PENG 214– Fall 2017

Thereza Karam
What Controls the Drilling Fluid
Viscosity?

 Clay -> Major Role in Wellbore Stability

 Polymers
Clay Chemistry
 Group of chemicals classified as Clays – chemically
described as Aluminum Silicates
 Clay’s elements account for more than 80% of the
earth mass
 Aluminum 8.1%
 Silicon 27.7%
 Oxygen 46.6%
in contact with clay at almost every stage of
drilling
 Clay & Shale account for more than 75% of all the
sediments
Selection of Drilling Fluid
 Based on the reaction between the fluid and the rock
 These reactions affect:
 Stability of the borehole
Clay Chemistry - Bentonite
 Mixture of minerals containing:
 Montmorillnite (Mainly) – Aluminum Silicate in which
the Silicon-Oxygen sandwich is a layer of Aluminum
Hydroxide
 Smectite
 Other Clays as Mica, Kaolinite & Quartz
Interactions between Clay Minerals
 Forces acting on clay particles:
 Repulsive Forces
 Attractive Forces
 Particles interaction – due to Brownian motion
 Particles will aggregate or not depending on:
 Summation of the repulsive and attractive forces
 Affect properties of drilling fluids
 Viscosity
 Yield
 Fluid loss
Modes of Association of Clay
Minerals
 Deflocculated or Dispersed Systems
 An overall repulsive force between clay particles which
carry the same net negative charge
 Flocculated Systems
 There are net attractive forces between the particles
 Aggregated Systems
 Clay consists of a basic sheet structure or unit layer
 Crystals consist of assemblages of the sheets, one upon the
other
Modes of Particle Association of
Clay Minerals
Filter Loss Control
 Which law governs the fluid filtration through porous
medium?
 Darcy’s Law
 How to reduce the fluid loss to permeable formations?
 Increasing the viscosity of the fluid phase
 Which additives are used?
 Non-ionic, low MW polymers
Filter Loss Control
 Fluid Loss from the wellbore decreases with time
 Permeability decreases continuously as particles make a
tighter filter
 How to measure it in the lab?
 Filter Test in a Filter Press
 Made on a clean filter paper mimicking
porous sandstone
Filter Loss in a Well
 Large Spurts Loss
 When drilling through highly permeable rocks
 Unless the drilling fluid contains particles of the
size required to bridge the pores
 Establish an improved filter
Particle Size & Bridging
 Particles > Pore Opening
 Cannot enter the pores and are swept away by the drilling
fluid stream
 Particles < Pore Opening
 Invade the formations unhindered
 Particles of certain Critical Size
 Caught in bottlenecks in the flow channel
 Form a bridge inside the porous wall
 Successively smaller particles trapped as primary bridge
is established -> Only filtrate can invade the formation
 Brief Spurt Loss period (a matter of seconds)
3 Zones of Drilling Fluids Particles
in a Permeable Formation
Particle Size Distribution
 To build a tighter filter – PSD of the porous formation to
be drilled
 Mean particle size: 1/3 - 1/7 of mean pore throat size
Density Control
 How to increase a drilling fluid’s density?
 Add Weight Material or Salt
 Major material for densification of the mud
Density Control
 Salt alters water density when added
 Brine can be formulated over a range of densities
according to the salt added