Introduction to Drilling Fluids

Definition
Drilling fluids is an important part in drilling process. The cost of this part can get to the level of 15% of
total cost of operations. The cost can be higher if the drilling fluids are not well controlled and the
properties are not maintained at their accurate range. Many problems during drilling operations can be
caused directly or indirectly by mud. The consequence of bad treatment of mud can lead to drilling
problems which take a great deal of time and by consequence cost to remedy them.

The mud or drilling fluid has many functions. While selecting mud physical and chemical properties to
fulfill these tasks, consideration must be given to:

1. Environmental issues.
2. The total cost.
3. The impact of drilling fluids on the production.

Drilling Fluids Functions

1. Hole cleaning
Removing cuttings generated while drilling is the primary function of the drilling fluid. The
process of removing has to be continuously fulfilled. If this process is not well performed,
cuttings can affect drilling efficiency. Also, if the cuttings are not transported out of the hole
through the annulus, the drill string can become stuck, and the unstuck of it can take time and
money or lead to sidetrack the well.

The drilling fluid has to carry cuttings to surface while circulating and suspend them while
ceasing circulation. The mud properties have to be carefully designed to carry these
requirements. Hole cleaning efficiency depends on density, viscosity and annular velocity.
Suspending efficiency depends on gelling property; the gel is formed when stopping the
circulation. The solids carried to the surface are removed from the mud before pump it again
into the well by mechanical devices like shale shakers, desilters and desanders. If the drilling
fluid is not treated effectively at the surface, this can lead to dilution and chemical treatment to
control the rheological properties of the drilling fluid.

2. Preventing formation fluids flow to the well bore

The drilling fluid column exerts a hydrostatic pressure; this pressure has to be high enough to
stop any fluid to flow from the formation into the well which can disturb drilling fluid properties
and cause uncontrolled situations.

The pressure in the well bore has to guarantee two issues:

I. It has to be higher than the pore pressure to do not allow the fluids to flow into
the well.
II. It has to be less than fracture pressure to avoid causing lost circulation.

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 There are many weighting products used to increase mud weight such as barite, Caco3 and
haemitite. Filter cake can deposit on the wall of the bore hole while fluids seeps into the
formation. The loss of drilling fluid products into the formation can plug the pores and cause
near well bore permeably decrease. Also if the filter cake is thicker than normal range can cause
stuck pipe.

3. Maintaining wellbore stability

There are many instability problems that can be faced while drilling (ex: instable shales, lost
circulation, highly permeable zones)

i. Shale instability can be caused by two mechanisms:

i. The pore pressure of shale is higher than the borehole pressure exerted by the
column of mud
ii. Clays hydration by water contained in mud filtrate.

The shale instability caused by differential pressure can be overcome by increasing mud weight.
The clay hydration can be overcome by drilling with non-water base muds, or treating mud
with products which can reduce water ability to hydrate clays.

4. Cooling and lubricating the bit

The cutting process of the rock generates high level of heat at the bit. If the bit is not cooled
effectively, it can overheat and wear quickly. The drilling fluid circulation through the bit will
cool and lubricate it.

5. Transmission of hydraulic horsepower

Hydraulic energy is one of the important issues which has to be well designed to improve drilling
performances. It provides energy for MWD, LWD tools and mud motors. Sizing the bit nozzles
accurately can help to maximize pressure drop at the bit and consequently the jet impact force.
The higher pressure drop at the bit helps to remove cuttings from the bottom and keep clean
cutting structure.

The pressure losses in the mud circuit from the mud pump down to the bit up to the surface
through the annulus are higher in drilling fluids with higher densities, viscosities and solids
content. Also, the use of small ID of drill pipe, mud motors and MWD tools reduce the pressure
which can be available at the bit.

6. Facilitate cementing and completing the well

Designing the mud properties properly helps to drill a well into which the casing will be run and
cemented effectively. Cementing is important for zonal isolation and better well completion.
Run casing in high yield mud can lead to lost circulation by surge mechanism. Also, running
casing is easier in cleaning, smooth, in gauge wellbore, and these issues are got by well-
controlled drilling fluids.

