International Conference on Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Issues (ICOGPI'2012) August 11-12, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)

Study the Effect of Additives on the Differential Pipe Sticking Caused by Water Based Drilling Fluid
Vikas Mahto, P. K. Chaudhary and V.P. Sharma
AbstractDifferential pipe sticking is one of most common problem faced during drilling of oil and gas well. It has a major impact on drilling efficiency and well costs. In this work, the effect of additives on the differential pipe sticking caused by water based drilling fluid was studied using self fabricated stickance tester. The bentonite clay, polymers and lubricants are used as drilling fluid additives. The experimental investigation furnishes that with the proper combination of these additives, the sticking tendency can be reduced significantly without compromising rheological properties and the fluid loss control of the drilling fluids required for optimum performance in oil and gas well drilling KeywordsDifferential pipe sticking, drilling fluid, lubricants,
bentonite clay.

I. INTRODUCTION

he pipe sticking is the most serious problems especially in drilling high-tech wells like highly inclined wells, horizontal wells, multilaterals, drain hole etc. It can ranges in severity from minor inconvenience to major complications, which can have significantly negative results, such as loss of the drill string or complete loss of the well. The cost of stuck pipe to the industry is in excess of $250 million each year [1]. The differential sticking is the sticking of the drill string against a permeable formation containing less pore fluid pressure than hydrostatic pressure exerted by the drilling fluid column and usually occurs when the drill string remains motionless for a period of time. These are caused in wells where very high concentration of bentonite clay is used for the preparation of drilling fluids or higher mud densities are used in those formations where pressures are greatly depleted. The high differential pressure pushes the pipe deep into the mud cake causing the stuck pipe [2-4]. These stuck ups are normally released by spotting diesel, oil base spotting fluid or water base spotting fluid in the hole opposite the stuck interval. The point of stuck pipe is located either by a pipe stretch method or by wire line logging. Exact

volume requirements are worked out and placement of oil is done by an understanding of simple physical principles. The spotted oil, with the help of surfactants enters the mud cake and reaches at the interface for reduction of friction between cake and pipe through capillary action and weakens the mud cake [5]. There are several approached of differential pipe sticking like use of special drilling tools such as square/spiral drill collars, use of oil muds, frequent movement of drill pipe, special treatment on water based drilling fluids etc [6-8]. Out of these approaches, the most economical approach is special treatment on drilling fluids (selection and use of suitable fluid loss controlling agents and lubricant during the preparation of water based drilling fluids). Earlier, petroleum oils that are either refined or crude have been used for this purpose. But, environmental regulations limit its use. The substitutes for the diesel oil are soaps, detergents, fatty acids, alcohol, asphalts, graphites, gilsonite and commercial lubricants like ester blend, ester/glycol blend, phosphate ester blend, glycol surfactant blend etc. In the present work, the effect of bentonite clay, carboxy methyl cellulose(used as fluid loss additive) and lubricant on the sticking tendency of drilling fluid was thoroughly studied and a suitable drilling fluid was designed which has no tendency to cause the differential pipe sticking problems in the oil and gas wells. II. EXPERIMENTAL WORK A. Material Used The materials used in this work are bentonite clay and different additives or chemical namely partially hydrolyzed polyacryamide, carboxymethyl cellulose and lubricant. The bentonite clay was collected from the Kutch region of Gujarat, India. The partially hydrolyzed polyacryl amide, polyanionic cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose were obtained from ONGC Ltd, India and Lubricant was purchased from local market of Dhanbad, Jharkand, India. B. Experimental Set up and Experimental Procedure A schematic diagram of the self fabricated set up for the determination of sticking tendency is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of a mud filtration cell; torque wrench and syringe pump for pressurizing the mud inside the filtration cell

Dr. Vikas Mahto is with the Petroleum Engineering Department Indian School of Mines Dhanbad, India-826004 (phone: +91-326-2235498; fax: +91326-2296563; e-mail: vikas.ismpe@ gmail.com). P.K. Chaudhary was with Petroleum Engineering Department, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad-826004. He has completed M.Tech in Petroleum Engineering in2006. Prof. V.P.Sharma is with the Petroleum Engineering Department, Indian School of Mines Dhanbad-826004

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International Conference on Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Issues (ICOGPI'2012) August 11-12, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)

through hydraulic line. The top end cap has been modified to allow entry of a spring steel wire through an O-ring seal set in the center of the cap. A new entry port is drilled to allow the cell to be pressurized via a hydraulic line of the Ruska syringe pump. The end of the steel wire in the cell is fixed to a polished steel ball, which rests on the filter medium. The end of the wire protruding from the cell is connected to a torque gauge.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The effect of bentonite concentration on the sticking tendency of the bentonite- water suspension was studied and it is shown in Table 1. With the increase in concentration of bentonite clay the torque required to free the stuck ball in this study increases. This indicates that by increasing the concentration of solid, there is a chance of pipe sticking problems in the oil fields.
TABLE I. EFFECT OF BENTONITE ONCENTRATION ON STICKING TENDENCY OF BENTONITE
WATER SUSPENSION

S. No. 1 2 3 4

Percentage of Bentonite in Mud Sample(w/v) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Torque reading in (in-lb) 56 59 63 68 74 81 87

