The full spectrum of drilling and completion fluids used from well cradle to abandonment can be fragmented based on primary functions and sequential well-life-cycle phase of application:
- Prereservoir drilling and construction fluids
- Reservoir drilling fluids (RDF) and completion fluids
- Well intervention and remediation fluids
- Well decommissioning and plug and abandonment fluids
Because the key objective of exploration and development wells is to safely deliver optimum productivity and economic value, it is prudent for engineers to first determine the best RDF/completion fluid that does not compromise the minimum requirements for the other phase fluids. Consequently, adequate consideration must be given to the potential effect of each fluid on the successive phase operations to ensure integrated well-fluids system management.
Significant advances continue to be made within all the preabandonment fluid applications from which papers have been selected in this year’s review. Automatic fluid-properties measurement and real-time data acquisition are considered critical to enable early intervention for drilling-fluid adjustment and enhanced borehole-stability management. This is the subject of the first paper, which describes how this new advancement has facilitated drilling with reduced nonproductive time across multiple wells, including deep high-pressure/high-temperature wells.
The second paper’s focus is on a novel clay-free oil-based RDF with significantly reduced equivalent circulating density and formation damage risk in tight reservoirs, while the third paper presents a new degradable diverter technology for stimulation in high-water-cut production wells in high-permeability reservoirs.
It is instructive to note that all the techniques presented in the selected papers have been successfully tested and proven in the fields, because the proof of the pudding is in the tasting.
Summarized Papers in This November 2025 Issue
SPE 227670 Enhancing Drilling Efficiency: Real-Time Rheology and Density Profiling With RheoProfiler in Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar Gas Field by Arnott Dorantes, SLB, et al.
OTC 36051 Enriching Productivity by Using Organophilic Clay-Free Reservoir Drilling Fluid Technology on Tight Reservoirs by Mohamed H. Madad, Halliburton, et al.
SPE 228528 Application of an Innovative Degradable Particulate-Diverter Technology for Effective Acid Diversion in High-Water-Cut, High-Permeability-Contrast Reservoirs: A Case Study From Offshore Malaysia by Muhamad R. Bacho, Petronas, et al.
Recommended Additional Reading
SPE 228946 Development and Field Validation of an Automated Real-Time Drilling-Fluid-Measurement System by Yue Ma, China Oilfield Service, et al.
SPE 228025 Challenging the Status Quo of Filter-Cake Removal During New Well Completions by Ehizokhale Asibor, TotalEnergies, et al.
SPE 228478 Reinstating B Annulus Integrity With Oil-Based Mud Displacement and Resin Deployment by N. Wilson, Expro, et al.
Peter Osode, SPE, is a senior production technology consultant with EOP Energy Resources in Nigeria. He has more than 4 decades of diverse upstream industry experience in Niger Delta and Middle East (Oman and Saudi Arabia) fields including drilling and completion fluids management. Osode started his career with Halliburton-Baroid as a drilling fluids engineer before joining Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria. He was a Shell international subject-matter expert on drilling fluids assessment processes and was responsible for developing the first standard operating procedure for formation damage and stimulation fluids laboratory evaluation while at Saudi Aramco. Osode holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has authored and presented more than 20 technical publications at both local and international conferences. Osode also is actively involved in SPE as an author, speaker, mentor, and technical paper reviewer. He is a member of the JPT Editorial Review Board and can be reached at peter.osode@eopenergy.com.ng.