DRILLING AND COMPLETION FLUIDS
Formate-Based Reservoir-Drilling Fluid Meets
High-Temperature Challenges
In the Belank field, reservoir temper-
atures average 315°F and reservoir
sections are 3,500 to 4,500 ft drilled
horizontally. A low-solids, brine-based
reservoir drilling fluid was required
because the wells use premium screens
for sand control. Six wells were drilled
with the sodium formate-based reser-
voir-drilling and completion fluids. The
particle-size distribution and concentra-
tion of the calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
bridging solids were monitored closely
while drilling to ensure that filter-cake
quality was not compromised.
Introduction
The Belanak field is an oil-produc-
ing field off the coast of Indonesia.
Reservoir temperatures average approx-
imately 315°F. Six horizontal-well com-
pletions were planned from the Belanak
A platform. A water-based drilling fluid
was selected for drilling the 81/2-in.
horizontal reservoir sections, some as
long as 4,500 ft and many with tortuous
well paths. The bottomhole temperature
(BHT) exceeded the temperature range
of conventional water-based reservoir-
drilling-fluid components. In addition,
the remoteness of the platform from
the supply base and the limited supply
of drill water at the supply base were
major issues. As a result, laboratory
work on the drilling-fluid design had
to consider supply-chain limitations as
This article, written by Assistant
Technology Editor Karen Bybee, con-
tains highlights of paper SPE 98347,
“Formate-Based Reservoir-Drilling Fluid
Resolves High-Temperature Challenges
in the Natuna Sea,” by R.J. Bradshaw,
SPE, R.M. Hodge, SPE, and N.O.
Wolf, SPE, ConocoPhillips Co., and D.A.
Knox, SPE, C.E. Hudson, SPE, and E.
Evans, SPE, M-I Swaco, prepared for the
2006 SPE International Symposium and
Exhibition on Formation Damage Control,
Lafayette, Louisiana, 15–17 February.
For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
JPT • NOVEMBER 2006
well as the technical issues that usually
dominate fluid design.
Fluid design focused on the following.
• Developing a drilling fluid that
would be stable under long-term expo-
sure to temperatures as high as 315°F.
• Determining the minimum con-
centration of CaCO3 bridging agent
required to generate a clean, treatable
filter cake without compromising filter-
cake quality.
• Identifying a suitable scale inhibitor
to prevent precipitation-related forma-
tion damage if the limited water supply
forced the completion brine and drill-
ing fluid to be mixed with seawater
instead of drill water.
Laboratory Testing
Base-Fluid Selection. Discussion be-
tween the operator and fluids provider
resulted in agreement that the fluid
formulation not only should be compat-
ible with the sand-screen completion,
but also maintain fluid-loss-control and
rheological properties for a minimum of
48 hours’ exposure to BHT. Both water-
based and nonaqueous-based formula-
tions were considered.
Use of natural polymers, such as
xanthan gum and starch, for fluid-loss
control and viscosity was considered
advantageous because of the ability to
remove them chemically once the well
was completed. However, drilling flu-
ids made with xanthan and starch can
begin to exhibit property degradation
from prolonged exposure to tempera-
tures greater than 250°F.
The required density was determined
to be 9.8 to 10.5 lbm/gal. Three base fluids
were tested: potassium chloride, sodium
chloride, and sodium formate. These
brines were selected for economic viabil-
ity, ease of logistics, and in the case of
sodium formate, technical performance.
Fluid Optimization. Extensive labo-
ratory testing was conducted over a
2-year period to determine the optimal
brine-based fluid that would be ther-
mally stable to 315°F and also would
be tolerant of drill solids. The results
of the initial performance tests clearly
identified the sodium formate-based
fluid as the most stable after prolonged
heat aging at 315°F. As a result of these
tests, sodium formate was selected as
the basis for the reservoir drilling fluid.
All subsequent laboratory testing was
conducted with sodium formate.
Formate-based brines were first
recognized as having the ability to
extend the thermal stability of natural
polymers in the late 1980s and early
1990s. Their first applications in the
field were in the early 1990s, and their
use as the basis of reservoir-drilling
and completion fluids has become
widespread since then. Their ability
to preserve conventional polymers at
temperatures greater than 300°F, and
in some cases up to 400°F, has been
the primary reason for their selection.
A comparative analysis between
xanthan gum and schleroglucan was
conducted to determine the optimum
viscosifier for the fluid. Xanthan gum
performed substantially better in regard
to thermal stability and was chosen as
the primary viscosifier for the system.
A minimum of 30 lbm/bbl of sodium
formate was maintained in the fluid
for thermal stability. Laboratory test-
ing verified that 15 lbm/bbl of sodium
formate was not sufficient to maintain
high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/
HT) fluid-loss control.
Solids-contamination testing was
conducted to determine the tolerance
of the fluid for contamination with
30 lbm/bbl of drill solids; 20-lbm/bbl
of formation sand and 10 lbm/bbl of
shale were used for the drill solids.
Addition of the drill solids to the fluid
did not have any adverse effect on the
fluid rheology, but it did affect the
HP/HT fluid loss significantly.
57
CaCO3. CaCO3 was selected as the
bridging agent because of the broad
range of particle-size-distribution blends
available to generate a thin, tough filter
cake, and because the filter cake could
be dissolved with acid once the well
was completed. Laboratory testing and
field experience concluded that a load-
ing of 50 to 60 lbm/bbl would provide
a high-quality, low-permeability filter
cake. However, the quantities of CaCO3
required to build a reservoir-drilling
fluid with this CaCO3 concentration for
the Belanak development would have
placed extreme pressure on the supply
chain and were considered impractical.
