Comparative assessment of Mucuna solannie as an alternative fluid loss control material in synthetic drilling fluid desi
- PDF / 1,049,286 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 49 Downloads / 159 Views
ORIGINAL PAPER-EXPLORATION ENGINEERING
Comparative assessment of Mucuna solannie as an alternative fluid loss control material in synthetic drilling fluid design Kevin C. Igwilo1 · N. Uwaezuoke1 · Raymond K. Onyekwere1 · Vivian C. Amaefule2 · Abimbola A. Durogbitan3 · Victor G. Ikoro1 Received: 7 September 2020 / Accepted: 5 November 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In recent years, research using biomaterials in drilling fluid design has thrown light on their biodegradability, availability and low cost. Apart from these, they have in some cases shown properties superior to those of synthetic materials. This research assessed Mucuna solannie as a fluid loss control agent, looking at its fluid loss, filter cake quality, rheology and comparing them with those of Sodium Asphalt Sulfonate, a commonly used drilling mud additive. It assessed the additives at varying concentrations of 2 ppb, 4 ppb, 6 ppb and 8 ppb. The results obtained were filtrate volumes of 5.5 against 4.8 at 2 ppb, 5.0 against 4.5 at 4 ppb, 4.5 against 4.2 at 6 ppb, and 4.1 against 3.8 at 8 ppb, all at 30 min. Field standard value is 5.0 ml fluid loss. Filter cake thickness was1mm for all concentrations of Mucuna solannie. On rheology, plastic viscosity, yield point and yield stress were 27cP against 28cP, 19Ib/100ft2 against 19Ib/100ft2, and 5Ib/100ft2 against 6Ib/100ft2, showing slight difference in their rheological properties. Keywords Mucuna solannie · Sodium asphalt sulfonate · Synthetic mud · Fluid loss
Introduction The world’s energy needs increase each year and so does the search for more oil and gas deposits. This translates to drilling oil and gas wells even in difficult terrains like in ultra-deep offshores, over pressured formations, salt zones, troublesome clay formations, thief zones, etc. Finding oil sometimes requires drilling to great depths, or deviating to avoid obstacles. These bring up challenges that are not even considered in shallow wells in addition to safety and environmental concerns. Because drilling costs are high, mud performance must be optimum (Igwilo et al. 2016). Mud is as vital as ‘blood’ to the drilling process (Meng et al. 2012). Its functions among other things include, removing cuttings from the well bore, balancing formation * N. Uwaezuoke [email protected] 1
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B 1526 Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria
2
Department of Petroleum Engineering, Madonna University, Okija, Nigeria
3
Amni International Petroleum Development Company Limited, Lagos, Nigeria
pressures, maintaining wellbore stability, transmitting hydraulic horsepower to the bit, cooling and lubricating the bit, protecting the formation with an impermeable filter cake, helping in gathering data through cuttings, cores and logs (Heriot Watt 2005). During the drilling operation, mud loses some fluid to the formation. This way it can have a residue ‘filter cake’ on the hole wall which helps protect the formation from more filtrate invasion. If this cake is n
Data Loading...