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 7. Formation evaluation
Drilling is not just getting to target or reservoirs, it is also to collect information about the
formations to avoid problems and optimize operations in next projects. The formations are
studied and evaluated by the methods:

i. Cuttings evaluation
ii. Electric logs
iii. Coring

The cuttings are got at the surface and analyzed by the mud loggers and geologist. Mud
chemistry can affect the cuttings conditions and lead to miss the information which can be
collected by studying these cuttings. The information gained by cores or logs can be affected by
the filtration properties of drilling fluids. Thicker filter make logging operations less accurate
and difficult. Filtrate invasion can mislead the results by cores.

Drilling Fluids Properties

1. The viscosity
The viscosity is defined as the resistance of fluid to flow. The viscosity of drilling fluid is a
function of:

i. Viscosity of the continuous phase or the base liquid.

ii. The size, shape and solids particles in the mud which is represent it by the plastic
viscosity.
iii. The inter-particle force represents it by the yield point.

The plastic viscosity is the resistance to flow caused by the friction between solid particles. The
yield point is the resistance to the initial flow or the stress required to start flowing. The yield
point is measured under flowing conditions.

Reducing viscosity in any drilling fluid can be achieved by:

i. Reduction of solids by mechanical treatment or dilution.

ii. Neutralization of attractive forces between particles.

2. Mud weight or density

The density is the weight per unit of volume. During operations mud weight has to be well
controlled and need adjustment. If the mud weight is less than the required level of density to
drilling safely can permit the formation fluids to flow into the well and lead to well control
situation and if it is higher than the appropriate level it can lead to lost circulation situations. The
real mud weight under circulation is greater than the density while drilling fluid is in static. This
density is called equivalent circulating density (ECD). When designing hydraulics, the ECD has to
be less than fracture gradient.

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 3. Filter cake
The filter cake is formed when mud solids deposit on the walls of the hole. The filtration is the
loss of fluids from mud into the formation. The main objective of controlling fluid loss is
forming thin filter cakes while drilling through permeable formations and preventing excessive
fluid loss (filtrate). Loss of drilling fluids in formation can lead to high water consumption and
thick filter cake which can cause a tight hole, increased torque and consequently lead to stuck
pipe.

4. Solids content
Solids can be:

i. Added to the drilling fluid in order to increase viscosity or weight.

ii. Accumulated in the fluid like drilled cuttings or disintegrated clay particles.

The treatment of solids has to be effective to remove undesired solids which do not contribute
to beneficial properties.

5. Gel strength
Gel strength represents the attractive forces under static conditions (non-flow conditions).
Contrary to gel strength, the yield point represents the attractive forces under flowing
conditions. The gel strength gives an indication of the required pressure to initiate flow after
ceasing circulation for period of time. Also, it gives an indication about the ability of the
drilling fluid to suspend cuttings when mud is stationary.

Gels are classified into two types:

i. Progressive that starts low but increase with time.

ii. Fragile that starts high and increase slightly with time.

Progressive gels are not accepted in drilling fluids because they can create excessive pump
rates to break circulation which can lead to lost circulation situation.

Drilling fluids composition

Drilling fluid is consisted of liquid phase and solid phase. In some cases where two liquids are
used to prepare the drilling fluid, the mud is described as two liquid phase mud. in this case one
liquid is defined as continuous phase and emulsified in the other one that is called discontinuous
phase. For example in the oil based mud, the continuous phase is the oil, and the discontinuous
phase is the water. There is a verity of liquids which can be used as base fluid: water, crude oil,
diesel. The products which are added to mud system have to be able to dissolve in the base fluid
as salts for density, and chemicals for alkalinity.

Another factor that can affect mud properties is the reaction between the formation and the
drilling fluid. For example salts can come from salts sections and ions can come from clay
reactions.

