Borehole Stability during Drilling

Borehole Stability Problems

Tight hole / Stuck pipe incidents

Responsible for 5-10% of drilling time Most frequently occurring in shale Often high pore pressure, and in presence of swelling clay minerals (e.g. smectite) Often in deviated wells

Lost circulation / Mud losses

May lead to kick / blow-out Caused by fluid lost into natural fractures or by new fractures generated

Tight hole / Stuck pipe

Causes:
Mechanical borehole collapse (often by shear failure)
Increased hole size by brittle failure; stuck because of accumulated cavings (sloughing shale) Reduced hole size by large (plastic) hole deformations (gumbo shale)

Inappropriate hole cleaning Differential sticking (only in permeable zones with mud cake) Difficult hole trajectory: Key-seat, dog-legs

Tight hole / Stuck pipe

Consequences:
Lost time, reaming, side-track (or $) Problems in further well operations (logging, cementing; continued drilling)

Solutions:
Overall well design i.e.
Casing programme Mud weight Mud composition Drill somewhere else..

Note: The solution depends on the cause Need for diagnostics

Tight hole / Stuck pipe Diagnosis

Hole Inappropriate Differential collapse hole cleaning sticking Drilling environment Shale * * (Permeable) reservoir rock * * Observations during drilling Rotating before stuck * 0 Moving up / down before stuck * 0 Rotating after stuck Circulating after stuck * Excessive cuttings & cavings * Observations after drilling Non-gauge hole diameter from caliper * Low density / high porosity / low wave * velocities

Lost circulation / Mud losses

Consequences:

Dangerous situation, a major safety issue Risk of life and equipment

Solutions:

Overall well design i.e.

Casing programme Mud weight Lost circulation material (LCM)

Borehole Stress Analysis

Stresses at vertical impermeable borehole wall (based on linearly elastic rock and isotropic horizontal stresses):
r = pw = 2 h pw z =v
h pw r

z=v

Stresses

Impermeable wall:
pf

Perfect mud cake

10

1
Borehole wall

During drillout in shale

r/R

Case a: > z > r

Borehole Stress Analysis

z=v

Stresses

h pw r pf

10

r/R

Case b:

z > > r

Borehole Failure Analysis

Borehole

stresses + Mohr-Coulomb ' ' 2 = C + tan failure criterion 1 0 3 Minimum permitted well pressure to prevent shear failure at borehole wall (hole collpase)
(a) pw ,min =

2 h C0 + p f (tan 2 1) tan 2 + 1
or

pw min = w min gD Minimum mud weight

(b ) pw ,min

v C0 + p f (tan 2 1) = tan 2

Borehole Failure Analysis

Tensile
'

failure at the borehole wall may occur at high well pressure:

= T0
Tensile

frac pw ,max = 2 h p f + T0

failure may also occur at low well pressure (in underbalance):

= T0
' r

rad ,tens pw = p f T0 ,min

The Mud Weight Window

Minimum mud weight

Hole collapse in shale (shear failure case a or b) Radial tensile failure in shale Pore pressure (in case underbalanced drilling is prohibited)

Maximum mud weight

h (minimum horizontal stress) in case of preexisting natural fractures Fracturing of borehole wall

Vertical borehole in anisotropic horizontal stress field

r = pw = H + h 2( H h ) cos 2 pw z = v 2 ( H h ) cos 2

h H H

Boreholes in anisotropic stress fields

If hole axis is parallel to a principal stress, then we can use the borehole stresses for a vertical hole also for horizontal holes, but we need to rotate the coordinate system first. In general: Holes are most stable towards shear failure initiation when drilled along a direction with low stress anisotropy and with low stress level in the plane perpendicular to it. Deviated holes are usually less stable because of shear stresses at the borehole wall.

Borehole Stability
so far elastic behaviour + brittle failure But: Note the following field observations: Boreholes are often stronger than predicted by elastic+brittle theory Hole collapse is often time-delayed ( days) with respect to drill-out Oil-based mud gives better stability than water-based mud Addition of salt (in particular K+) may improve stability

Borehole Stability: Plasticity

Stress-strain curves for Elastic-brittle Elasto-plastic material behaviour

Elastic-brittle: No load-bearing capacity after failure initiation Elasto-plastic: Can still sustain load after failure initiation
Borehole failure criterion can be specified by a critical amount of plastic strain, or by a critical extent of a plastic zone Using the elastic-brittle equations with an upscaled strength gives acceptable results

Borehole Stability: Time-delayed borehole failure

Mechanisms:
Creep Consolidation Cooling Chemistry
strain

Creep
Thermally activited process on atomic / molecular level. Rocks may creep to failure.

time

Time-delayed borehole failure: Consolidation

Establishment of pore pressure equilibrium takes time Time constant is given by shale permeability
nanoDarcy week

