Rheological properties of biopolymers drilling fluids

Abstract

Drilling muds are complex fluids, generally used to clean the well, maintain hole integrity, transport the rock cuttings, lubricate the drill bit and control formation pressures. Two basic types of drilling fluids are used, water based muds (WBM) and oil based muds (OBM). OBM are very effective but polluting, and environmental regulations continue to restrict the use of oil based muds in many areas of the world. In order to reduce the mud toxicity, we developed water based mud systems using two biopolymers, which are xanthan gum and scleroglucan, generally proposed for high permeability reservoirs or for complex geometries such as horizontal wells. In this study, we evaluated the rheological behaviour of different samples and we determined the effect of components such as clay, calcium carbonate and potassium chloride. This formulations exhibit non-Newtonian rheological behaviour which can be described well by the tree parameter in Herschel–Bulkley rheological model.