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S h e l l EP Le
Le a r n i n g
S h e l l EP Le
Le a r n i n g
z Removal
displacement
z Chemical
S h e l l EP Le
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z Mud
of solids
Removal of Solids
z Removal
S h e l l EP Le
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z Efficient
Mud rheology.
Sweeps.
Wellbore geometry.
S h e l l EP Le
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0-10 deg
>10 deg
cuttings move towards the low side of the annulus resulting in the formation of
a cuttings bed.
40-50 deg
At low flow rates the bed thickness increases with hole angle, reaching a
maximum at hole angles within this range.
Critical range of hole angles where hole cleaning is more difficult due to the
gravity forces causing the cuttings beds to slide downwards against the flow.
With no flow rate the cuttings beds tend to avalanche down the wellbore, which
can result in packing off around drill strings.
50-90 deg
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Hole Inclination
Sweeps
Use of high-viscosity sweeps to improve cuttings removal is
common practice.
Turbulent (lov Vis) sweeps can help if flow rate is high and
volume of the sweep is large
S h e l l EP Le
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mechanically disturbs cuttings beds, moving solids back into the mud
flow stream for removal.
particularly useful in laminar flow, with viscous fluids - particles on the
low side of the hole are moved into the higher flow velocity regions
particles can settle and be re-deposited quite quickly if viscosity and gel
strengths are insufficient
S h e l l EP Le
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z Use
of Displacement Pills
of drillstring
z Centralisation
S h e l l EP Le
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Base Oil
Push Pill
Low Mud
Weight &
Low
Deviation
High Mud
Weight or
High
Deviation
Comments
30 bbl
50-100 bbl
100 bbl
100-150
bbl
Pill will act like a piston and will displace the whole
mud out of the hole. It will help remove solids that have
accumulated on the low side of the hole, particularly at
adverse angles.
The displacement flow rate should be such that the base oil is in turbulent
flow and the push pill is in laminar flow.
S h e l l EP Le
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Aim is to displace oil based drilling fluid from the wellbore leaving the casing
water wet, before displacing the well to the completion fluid (inhibited
seawater or brine).
Mud generally consists of an oily base fluid with water, clay (for viscosity) and
barite / dolomite (for density)
Emulsifiers - oil wetting agents - in oil phase ensure all surfaces (tubulars,
barite, formation) are oil wet, any water is encapsulated as microscopic
droplets.
When displacing the well to water, not only does the oily mud require
displacing, but also the casing surfaces need to be changed from oil wet to
water wet.
S h e l l EP Le
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Removal of Oil
z
S h e l l EP Le
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S h e l l EP Le
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Surfactants
Mechanical Tools
z Mechanical
z generally
z Historically
z More
S h e l l EP Le
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S h e l l EP Le
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Wellbore Patroller
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S h e l l EP Le
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Solids Centrifuge
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Filtration
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Filtration Systems
10
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Filter Cartridges
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DE Filtration Unit
11
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Filtration considerations
12