2. 1. General Notes
2. Pore Pressure Prediction
3. Abnormal vs. normal Pressure
4. Fracture Gradient determination
3. 1. Mud Weight Planning
2. drilling hydraulics:
A. the hydrostatic pressure
4.
5. mud weight selection
Selecting the correct mud weight
for drilling the individual sections comprises
a key factor to realize a
in-gauge hole and avoid various borehole problems.
Too low mud weight may result in
collapse and
fill problems (well cleaning),
while too high mud weight may result in
mud losses or
pipe sticking
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 5
6. constant mud weight program
Practice has also shown that
excessive variations in mud weight may lead to
borehole failure (fatigue type effect), thus
a more constant mud weight program should be aimed.
Along with a more constant mud weight program,
the equivalent circulation density (ECD)
as well as
the surge and swab pressures
shall be kept within limits.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 6
7. Benefits of higher mud weight
(+HMW) Washouts of the borehole are
sometimes caused by jet actions of the bit nozzles
but also sometimes by too low mud weight
causing a breakdown of the borehole wall.
A higher mud weight will therefore
balance the rock stresses better and
tend to keep the borehole more in-gauge.
(+HMW) A decease in hole diameter is often due to
swelling (clay swelling) requiring wiper trips or
backreaming.
This necessity is sometimes reduced by
higher mud weights.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 7
8. differential stuck
(-HMW) An increased mud weight
increases the danger of becoming differential stuck
at permeable formations.
Therefore mud weight shall not be chosen to be too high.
However, what is sometimes believed to be
a differentially stuck drillstring is sometimes
due to a borehole collapse which
packs the hole around the bottom-hole assembly.
(+HMW) A lower mud weight also causes
breakouts of shale layers
leaving sand formations in-gauge, (next fig).
This can increase the danger of
getting differential stuck at the exposed sand stringers.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 8
9. Partial collapse in mixed lithology
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 9
10. lost circulation
(-HMW) Thus when considering
the danger of differential sticking,
it is recommended to keep the mud weight
below a certain value but
it shall not be as low as possible.
(-HMW) The same is true for lost circulation
problems.
As long as the mud weight is kept below a critical value,
lost circulation will not occur.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 10
11. Mud weight vs. penetration rate
It is often argued that to have
a as high as possible rate of penetration,
the mud weight shall be kept as close as possible
to the formation pressure gradient
plus a safety margin of around 100 [psi].
(-HMW) Although it is true that a small reduction in
mud weight increases the penetration rate,
but this increases has to be weighted against the possible
induction of hole problems and additional lost time.
(-HMW) A higher mud weight requires the use of more
mud additives which makes the well more expensive,
but it was found that
these extra costs are usually neglectable.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 11
12. drilling for a kick
When drilling within areas where
the subsurface pressure regimes are not well known,
it is often argued that a lower mud weight
easies the detection of abnormal pressures.
In some locations,
a practice called “drilling for a kick” was applied to
detect overpressured formations.
For this, a relatively low mud weight was applied
until a kick was detected
(pressure gradient at this depth was equal to the used mud
weight)
and handling the kick, the mud weight was increased.
Therefore and since
a higher mud weight also suppresses high gas readings,
the mud weight of exploration wells are often
designed to be lighter than the ones for development wells.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 12
13. median line concept
Based on all these considerations,
the “median line concept” is recommended
generally for mud weight planning.
Thereto, the mid-point between
the fracture pressure and
the pore pressure
defines the borehole pressure that is
equal to the ideal in-situ stress.
Maintaining the mud pressure close to this level
causes least disturbances on the borehole wall.
This principle is sketched in next two slides
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 13
14. Effects of
varying the borehole pressure
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 14
15. average horizontal in-situ stress
Mentioned principle is
mathematically found
with following
equation:
𝜎 𝑎 =
𝑃 𝑤𝑓+𝑃𝑜
2
𝜎 𝑎 [psi] average
horizontal in-situ stress,
Pwf [psi] fracture stress,
Po [psi] pore pressure
Pressure gradients for a well
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 15
16. Changing mud weight
Experience had shown that
new drilling fluid exacerbates fracturing/lost circulation
and
leakoff tests applying used drilling muds give higher
leak-off values than when carried out with new ones.
Therefore it is a good practice that,
when the mud weight has to be changed
after setting casing,
drilling is usually started with a lower mud weight.
After drilling about 100 [m] below the casing shoe,
the mud weight is then gradually increased
to the desired value.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 16
17. Changing mud weight (Cont.)
Furthermore it should be noticed that
within an open-hole section,
the mud weight shall only be increased and
not decreased since tight hole may result.
An increase of mud weight in steps of 0.05 [g/cm3]
is good practice and in convenience of the mud
engineer.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 17
18.
19.
