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This paper was prepared for presentation at the AADE 2001 National Drilling Conference, “Drilling Technology- The Next 100 years”, held at the Omni Houston Westside in Houston, Texas, March 27 - 29,
2001. This conference was hosted by the Houston Chapter of the American Association of Drilling Engineers. The information presented in this paper does not reflect any position, claim or endorsement
made or implied by the American Association of Drilling Engineers, their officers or members. Questions concerning the content of this paper should be directed to the individuals listed as author/s of this
work.
lb/bbl) treatment of shale inhibitor over a period of durability test. This is similar to the hot rolling dispersion
several days. One-barrel equivalent of fresh water test but it provides a harsher, more abrasive
containing 8.0 lb/bbl of shale inhibitor was treated with environment. Fig. 8 shows the Slake durability tester.
10-lb/bbl bentonite every day. After heat aging at 150°F The evaluation consists of placing a known quantity of
for 16 hours, the rheological properties were measured specially sized shale cuttings in a round cage immersed
before adding another portion of bentonite. These daily in test fluid container. Then the cage with cuttings is
additions of bentonite and aging were continued until the rotated for a set period of time. During rolling, the
sample became too viscous to evaluate. hydrated cuttings will break up and disperse, and will
The performance of the amine shale inhibitor in the pass through the cage screen. The cuttings remaining in
HPWBM was compared with potassium chloride and a the cage after the test period are washed, dried and
commercial quaternary amine shale inhibition in fresh weighed. The percent recovery of shale cuttings is
water. Fig. 1 shows the 3 rpm reading on Fann VG calculated.
meter Model 35 and Fig. 2 shows the yield point on Three different field cuttings were evaluated in this
bentonite swelling. The newly developed shale inhibitor test and the performance of the HPWBM was compared
in the HPWBM showed excellent inhibitive properties against PHPA/KCl/NaCl fluid. The results of these tests
compared to KCl and a commercial quaternary amine are shown in Fig. 9. Recoveries from 60 - 98% were
shale inhibitor at 8-lb/bbl treatment. obtained in HPWBM as compared to 25 to 85% in the
PHPA/KCl/NaCl system.
Bulk Hardness Test
The performance of the HPWBM was further evaluated Accretion Test
using a bulk hardness tester (Fig. 3). The bulk hardness Accretion is one of the most important tests for
tester is a device designed to give an assessment of the evaluating the inhibitive and performance characteristics
hardness of shale cuttings exposed to a drilling fluid. of HPWBM. The test consists of placing a steel bar in a
The hardness of the shale cuttings relates to inhibitive hot rolling cell in which the test fluid and cuttings are
properties of the fluid being evaluated. In this test, shale placed. The cuttings are evenly distributed around the
cuttings are hot rolled in the test fluids for 16 hours at centralized accretion bar. The cell is closed and rolled at
150°F. After hot rolling, the shale cuttings are recovered room temperature for a specific period of time. After
on a screen, washed with brine and then placed into the rolling, the bars are removed and a photo of the bars is
bulk hardness tester. Using a torque wrench the taken. The percent weight of the cuttings adhering to
cuttings are extruded through a plate with holes. the bar is calculated after removing, washing the
Depending upon the hydration of the cuttings, the torque cuttings, and drying the sample.
may reach a plateau region or may continue to rise The pictures in Figs. 10a-e illustrate the performance
during the extrusion. The harder the cuttings, the higher of the HPWBM in the accretion test as compared to
the torque reading and the more inhibitive the mud several state-of-the-art high inhibitive mud systems. Fig
system. 11 shows the percent accretion on four different shale
The bulk hardness tests were carried out on the cuttings. The HPWBM has practically no accretion for all
HPWBM and the performance was compared against of the various types of clay cuttings tested as compared
state-of-the-art inhibitive mud systems. Fig. 4 shows the to other high performance water-base muds, which had
comparison of HPWBM, calcium chloride brine mud and as much as 80% accretion.
PHPA/NaCl mud on Arne clay and Fig. 5 on Oxford clay.