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 Solids are two types:

i. Mud products are classified in two classes: active and inert. Active solids react with the
base fluid to give mud a particular property such as the bentonite that is used for
adjusting viscosity. Inert solids do not react with the base fluid like the barite that is
used for increasing mud weight.
ii. Drilled solids or cuttings and they also classified to active and inert according to the
formation which is drilled.

Drilling fluid classification

The drilling fluids are classified into two classes according to the continues phase or basic liquid:
water based mud and oil based mud.

1. Water based mud

i. Non dispersed system: this type of mud is used at top holes as spud mud or lightly treated
muds. Spud mud is a simple Bentonite (Gel) mud system that is used when spudding a well
to drill the top-hole section. Surface formations are usually unconsolidated, so hole washout
and sloughing are common, and fluid inhibition has limited benefit. The priority is to drill the
top-hole section as fast as possible, and then run and cement the casing string before the
hole starts to collapse. Spud mud is made by mixing Bentonite in freshwater, using Soda
Ash to reduce the water hardness, and Caustic Soda to obtain alkalinity around 9.5 pH.
ii. Dispersed system: in deeper wells where high densities are required to control the well,
mud is dispersed. Potassium-containing products are frequently added to the mud to
provide shale inhibition.
iii. Calcium treated systems: calcium and magnesium are added to fresh water drilling fluids in
order to inhibit clays and shale swelling. High concentration of soluble calcium is used to
control hole enlargement and sloughing shale to prevent any formation damage. Calcium
mud systems resist to salt and anhydrite contamination but are vulnerable to gelation and
solidification at high level of temperature.
iv. Polymer system: polymers of long chains, high molecular weight are used to encapsulate
cuttings to prevent dispersion and coat shale for inhibition. They are also used to increase
viscosity and reduce fluid loss. A verity of polymers is added for these purposes such as
cellulose and natural gum based products. KCL and NaCl are added to provide higher shale
stability. The polymer system is temperature limited system; they cannot be used for
temperature higher than 300 F°.
v. Salt water systems: this type of drilling fluids is used to drill through salt formation. The
system is saturated and have chloride concentration up to 190000 mg/l.

2. Oil based mud

In oil based mud the base fluid is the oil. At the early days crude oil was used as continuous
phase but it suffered from many disadvantages: low gel strength, limited viscosity and beside
the mud properties, the safety hazards were a real issue.

Oil based mud is classified into three types:

i. Full oil system (water content less than 05%).

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 ii. Invert oil emulsions (water content from 5 to 50%).
iii. Synthetic oil based mud

3. Invert emulsion system

They are water in oil emulsions. The emulsified phase is the calcium chloride brine and the
continuous phase is the oil. It is characterized by its low electrical stabilities and high fluid loss
values. Oil systems require additional gelling agents for viscosity. These types of systems have
many advantages. They are not very reactive. They are also stable at high temperature and
pressure, high contamination resistance and not corrosive, but also they have some
drawbacks: they are expensive and harmful for environment.

4. Synthetic muds
Synthetic fluids are used to replace oil based muds. They have the same advantages without the
environmental hazards. Esters, ethers and isomerized alpha olefins can be used to prepare this
type of drilling fluids.

Drilling fluid additives

There are many additives can be used in the drilling industry to control the drilling fluids
properties. Most common additives categories will be discussed below.

1. Weighting Materials
Weighting materials or density control additives are used in the drilling fluids system in order to
increase the mud weight to the required level needed for safe operations. There are some
features of the weighting materials which should be taken in consideration:

i. Chemical inertness
ii. Specific gravity
iii. Availability in large quantities
iv. Easy to be grounded to the required particle size
v. Limited abrasiveness
vi. Safe for drilling crew and equipment

Related the factors mentioned above, the barite is the most recommended weighting materiel
used in the drilling industry. It has a specific gravity at 4.5, it is virtually insoluble in water and it
does not react with other mud components. There are other good candidates for weighting
materials such as the calcium carbonates , hematite and ilmenite.