20. aspects of optimum hydraulics
To realize a safe, efficient and
cost-effective drilling project,
drilling hydraulics,
also known as rig hydraulics, play an important role.
The different aspects that make up optimum rig
hydraulics are:
1. Hydraulic energy impact on the bit,
2. Friction pressure losses through the surface
equipment, drillstring, annuli and drill bit,
3. Efficient hole cleaning,
4. Nozzle selection and,
5. Produced pump pressure.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 20
21. improper drilling hydraulics
consequences
Some of the drilling problems that are
due to improperly designed drilling hydraulics are
failure of sufficient hole cleaning
leaving cuttings in the hole and
lead to stuck pipe,
lost circulation causing kicks and slow penetration rates.
To understand
the various dependencies of efficient drilling hydraulics,
following concepts should be known
the hydrostatic pressure inside the wellbore,
types of fluid flow,
criteria of fluid flow and
commonly used fluid types for different drilling operations
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 21
22. Hydrostatic Pressure
Inside the Wellbore
Hydrostatic definition:
relating to or denoting the equilibrium of liquids and
the pressure exerted by liquid at rest.
For oil well applications, the fluid may be
mud, foam, mist, air or natural gas.
For a complex fluid column consisting of multiple
fluids, the hydrostatic pressure is given in field units
by:
𝜌 𝑚𝑖 [ppg] mud weight of the ith fluid column
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 22
23. barometric formula
When gas is present in the well, the hydrostatic
pressure developed by the gas column is calculated
with:
z [1] ... real gas deviation factor
po [psi] ... surface pressure
D [ft] ... total depth (TVD)
Tf [F] ... bottom hole temperature of the formation
The molecular weight M of the gas is found as:
• where:
o 𝜌 𝑔[ppg] ... density of the gas
o T [F] ... average gas density
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 23
24. equivalent mud weight
For practical purposes, the hydrostatics due to a
complex fluid column are converted to an
equivalent single-fluid hydrostatic pressure.
To do this,
all individual hydrostatic pressures are summed up for a
specific depth pd and
then converted to an equivalent mud weight 𝜌 𝑒 [ppg]
that would cause the same hydrostatic pressure.
Therefore the equivalent mud weight
has to be always referenced to a specific depth.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 24
25. average mud weight
As the mud is used to transport the cuttings from
the bottom of the hole to the surface and
penetrated formations often contain a certain
amount of formation gas, the mud column at the
annulus is usually mixed with solids and gas.
This alters the weight of the mud at the annulus.
The new average mud weight m of a mixture containing
mud and solids can be calculated as:
mi [lbm] mass of component i
Vi [gal] volume of component i
𝜌𝑖 [ppg] density of component i
fi [1] volume fraction of component i
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 25
26. Notes about mud weight
only solids that are suspended within the mud
do alter the mud weight.
Settled particles do not affect the hydrostatic pressure.
If gas is present in the mud column as well,
the density of the gas component is
a function of the depth and
will decrease with decreasing pressure.
In this way, the density of mud containing gas is
decreasing with decreasing depth.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 26
27. over-balanced drilling techniques
(OBD)
well control and the safety of drilling operations are
strongly depended on
the maintenance of proper hydrostatic pressure.
This pressure is needed to counterbalance the formation pressure.
In case the hydrostatic pressure in the borehole is
higher than the formation pressure,
the situation is called “over-balanced”.
This prevents kicks (fluid flow from the formation into the borehole)
and causes at permeable formations an intrusion of some mud
(water component) into the formation.
The intrusion is stopped by the built up of mud cake
that seals off permeable formations.
On the other hand, the hydrostatic pressure inside the borehole
must not be higher than
the fracture pressure of the formations penetrated
since this would fracture the formation artificially,
cause loss of circulation and lead to well control problems.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 27
28. underbalanced drilling techniques
(UBD)
To obtain maximum penetration rates
the hydrostatic pressure should be kept
as close as practical to the formation pressure
since a higher differential pressure
(hydrostatic pressure - formation pressure)
leads to worst cutting removal from the bottom of the well.
Due to this circumstance,
UBD techniques have been developed that use
air, foam or mist as drilling fluids.
Here the formation pressure is higher than the hydrostatic
pressure caused by the mud and thus the well is constantly
kicking.
With UBD techniques much higher penetration rates are
possible but well control can be a problem.
Therefore UBD is prohibited
by some governments and/or in some areas.
Spring14 H. AlamiNia Drilling Engineering 2 Course (2nd Ed.) 28
29. 1. Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang F. Prassl. “Drilling
Engineering.” Master of Petroleum
Engineering. Curtin University of Technology,
2001. Chapter 3 and 4
30. 1. drilling hydraulics:
A. types & criteria of fluid flow
B. fluid Rheology and models
a. Bingham plastic & Power-law models