Drilling/completion fluids
Researchers with the National Energy Technology Laboratory showed that naturally occurring signals in underground fluids can serve as effective indicators of flow patterns between existing wellbores. Understanding these patterns can lead to increased efficiency and safety.
This paper highlights nontraditional methods to cure oil-based-mud losses in horizontal wells drilled in unconventional plays.
This paper evaluates the effect of rapid cooling on the rock-cutting process and incorporates this effect as a component of drilling-performance optimization.
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At certain conditions, the good performance of synthetic-based mud (SBM) will degrade, particularly because of the effect of chemical instability under high temperature. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanopowder (nanosilica) holds the potential for performance improvement. -
A long-time energy industry executive and chemical engineer has built a new water treatment system that he says can increase recovery rates from shale wells without using chemicals and will recycle all the water used in the process.
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A challenge in many permeable, water-sensitive, subhydrostatic reservoirs is avoiding the loss of completion fluid when completing or working over wells.
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The inventor of a new water-based drilling fluid believes the chemical process involved with his technology opens up natural fractures as drilling takes place to increase production in shale formations.
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Despite hostile wellbore conditions, an operations team overcame challenges of drilling-fluid design and management to drill the first ultrahigh-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT), deep-gas well offshore Malay Peninsula.
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In an effort to optimize drilling operations and economics, an operator examined the effect of adding hollow glass spheres (HGSs) directly to the drilling fluid instead of performing underbalanced drilling.
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The strength and conductivity of proppant packs are key parameters for assessing their performance. This paper introduces a new analysis technique based on interpretation of acoustic measurements to quantify mechanical damage in propping agents.
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This paper presents experimental research in which a significant fracture-pressure increase was achieved in shale and the predominant wellbore strenghtening mechanism was identified.
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Technology developers are working on a new ultrasonic flowmeter for drilling fluids aimed at obtaining better measurements than current systems with far fewer disruptions to rig systems.
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Making hole has become a more difficult and complex operation as operators move into untapped horizons, especially deepwater and unconventional fields.