Both of the tests show that shale cuttings hot rolled in Conclusions
HPWBM were much harder than calcium chloride or A new highly inhibitive water-base fluid system has been
PHPA/NaCl based muds. Fig. 6 also differentiates the developed for drilling applications in highly reactive and
performance characteristics of HPWBM in bulk hardness dispersive shale formations. The laboratory results
test. Both the calcium chloride as well as PHPA/NaCl show that the system significantly reduces clay
muds made ribbons during extrusion of hot rolled shale dispersion, hydration and accretion of cuttings. The
cuttings while HPWBM did not extrude completely and inhibitive components of HPWBM have been specifically
made a pallet. A similar comparison was carried out on designed to impart maximum chemical stabilization to
PHPA/KCl/NaCl system using field cuttings and the both swelling and dispersive clay formations. Molecular
results of this test are given in Fig. 7, which show the modeling of the shale inhibitor suggests that the shale
superior performance of HPWBM against the inhibitor works by binding the amine molecule to the clay
conventional inhibitive system containing potassium via a metal-cation exchange mechanism. The newly
chloride. developed HPWBM is a viable alternative to other state
of the art inhibitive water-base mud systems.
Slake Durability Test
The HPWBM was further evaluated using the Slake
4 A. PATEL, E. STAMATAKIS, J.E. FRIEDHEIM, & E. DAVIS AADE 01-NC-HO-55
Table 1b Table 1d
Typical Composition of Calcium Brine Mud Typical Composition of PHPA/NaCl Mud
Freshwater (mL) 210.0 Freshwater (mL) 323.0
11.6 lb/gal Calcium Chloride 135.0 NaCl (g) 73.2
Brine (mL) NaOH (g) 1.0
Viscosifier (g) 1.0 Bentonite (g) 5.0
Fluid loss agent (g) 2.0 PAC (g) 2.5
MgO (g) 0.5 PHPA (g) 1.0
Encapsulator (g) 2.0 Polymer viscosifier (g) 1.0
Anti-accretion agent (g) 10.0
300
160
Base
250 140
KCl
Base
Commercial Shale Inhibitor
KCl
Shale Inhibitor 120 Commercial Shale Inhibitor
3 rpm Reading - Fann Units
100
150
80
60
100
40
50
20
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Bentonite (lb/bbl) Bentonite (lb\bbl)
Fig. 1 – Bentonite inhibition test comparing the 3 Fig. 2 –Bentonite inhibition test comparing the
rpm Fann readings of three shale inhibitors and yield point of three shale inhibitors and the base
the base fluid. fluid.
AADE 01-NC-HO-55 HIGHLY INHIBITIVE WATER-BASED FLUID SYSTEM PROVIDES 5
SUPERIOR CHEMICAL STABILIZATION OF REACTIVE SHALE FORMATIONS
250
200
HPWBM
Calcium Brine Mud
PHPA/NaCl Mud
150
Torque (inch-lb)
100
50
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
No. Revolutions
300
HPWBM
Calcium Brine Mud
PHPA/NaCl Mud
250
Torque (inch-lb)
200
Fig 3 – Bulk hardness tester.
150
100
50
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
No. Revolutions
Calcium
HPWBM
Brine PHPA/NaCl
Fig. 6 Oxford clay cuttings exposed to inhibitive fluid and then extruded using the Bulk Hardness procedure.
6 A. PATEL, E. STAMATAKIS, J.E. FRIEDHEIM, & E. DAVIS AADE 01-NC-HO-55
Field Cuttings
350
10ppb-No Drill Solids PHPA/NaCl/KCl
HPWBM
300
150
100
50
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
No. Revolutions
100
Total Recovery
80
60
(%)
40
20
0
Oxford
Bentonite
Field
Fig. 10a-d – Accretion tests using three different inhibitive muds (HPWBM, Calcium brine, PHPA/NaCl
mud) and four different clays (10a – Arne, 10b- Foss Eikeland, 10c – Oxford, 10d – bentonite clay).
PHPA/NaCl/KCl HPWBM
90
80
70
60
Accretion (%)
50
40
30
20
10
0
o
ic
ex d
fM or
xf nd Silicate Mud
fl o O la
u e
G Ei
k ne PHPA/NaCl/KCl Mud
s Ar
s
Fo Calcium Brine Mud
HPWBM