New approaches in Wellbore Stability Analysis

It is almost certain that problems will occur while drilling a well, even in very carefully planned wells. For
example, in areas in which similar drilling practices are used, hole problems may have been reported where no
such problems existed previously because formations are non-homogeneous. Therefore, two wells near each other
may have totally different geological conditions. As result, a major concern of the drilling engineers is keeping
the borehole wall from collapse. It is estimated that wellbore instabilities have resulted in a loss of about US$ 1
billion per year worldwide. In well planning, the key to achieving objectives successfully is to design wellbore
stability analysis operation on the drilled wellbore to predict the conditions under which failure will initiate in
the rock surrounding the wellbore problems. However, the method used in determining wellbore analysis has
been conventional and the accuracy of data obtained from the quality of wellbore stability analysis has been
questioned. Example, the linear Mohr Coulomb strength criterion does not accurately describe the non-linear
strength characteristics of rocks although has been used in wellbore analysis for a long time. Al-Ajmi,
Zimmerman, and Ewy (as cited in Xiangchao, Wuqiang, Yingfeng, Gao & Jiaxue,2015) argue that the Mohr
Coulomb criterion was too conservative for predicting the collapse pressure. In addition, wellbore stability
analysis required a good set of data from wellbore drilling although only limited data were available causes
inaccuracy of wellbore analysis. Raaen and Brudy (as cited in Bai, M.,2013) highlights that the available data
are so constrained that the quality of any wellbore stability study is highly questionable when using conventional
methods. The impact of lack of integrity in wellbore analysis stability brings a reduction in the quality of well
log records and consequently leads to difficulties in their interpretation. Hence, 5 article will be studied in this
paper to see the effectiveness of methods such as WQI method, drilling fluid micro Nano particles, new safe mud
window and new strength criterion that has been proposed by other researches in providing solution to these
problem faced in wellbore stability analysis.
Several past studies have been done on the wellbore stability problem faced during the drilling
operation. Hassan, Klimentos, Badri, Sengul, and Zeid (1999) carried out an experiment on mud weight window
found out that when wells were drilled outside the safe mud weight window and had the side-track operation,
40% wells had cases of stuck pipe. On the other hand, only 10% of the wells drilled within the safe mud weight
window faced problems. This shows the importance of operation within the safe mud weight window.In addition,
Raaen, A.M., and Brudy, (2001) found out using conventional methods, the available data are so constrained
that the quality of any wellbore stability study is highly questionable. Ewy, Al-Ajmi, and Zimmerman(2015,
2006a, 2006b, 2005) concluded that the linear Mohr - Coulomb strength criterion does not accurately describe
the non-linear strength characteristics of rocks. The Mohr - Coulomb criterion was too conservative for predicting
the collapse pressure. Aadnoy (2003) found the field experience and theoretical interpretation the causes of
instability are often classified into either chemical or mechanical effects or the combination of both.
The objective of research review conducted by Zeynali (2012) was to provide deduction about mechanical
and physicochemical factors of wellbore stability that influencing the wellbore stability that could alter the
wellbore stability analysis that causes wellbore collapse or failure. Haidary, Shehri, Raheem, and Ahmed (2015)
conducted the experiment on the mud weight issue were proposes a new method for determining the quality of
wellbore stability through an objective consideration of the cumulative effects of wellbore failure by predicting
safe mud weight window for drilling well. Bai (2013) carried out an experiment on maximizes the quality of the
wellbore stability evaluation under scarce data conditions by identifying the suitable wellbore stability impact
factors that may dominate the process using limited data from offset wells. In addition, Zhang ,Jie, Long,
Shuangwei, Jianhua, Henglin , Zhiliang, Jinzhi, and Zhen (2015) proposed new drilling fluids known as micro-
Nano particles (MNP) developed by conducted experiment to replace the conventional oil based mud drilling
fluid that could replace conventional fluid. Xiangchao et al. (2015) conducted research on criterion strength
proposes a new method known as single-parameter parabolic strength criterion that has a higher accuracy than
Mohr-Coulomb criterion for describing rock strength.
Zeynali (2012) carried out his experiment by gathered few actual wellbore drilled cases and analyzed the
factors and the reasons that cause wellbore to collapse. Zeynali (2012) found out few parameter were able to
identify which causes the wellbore stability analysis to failure. The parameters can be categorized into two which
is chemical parameters such as drilling fluid and mud weight window and mechanical properties which are to be
the Mohr Coulomb strength criterion and conventional method which the required good set of data.
 The modus operandi used by Haidary et al. (2015) are rock mechanics lab tests were performed on core
samples and all the available well logs were obtained and analyzed to develop the rock mechanics properties
profile. Daily drilling reports were analyzed and this drilling history was used to evaluate the best failure criterion
for modeling purposes to build a Mechanical Earth Model (MEM) to calibrated and validated data with the
observed failed wellbore condition in selected drilled wells. Haidary et al. (2015) predicted the range of safe mud
weight window for drilling future wells with respect to each formation from each core sample carried out in the
lab. The safest mud weight window that works for the entire section at any inclination, azimuth and measured
depth was discovered and reported for the first time in their report.
Bai (2013) used (Wellbore Quality Index) WQI method tested using an actual well case which was drilled
offshore in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. The actual results of wellbore stability analyze done using available
wireline log. By using the equation of WQI, the result calibrated against multiple logs and correlations to
determine the causes of the wellbore instability from the defined zones. Bai (2013) found that the observed
wellbore enlargement in result shows a somewhat similar trend as the predicted wellbore failure from actual cases
of wellbore failures by using WQI method. These data provided by actual case well is most likely same with the
data from WQI method.
