Water Based Fluid Designed for Depleted Tight Gas Sands Eliminates NPT

Abstract

AbstractUnconventional gas resources offer the only significant gas production growth potential in the coming years, currently accounting for 43% of the US gas production. Tight gas represents approximately 70% of the unconventional production and significant reserves are yet to be developed. In the United States, Utah, Colorado and Texas host the vast majority of those resources. Other major potential fields are located in China, Algeria, Argentina, Indonesia and the Middle East.Drilling in mature depleted fields can be costly in non-productive time (NPT) associated with stuck pipe, whole mud losses and side tracks. A new water-based mud system addressing depleted tight gas reservoirs has been successfully introduced to provide increased drilling performance as compared to conventional water-based mud systems. The new High Performance Water Based Mud (HPWBM) is a viable solution for onshore drilling in mature, depleted tight gas sands. This technology is applicable to any tight depleted gas reservoir where losses or stuck pipe occur.This paper provides a technical overview of the new HPWBM performance in a technically challenging field where massive losses, stuck pipe, twist-offs and other fluid associated NPT are common. The case histories presented are from an independent operator drilling in South Texas and highlight the successes and optimized learning curve of the system as compared to offsets drilled with conventional water-based mud (WBM) and oil-based mud (OBM) systems by the operator.