Figure 1. Self fabricated set up for determination of sticking tendency

5 6

A test is carried out by replacing the top end cap, placing the filter paper in the cell, filling the cell with mud and setting the ball and torque gauge arrangement in position. The mud is held in the same manner as a normal fluid-loss measurement, the test gives measurement of fluid loss and the determination of the sticking tendency of the mud. Tests are run at a differential pressure of 500 psi. As filtration proceeds, the filter cake builds up around the steel ball. After 30 minutes, the torque gauge is turned and the force required to free the ball from the filter cake is measured. This measures the adhesion of the ball to the cake and determines the torque necessary to break the bond by rotation. The rheological properties of the drilling fluid are measured using Fann VG meter. The apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity and yield point are calculated from 300 rpm and 600 rpm readings using following formulas [3-4]: Apparent viscosity ( a ) = 600 /2 (cp) Plastic viscosity ( p ) Yield point (y p ) = 600 - 300 (cp) = 300 - p (lb/100ft2)

Now, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was added in 5% bentonite water suspension and sticking tendency is shown in Table 2. The torque required to free the stuck ball decreases as the CMC level increased. In this case it may be thought that increase in polymer level reduces the adhesive or frictional forces at the interface of filter cake/formation interface.
TABLE II. EFFECT OF FLUID LOSS ADDITIVES ON THE PIPE STICKING TENDENCY OF 5%
BENTONITE WATER SUSPENSION

S. No.

Percentage of CMC in mud Sample(w/v)

Torque (in-lb) 13 12 11 9.5

reading

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

The initial gel strength and final gel strength is determined by measuring maximum dial reading at 3 rpm after keeping the drilling fluid at rest for 10 seconds and 10 minutes respectively. The API Filtration loss is determined by measuring the volume of filtrate, when 100 psi pressure is maintained over the mud column and is filtered through Whatman filter paper using standard API fluid loss apparatus [3-4]

Table 3 shows the effect of lubricant on the sticking tendency of 5% bentonite water suspension. The results show that with the increase of lubricant, the torque required to free the differentially stuck ball reduces. With the use of lubricant, significantly affects the way which the ball is freed. Without a lubricant, the ball is freed at the cake/formation interface whereas with lubricants present, it is freed at the ball/cake interface.

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International Conference on Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Issues (ICOGPI'2012) August 11-12, 2012 Phuket (Thailand)
TABLE III. EFFECT OF LUBRICANTS ON THE PIPE STICKING TENDENCY OF 5% BENTONITE
WATER SUSPENSION

differential pipe sticking caused by water based drilling fluid systems IV. CONCLUSIONS

S. No. 1 2 3 4

Percentage of CMC in mud Sample(w/v) 1 2 3 4

Torque reading (in-lb) 13 12 11 9.5

Further, a drilling fluid was prepared using bentonite clay, partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, polyanionic cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose and the composition of the developed drilling fluid is shown in Table IV and the rheological properties, filtration property and sticking behavior is shown in Table V.
TABLE IV. COMPOSTION OF WATER BASED DRILLING FLUID Constituents Bentonite clay Partially hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide Polyanionic cellulose Carboxy methyl cellulose Lubricants 0.5 1 3 Composition (%w/v) 5 0.15

The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study: 1. The bentonite clay causes significant increase in pipe sticking tendency at high concentration. 2. Increasing the level of fluid loss control additives in a water based mud lowers the sticking tendency. 3. Lubricants can reduce the sticking tendency of filter cakes in water based muds. 4. The proper combination of fluid loss control agents and lubricant are essential for the development of optimum drilling fluid systems to prevent the differential pipe sticking problems. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author thanks Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad for providing financial assistance and support to carry out this work REFERENCES
[1] S. R. Shadizadeh, F. Karimi, M. Zoveidavianpoor, Drilling Stuck Pipe Prediction in Iranian Oil Fields: An Artificial Neural Network Approach, , Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering , Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.29-41, 2010 S. Aadnoya, K. Larsen, P. C. Berg, Analysis of stuck pipe in deviated boreholes, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, vol.37, pp.195 212, 2003. G. V.Chilingarian, ad P.Vorabutr, Drilling and Drilling Fluids, Elsevier science Publishers ,Amsterdam ,1983. George R Gray, and H. C. H. Darley, Composition and Properties of Oil Well Fluids, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, 1981. W.E. Helmick and A. J. Longley, Pressure Differential Sticking of Drill Pipe and How it can be avoided or relived, Oil and Gas Journal, pp. 132, , 1957. D.A. Krol, Additives cuts differential pressure sticking of drill pipe Oil &Gas Journal, pp. 55, 1984. H. D. Outman, Mechanisms of Differential Pressure Sticking of Drill Collars, Trans. AIME: 231, 265, 1958. P.I., Reid, G.H. Meeten,P.W.Way,P. Clark, B.D. Chambers, A . Gilmour and M.W. Sanders, "Differential-sticking mechanisms and a simple wellsite test for monitoring and optimizing drilling mud properties", SPE Drilling & Completion, Volume 15, Number 2, pp. 97-104, 2000

[2]

[3] [4] [5] Values 37 17 40 12 22 7 Nil [6] [7] [8]

TABLE V. RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES AND PIPESTICKING TENDENCY OF WATER BASED

DRILLING FLUID

Properties Apparent Viscosity Plastic Viscosity Yield Point Initial Gel Strength 10 Min. Gel Strength API Filtrate Loss Torque required to free stuck ball at 500 psi differential pressure

Units centipoise centipoise lb/100 sq. feet lb/100 sq. feet lb/100 sq. feet cc/30 min inch-pounds

The developed drilling fluid shows the favorable rheological properties and filitration properties required for the optimum performance in the oil well drilling. It also shows that torque required to free the stuck ball is zero. These results shows that proper combination of polymers particularly fluid loss control agents and lubricants are capable to reduce the

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