Zhang et al. (2015) conducted core displacement experiment by testing the permeability recovery of low
permeability cores contaminated by MNP-based drilling fluid in comparison with drilling fluid formula without
the addition of MNP. The displacement pressure curve of drilling fluid formula without MNP is plotted. They
were found out that the maximum displacement pressure is recorded in the process of positive displacement
before contaminated by oil based drilling fluid, and it is about pressure after contaminated by OBM formula in
their experiment.
Xiangchao et al. (2015) carried out their experiment by using Linear Regression (MF) to fit eight sets of
the rock strength data obtained from previous works cases well as well as the present experimental results. A
comparative analysis was used to examine the fitting precisions of the three strength criteria using Model Fitting
with Linear Regression (MF) and Hoek Brown criterion, Mohr Coulomb criterion and new method known as
single parameter parabolic criterion. Xiangchao et al. (2015) found that the fitting by the linear Mohr-Coulomb
criterion significantly deviates from the experimental data and that the fitting precision is considerably poorer
than those of the Hoek-Brown Criterion.
Based on the research ,it was found out most of the wellbore instability occurs due to mechanical and
chemical properties. Drilling fluid oil based mud plays a vital role in balancing formation pressure, lubricating
and a cooling bit of drilling processing. Due to the large size of oil particles, the oil mud penetration not effective
and the oil mud based can't fully seal the crack and holes formed during the drilling process. These micro-Nano
particles can reduce the shale permeability and stop the fluid invasion and improve wellbore stability because
these particles are small enough to penetrate and seal the pore throats in shale, resulting in the reduction of filtrate
penetration into the shale.As a result, MNP can reduce fluid losses to the formation significantly, and
consequently provide an excellent sealing effect, so MNP is an effective plugging agent for strengthening
wellbore stability. Data assessment conducted by Haidary et al. (2015) shows that most of the stuck pipe, tight
holes, pack-off and over-pull incidents were observed during pull out of the hole (POOH) operation from the
analysis of actual wellbore cases. These incidents could possibly be due to low mud weights used to drill relatively
weak shale layers. Extensive analysis was done to determine the best match of historical drilling data with the
model prediction. It was observed in the drilling history that the increase in the mud weight during drilling lead
to the problem-free operation because the new mud weight used was in the safe mud weight window of the model.
The predicted model is further verified by the fact that the drilled wells that had failed had used a mud weight
lower than the minimum recommended breakout mud weight. In addition, it was discovered that Mogi Coulomb
failure criterion provided the best match and hence it has been used throughout this thesis to determine the shear
failure. The simulated failure at different depths in a wellbore using Mogi coulomb criterion and the actual
calipers based failure readings show very good match which could not be obtained by modeling using Mohr
Coulomb approach. In addition, mechanical properties which are Mohr Coulomb strength criterion and
conventional method which the required good set of data also affect the wellbore stability. The limitation of Mohr
Coulomb was only can use for few selected wellbore formation which will show the accurate prediction of data
of rock stress. Xiangchao et al. (2015) found that result shows that the single-parameter parabolic criterion
produces satisfactory fitting accuracy among the three strength criteria. The value of the uniaxial compressive
strength predicted by the single parameter parabolic criterion is the closest to the actual rock uniaxial compressive
strength (the experimentally determined value) among those predicted by the three strength criteria. Based on the
Mohr strength criterion with a parabolic failure envelope, they developed a single-parameter parabolic criterion
for wellbore stability analysis and found that the single-parameter parabolic criterion is applicable to most rocks
compared to the Mohr - Coulomb criterion with higher accuracy. The conventional method used in wellbore
analysis require sets of good quality data need to predict the wellbore stability which could help prevent the
wellbore collapse and boast the production of hydrocarbon. However, the data collected form drilled well bore
often limited. Hence new method been approached in order to address this problem such as WQI method which
required limited data only to predict the wellbore stability. The WQI show the consistent trends between actual
data result and WQI results which reveal that the wellbore failure is caused dominantly by the stress-induced
mechanical impact. This demonstrates that the hole enlargements (well bore failure) shown in the one-arm
calipers data are likely breakouts. From example, that WQI can help identify the wellbore failure mechanisms
even though the measurement data the concept of the WQI method is quite straightforward and easily understood.
However, the form of the WQI method is subtle.
In conclusion, this study discussed few methods that could be adopted in future drilling operations for
problem-free drilling in problematic formations and the root cause analysis of different wellbore instability
problems revealed. A method such as WQI method, micro Nano particles, new safe mud window and new
strength criterion could help stabilize the wellbore stability. In term of economic, micro Nano particles can be
assumed to be more practical method since the method was an eco-friendly and inexpensive method. Although
new mud weighs window and new criterion strength proposed, more studies should be carried out in future on
that method in term of effectiveness and economic to avoid any problem during wellbore drilling.

Reference
Bai, M. (2013). An Objective Method for Wellbore Stability Analysis. American Rock Mechanics Association.
Haidary, S. A., Shehri, H. A., Abdulraheem, A., Ahmed, M., & Alqam, M. H. (2015). Wellbore Stability
Analysis for Trouble Free Drilling. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Mohammad Ebrahim Zeynali (2012). Mechanical and Physico-Chemical Aspects of Wellbore Stability During
Drilling Operations. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering.
Xiangchao Shi, Wuqiang Cai, Yingfeng Meng, Gao Li & Jiaxue Li (2015). Wellbore stability analysis based on
a new strength criterion. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering.
Zhang, J., Li, L., Wang, S., Wang, J., Yang, H., Zhao, Z., Zhang, Z. (2015). Novel Micro and Nano Particle-
Based Drilling Fluids: Pioneering Approach to Overcome the Borehole Instability Problem in Shale
Formations. Society of Petroleum Engineers.