2. Viscosifiers
This type of additives defines the level of the viscosity of the drilling fluids. The suspension
ability of the drill cuttings and weighting materials is related to the viscosity of mud. Missing the
appropriate viscosity can lead to solids settlement when the circulation is ceased. The
increasing pressure losses in the circulating system can be a straightforward indication of an

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 increased viscosity. Clays can be used as viscosifier due to their feature of developing plasticity,
the most used clay is bentonite.

Bentonite is classified as sodium bentonite or calcium bentonite depending on the dominant

exchangeable cation and in terms of performance it is classified as high yield and low yield
bentonite. Bentonite can be added to the fresh water for many reasons such as:

i. Increase hole cleaning capability

ii. Reduce water seepage
iii. Form thin filter cake of low permeability
iv. Avoid loss of circulation

Attapulgite is another viscosifier which is also used in drilling fluids due to its ability to retain
excellent viscosity and yield strength when mixed with salt water. The suspending property of
attapulgite is not affected by the dissolved salt. In fact higher viscosity can be produced in
saturated sodium chloride solution. Attapulgite has no filtration control and this can be positive
or negative feature depending on the application. It can be a drawback when drilling through
porous and permeable formations which can shows high water loss, but this feature can be an
advantage when using the attapulgite in high filtration slurries to cure loss of circulation.

Organic polymers have many functions such as reducing filtration, stabilizing shales, increasing
drill cuttings carrying capacity and flocculating drilled solids and they can be also used as
viscosifiers. Polymers are chemicals composed of chains made up of many similar small units or
groups of atoms called monomers consisting mainly of carbon compounds. The organic
polymers have a high level of water affinity and they develop high swollen gels in low
concentration.

3. Filtration Control and Mud Conditioning Additives

These additives can be also called thinners and they are added to drilling fluids system to reduce
flow resistance and gel development. According to experience, it has been proven that some of
these thinners deliver other important functions in addition to improving the flow properties of
drilling mud. They can be used to control the filtration, reduce the filter cake thickness,
counteract the effect off salt, minimize the water effect on the formation, emulsify oil in water
and stabilize mud properties at elevated temperature.

Example are starch derivatives, cellulose, lignite resin, polyacrylic acid, and
artificially synthesized multicopolymers.

4. Lost Circulation Material

Loss circulation is one of the drilling problems which can lead to very complicated situation such
as well control situation. Curing the losses depends on the severity of the mud losses; they can
be cured by reducing the flow rate to minimize the ECD effect for the very low rate losses or
seepage till performing a cement job for high level of losses. One of the techniques to deal
with the mud losses is pumping lost circulation materials LCM which can be used to plug the
region from where the drilling fluids are lost.

The most common LCM can be classified as flaky (ex: cellophane & Mica), granular (ex: nut
shells & calcium carbonate) or fibrous (ex: leather); related to the size they can be classified as

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 fine, medium and coarse LCM. The LCM can be pumped down hole as LCM plugs with reduced
flow rate to minimize the mud losses till getting the LCM at the thief zone or they can be diluted
in the active system.

5. Surfactants
Surfactants reduce interfacial tension between water/oil, water/solid, water/air, and other
contacting surfaces. The surfactant can be defined as an organic compound which its molecular
structure is made of two dissimilar groups having opposing solubility tendencies.

Surfactants are used in drilling fluids systems for many reasons. They can be used as emulsifiers
in oil based muds. For water based muds, the surfactants can serve many applications such as:
shale swelling inhibitors, prevent cuttings sticking, wetting agents and corrosion inhibitors.

6. PH Control Additives
The PH level can affect many drilling fluids properties such as the solubility of many thinners.
PH control is required for prevention of corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement. The desired
level of PH in drilling fluids lies between 9.5 to 10.5. NaOH and KOH are some additives which
can be part of the drilling system to control the alkalinity and PH.