Borehole stresses from mechanical + fluid flow equilibrium After steady state has been reached (vertical hole; isotropic horizontal stresses):
r = pw = 2 h p w + z =v +
p f = pw 1 2 1 1 2 1

(p

pf0)

(p

pf0)

Time-delayed borehole failure: Consolidation

Permeable vs. Impermeable wall
Tangential stress

Borehole Stresses [MPa]

Axial stress

Radial stress Well pressure Pore pressure (permeable wall)

25 Mohr-Coulomb Shear Failure criterion

Pore pressure (impermeable wall) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

20

10

Shear Stress [MPa]

Distance from Borehole Centre r/R

15

10 Permeable borehole wall (t= )

Impermeable borehole wall (t=0)

0 0 10 20 30 40 50

Normal Stress [MPa]

Time-delayed borehole failure: Cooling

The drilling fluid is usually (at t=0) colder than the formation to be drilled. Thermal stresses at borehole wall:
r = pw = 2 h pw + T z = v + T
E (Tw T f 1

E (Tw T f 1

Leads to improved stability wrt collapse, but enhances risk of fracturing (and mud losses). The thermal stress contribution may be very significant! Temperature equlibrates with surroundings over time, so improved stability is temporary.

Chemistry: Mud composition and Time effects on borehole stability

Water-based drilling fluids:

Osmosis: Shale is thought of as a semipermeable membrane, only permitting water movement Ions do move through shales and interact through e.g. ionic exchange

Oil-based drilling fluids:

Capillary support Osmosis; oil phase acting as a membrane?

Mud Chemistry: Osmosis

Osmotic potential acts like an excess pore pressure:
water High salinity drilling fluid Shale

RT = Vw

aw,df ln aw, sh

Ionic exchange

is reduced by membrane efficiency <1. Ionic transport & exchange affects shale properties.
aw,df: chemical activity of water in drilling fluid aw,sh: chemical activity of pore water in shale aw=1 (fresh water) aw<1 (salt water)

ions

Mud Chemistry: Osmosis

Borehole stresses in presence of an osmotic potential:

r = pw = 2 h pw + z = v +
1 2 1

1 2 1

This is a temporary effect: As time goes, equilibrium will be established, and the chemical effect removed. One conclusion from this: The more salt, the better!

Mud Chemistry: Ionic exchange

Overbalance and exposure
3.0
20wt% KCl

Tertiary field shale

Expected osmotic shrinkage:
Deionised water

Axial strain [mStrain]

2.0

1.0

5wt% KCl

0.0

20wt% NaCl Seawater

-1.0
3.5wt% NaCl 5wt% CaCl 2

16wt% CaCl 2

~ 0.5 milliStrain for all strong electrolytes

140 160 180 200 220

-2.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Overbalance and exposure time [h]

We observe: Ion type dependent shrinkage (K>Na>Ca); not explained by osmosis

From SINTEFs Shale research project

Mud Chemistry: Ionic exchange

Experiments indicate that shales when exposed to KCl:

shrink because of ionic exchange KCl promotes hole stability up to a limit ( mud cooling) become more plastic KCl promotes hole stability possibly get reduced strength KCl reduces hole stability become more permeable KCl reduces hole stability

Ionic exchange requires ionic transport into shale; thus a time-delayed effect. All in all: An optimum salt concentration required.

Mud Support

Capillary support by non-wetting fluid (e.g. oil):

pc =

2 r

: surface tension; oil-water = 5010-3 N/m r: pore size; rshale 10 nm pc ~ 10 MPa

So: An overbalance of 10 MPa is required for oil to penetrate into an intact shale. Since there is always an impermeable membrane, the t=0 stability will prevail. Oil-based muds are not pure oils (so chemical effects could play a role; cf. osmosis)!

Mud Support

Mud additives that could lead to impermeable borehole wall:

Sodium silicate! Long-chained molecules (glycol; polymers etc) that are thought to build molecuylar filter cakes on shale surface.

Borehole Stability Analysis

Rock properties Elastic (& plastic) parameters Strength parameters

Earth stresses Vertical & horizontal stresses Pore pressure

Well trajectory Hole deviation angle & azimuth

Borehole wall boundary conditions Mud cake efficiency Osmotic membrane efficiency Mud vs rock temperature

Borehole stress field

Poro-chemo-thermoelasticity (+plasticity)

Time dependence Permeability Ionic diffusivity & exchange Thermal diffusivity

Borehole failure criterion Shear failure (/plastic strain limit)/ Tensile failure

Minimum permitted mud weight Guidelines on mud composition & temperature

Maximum permitted mud weight Guidelines on mud composition & temperature

Borehole Stability Challenges

Drilling

in tectonic areas (ex: South America) Fractured and faulted rock Depleted reservoirs Deep water