ƒ Polyhalite (K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4.2H2O)

Salt beds are usually drilled using salt saturated water phase fluids, the salt selected is usually the same
as the salt being drilled.


Section

2 drilling fluid functions

secondary functions
Secondary functions of a drilling fluid include:

ƒ Support weight of tubulars

ƒ Cool and lubricate the bit and drill string
ƒ Transmit hydraulic horsepower to bit
ƒ Provide medium for wireline logging
ƒ Assist in the gathering of subsurface geological data and formation evaluation

support weight of tubulars

Drilling fluid buoyancy supports part of the weight of the drill string or casing. The buoyancy factor
is used to relate the density of the mud displaced to the density of the material in the tubulars;
therefore, any increase in mud density results in an increase in buoyancy.

cool and lubricate bit and drill string

Considerable heat and friction is generated at the bit and between the drill string and wellbore
during drilling operations. Contact between the drill string and wellbore can also create considerable
torque during rotation, and drag during trips. Circulating drilling fluid transports heat away from these
frictional sites, reducing the chance of pre-mature bit failure and pipe damage.

The drilling fluid also lubricates the bit tooth penetration through rock and serves as a lubricant between
the wellbore and drill string thus reducing torque and drag.

An additional source of heat is derived from the increasing thermal energy stored in formations with
depth, geothermal gradient. The circulating fluid not only serves as a lubricant helping to reduce the
friction between the drilling components in contact with the formation, but also helps conduct heat
away from the friction points and formation.

transmit hydraulic horsepower to bit

Hydraulic horsepower generated at the bit is the result of flow volume and pressure drop through the
bit nozzles. This energy is converted into mechanical energy which removes cuttings from the bottom
of the hole and improves the rate of penetration.

provide medium for wireline logging

Air/gas-based, water-based, and oil-based fluids have differing physical characteristics which influence
log suite selection. Log response may be enhanced through selection of specific fluids and conversely,
use of a given fluid may eliminate a log from use. Drilling fluids must be evaluated to assure compatibility
with the logging program.

assist in formation evaluation

The gathering and interpretation of sub-surface geological data from drilled cuttings, cores and
electrical logs is used to determine the commercial value of the zones penetrated. Invasion of these
zones by the fluid or its filtrate, whether it is oil or water, may mask or interfere with the interpretation
of the data retrieved and/or prevent full commercial recovery of hydrocarbon.

10