Design of light and ultra-light drilling fluid by employing a low-costenvironmentally friendly new additive

It is generally accepted that many of the world s oil and gas reservoirs has been entered their second production ages, and their pressure has been continuously declining. According to this issue, the use of light drilling fluids can help us to overcome this problem through the low-pressure formation drilling. However, the application of conventional drilling fluids, such as air / gas, mist, foam and aerated mud, requires bulky and expensive equipment. Therefore, design and production of new light fluids are seen to be necessary in drilling industry. In this article, a new environmentally friendly additive which is able to create 50 pcf drilling fluid without any special equipment is introduced. Furthermore, this drilling fluid has suitable rheological and filtration properties with a very low production cost. The results obviously showed that this new additive could make ultra-light fluid with 40 pcf and high stability by combining with the Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) foaming agent. Additionally, according to the results, the 40 pcf ultra-light fluid is easily converted to 85 Pcf fluid by adding a defoamer and calcium carbonate. Regarding field experiences, the importance of this point is when there is an emergency require for rapid fluid weight increase during drilling operations and this can be done comfortably with the designed fluid.

Keywords:

Low head drilling fluid , Eco-friendly additive , Fluid loss , Mud weight