Laboratory work to optimize the solids
loading focused on formulating a drilling
fluid that would generate a good-quality
filter cake with the minimum concentra-
tion of CaCO3 and a moderate drilled-
solids concentration. Because of the vari-
able pore structure through the reservoir,
the particle-size distribution of the bridg-
ing agent must have the ability to bridge
a wide range of pore sizes. The CaCO3
blend used was selected on the basis of
ideal packing theory and was validated
with extensive fluid-loss testing.
The objective of the testing was to
formulate a fluid with a fluid loss of less
than 12 mL after 30 minutes at 315°F
and 200-psi overbalance with a spurt
loss of less than 2.0 mL. Laboratory
testing identified that a fluid with a
45-lbm/bbl CaCO3 loading would meet
the required specifications.
Drilling Experience
Properties and performance of the fluid
were monitored closely while drilling
the reservoir sections to ensure that
fluid behavior was in line with expecta-
tions. A laboratory technician was sent
to the rig to perform on-site fluid test-
ing for each 200-ft drilled interval. This
gave mud engineers the time to man-
age and maintain the system within
specifications. Continuous monitoring
ensured a more uniform filter cake
throughout the horizontal section.
Particle-Size Distribution. Particle-
size-analysis results were used to
determine the effect of drilling on
particle-size distribution. Particle-size
distribution varied as drilling began
and after each addition of fresh res-
ervoir-drilling fluid. Most notable is
that there appears to be no discernable
increase in the fine material caused by
CaCO3 grinding while drilling the long
horizontal section. However, there is a
rapid decrease in the coarse end of the
particle-size distribution (most nota-
bly at 10,300 and 11,300 ft). These
decreases in the coarse fraction gener-
ally can be attributed to removal of
the larger-sized particles by the solids-
control equipment.
Hole Cleaning. During well planning,
it was established that good hole clean-
ing in the long horizontal sections
could be a problem. Hydraulics model-
ing indicated that high pump rates and
good pipe rotation would be required
to prevent cuttings beds from forming
in the low end of the well. Despite the
thermal stabilizing properties of the
fluid, some thinning was seen on pro-
longed exposure to BHT. Increasing the
low-shear-rate viscosity (LSRV) of the
drilling fluid from 40,000 to 60,000 cp
helped improve hole cleaning, as did
pumping occasional low-viscosity/high-
viscosity sweeps.
Additive Consumption. Maintaining
fluid-loss control within specification
was easily attainable, indicating that the
base fluid was stabilizing the starch-
based fluid-loss-control agents. Spurt
loss increased intermittently, but this
was resolved by addition of coarse-grade
CaCO3.
Fluids engineers at the rigsite main-
tained a theoretical fluid composition
on the basis of a mass balance of dry
materials and premix added and fluid
lost by various means. The fact that the
starch remained approximately constant
throughout the drilling of each well
indicates that the starch was being stabi-
lized presumably by the combination of
formate and other chemical stabilizers.
The xanthan content at total depth (TD)
typically was in the 2.0- to 2.5-lbm/bbl
range, whereas the premix from the liq-
uid mud plant contained approximately
1.25 to 1.5 lbm/bbl. Part of the differ-
ence may be explained by the need to
increase polymer concentration to attain
the revised 60,000-cp LSRV.
Completion Experience. Once drilled
to TD, the wells were completed with
a standalone sand screen. Once the
well was drilled and the hole condi-
tioned, the open hole was displaced
to a solids-free version of the reser-
voir-drilling fluid to ensure that good
fluid-loss control was maintained while
pulling out the drillstring and pick-
ing up the completion string. Field
data from previous wells demonstrated
that the solids-free pill had the ability
to “heal” (seal) ruptures in filter cake
caused by tool movement across the
open hole.
Once the casing had been scraped
clean, the casing was displaced to com-
pletion brine with a combination of
solvent and surfactant wash pills. The
lower completion then was assembled
and run in the hole. Once the lower
completion was at TD, the well was
displaced to completion brine, then the
open hole was displaced to the chelat-
ing-agent breaker solution. The breaker
solution was allowed to soak the filter
cake while the wash pipe was pulled, the
upper completion was run, and the well
was brought on production. This expo-
sure time ranged from 15 to 110 days.
Of the six wells completed, five
are producing at expected rates. The
sixth well is not producing to expec-
tations, and the reasons for this are
under investigation.
Conclusions
The successful drilling and comple-
tion of these wells is attributable to
the extensive front-end engineering of
the reservoir-drilling fluid. The logisti-
cal limitations imposed by the remote
location were addressed, and a fluid
formulation was found that did not
compromise technical performance.
Use of formate salt as a thermal sta-
bilizer of conventional water-based res-
ervoir-drilling-fluid polymers helped to
ensure that a drilling fluid could be
formulated to drill long horizontal open-
hole sections without the use of synthet-
ic polymers or nonaqueous-based fluid.
Because of this, the filter cake could be
removed effectively with a less-aggres-
sive, noncorrosive breaker solution.
Monitoring the particle-size distri-
bution at regular intervals helped to
ensure that the reduced CaCO3 loading
imposed by the logistical constraints
did not affect filter-cake quality or the
fluid-loss properties of the reservoir-
drilling fluid adversely. JPT