Drill Cuttings Reinjection
Karen Bybee, Assistant Technology Editor
Environmental policies require use
of best available and economically
sound technology to reduce dis-
charge of mud and cuttings waste
resulting from drilling operations.
Downhole disposal of mud and cut-
tings waste through hydraulic frac-
turing provides a zero discharge
solution and eliminates future
cleanup liabilities. Careful job plan-
ning, proper operation design, strict
quality assurance, and systematic
monitoring are keys to waste dis-
posal operations success.
Job Planning
Drilling wastes are typically composed
of a complex mixture of drilling muds,
D r i l l i n g Te c h n o l o g y
chemicals, and formation material.
Wastes generated that are unsuitable
for discharge into the environment
need to be categorized into those suit-
able for injection and those that require
alternative disposal methods. The fol-
lowing areas need to be considered.
Physical characteristics of the solid
and liquid wastes.
Toxicity.
Waste handling requirements, reg-
ulatory constraints, and permitting
requirements.
Waste generation rate, rate varia-
tion, project duration, batch volume,
and total volume.
Subsurface Geology
Subsurface geology dictates injection
strategy and disposal zone selection.
Much of the required information may
not be available at the time of a drill-
cuttings reinjection (DCRI) study. It is
important to request logging, coring,
and testing on shallow formations
during the project planning phase.
This article is a synopsis of paper
SPE 72308, Design Considerations in
Drill Cuttings Reinjection Through
Downhole Fracturing, by Ahmed S.
Abou-Sayed, SPE, and Quanxin
Guo, SPE, Advantek Intl., originally
presented at the 2001 IADC/SPE
Middle East Drilling Technology,
Bahrain, 2224 October.
46
Injection Scheme
After identifying the types and vol-
umes of waste generated and deemed
suitable for reinjection, an injection
scheme must be identified. Injection
can be through an open annulus or a
dedicated injector. Annular injection
is usually preferred because it is often
more economical if project duration
is short and injection volume is not
too large. Operationally, injection
through a dedicated disposal well has
more flexibility.
Annulus Injection. Annulus injection
is possible only if the annulus of an
intermediate casing string in an exist-
ing well is open to a suitable subsur-
face formation and the well satisfies a
range of screening criteria.
Formation Selection. Identification
and selection of disposal formations
are important steps during a DCRI
job design. Disposal zone selection
depends on the general lithology of
the field, initial depth of the hole
when oil-based mud is used, forma-
tion properties such as fracture gradi-
ent, Youngs modulus, and leak-
off characteristics.
Selection and Design
Shallow, low producing existing wells
close to the drilling site are preferred
to minimize any adverse effect of rein-
jection operations on production tar-
gets and operational activities. The fol-
lowing are key screening criteria for
disposal injectors.
Select wells that provide access to
a suitable disposal formation.
Select wells with good quality
cement-bond integrity across the dis-
posal zone.
Select recently drilled wells to
minimize formation reaction and
injectivity deterioration with time.
Avoid wells with small annular
clearance between casing strings to
avoid excessive erosion and injection
annulus plugging.
Avoid wells close to other wells
with long openhole sections.
Assess well location, disposal frac-
ture size, and their impact on future
development plans.
Assess operational integrity of inner
and outer casing strings with respect to
anticipated injection pressures.
Wellheads should be designed to
withstand the maximum expected
erosion and survive erosional wear at
the entry ports. Thread protection
bushings, casing jackets, and diverter
plates can be used to mitigate erosion-
al problems.
Fractures
In any waste disposal operation, con-
tainment of the injected waste must be
assured. Both laboratory testing and
field studies were performed to inves-
tigate single fractures vs. multiple frac-
tures. As a result of these studies and
operational experience, DCRI design
strategy in disposal fracturing simula-
tions has changed significantly.
Continuous injection refers to oper-
ations that result in continuous, single
fracture propagation that does not
allow the fracture to close between
injections. A true 3D hydraulic-frac-
ture simulator must be used to simu-
late the fracture created to ensure that
there is safe containment of the dis-
posed waste.
Batch injection or periodic injection
refers to the intermittent injection of
equal slurry volumes followed by a
shut-in stage. The shut-in stage allows
the fracture to close as fluid leaks off
into permeable formation layers, leav-
ing solids trapped within the fracture.
Multiple fractures have been observed
in laboratory tests and in field trials.
Short branches or subparallel fractures
appear to form along the length of the
main fracture. JPT
Please read the full-length paper for
additional detail, illustrations, and ref-
erences. For a limited time, the full-
length paper can be downloaded free
of charge at www.spe.org/jpt. The
paper from which the synopsis has been
taken has not been peer reviewed.
FEBRUARY 2002