Abstract
Drilling fluid plays the same role in oil and gas well drilling as the blood in human body. A new type of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion drilling fluid has been developed using diesel oil as dispersed phase, brine water as continuous phase, xanthan gum as viscosity modifier and clay as emulsion stabilizer and filtration controlling agent. Initially, standard recommended techniques were opted to detect the rheological properties of the emulsions. The fluids have also shown stable properties upto 70°C after aging for 24 h. As drilling fluids encounter a lot of variation in temperature and pressure as drilling depth increases, hence the stability of such fluids becomes an imperative parameter. Furthermore, emulsion itself is a heterogeneous fragile system so the stability was investigated using shear stress-shear rate rheology measurements. Emulsions have shown strong shear-thinning (pseudoplastic) behaviour which is considered an advantageous property for the drilling fluids. Experiments conducted to determine the dynamic rheology of the emulsions have shown the elastic behaviour towards emulsion breakdown processes. The fluids have also shown physical stability after 30 days at ambient conditions. Inter-facial variables such as zaeta potential, inter-racial tension (IFT) and contact angle measurements were conducted to examine their role in stability characterization.
Highlights
The drilling of oil and gas wells is the primordial step in successful exploration of oil and gas fields and is the most expensive expenditure in oil and gas industries
It is observed that apparent viscosity increased with the increase in the concentration of oil but the major change is observed in yield point/plastic viscosity ratio
The higher value of yield point/ plastic viscosity ratio is an indication of shear thinning behaviour of emulsion drilling fluids and is considered to be an advantageous property for better bore hole cleaning capacity as it forms gel when circulation is stopped during trip and trip out of drilling tools so the drilled cuttings which are generated due to drilling are suspended and do not settle down at the bottom
Summary
The drilling of oil and gas wells is the primordial step in successful exploration of oil and gas fields and is the most expensive expenditure in oil and gas industries. A composite and multifunctional system provides a suitable environment for effective and efficient drilling operations and improves the productivity of oil and gas wells [1,2,3]. The selection of the drilling fluids and variation in their rheological and filtration control properties are the major concerns for drilling engineers and operators. Revised Manuscript received on August 27, 2021.
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