Erosive and abrasive wear effect of water-based drilling fluid (WBM) on down-hole tools may reduce the service life of down-hole tools, and its magnetic contamination on Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD) directional tools may cause azimuth errors and reduce the wellbore trajectory accuracy. The erosive and magnetic effects would be worse when a high density WBM densified with a high content weighting agent was employed. One of the main reasons of the erosive and magnetic effect is related to the weighting agent used. To reduce the erosive effect and magnetic interference of weighting agent, a micronized barite as a new weighting material was prepared in this paper, and then characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and laser particle size analyzer.In our experiments, two conventionally weighting agents, barite and hematite were chosen as the comparing samples. The erosive effects, magnetic contaminate tests, lubricity and rheological properties of high density WBM weighting with micronized barite, barite and hematite were evaluated on erosion instrument, a fluxgate magnetometer, an EP lubricity tester and a rotational viscosimeter, respectively. It was found that the high density WBM weighted with micronized barite showed less erosion, lower magnetic susceptibility, better rheological properties, and smaller lubricating coefficient than that weighted with hematite or barite.Comparing with hematite or barite, the micronized barite could effectively reduce erosive wear on down-hole tools, reduce magnetic contamination on MWD directional tools, and control the rheological property of high density WBM, which would significantly contribute to the service life of down-hole tools, the wellbore position accuracy and the safety of drilling operations.The prepared micronized barite, as a new weighting agent of high density WBM, has a great promise of application in reducing the drag, erosion and magnetic interference along the horizontal section of large extended-reach wells and horizontal wells. It can also be used in high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells and coiled tubing drilling technology.

Multilayer drainage is one of the important technologies for coalbed methane (CBM) production in China. In this study, a multi-field fully coupled mathematical model for CBM production was established to analyze the multilayer drainage of CBM well group in southern Qinshui basin. Based on the numerical simulation results, the characteristics of CBM well production under different drainage rates and key factors influencing the CBM production were further discussed. The results show that the effect of an increased drainage rate on gas production of CBM wells and CBM recovery of No.3 coal seam is not significant. However, it significantly improved the gas production of CBM wells and CBM recovery of No.15 coal seam. After a long period of production, the CBM content in No.3 coal seam has reduced to a low level and the pressure drop potential of No.3 coal seam is insignificant, which are important reasons for the insignificant increase of CBM production even under a drainage rate of 2 to 7 times. Conversely, No.15 coal seam has larger residual CBM content and increasing the drainage rate can significantly improve the pressure drop and superimposed well interference of No.15 coal seam, which means No.15 coal seam has greater production potential than No.3 coal seam. Therefore, it is recommended to improve the gas production and CBM recovery in No.15 coal seam by increasing the drainage rate, and the average hydraulic pressure drop should be 0.018–0.031 MPa/day. The influence of effective stress is weak in No.3 and No.15 coal seam, and the coal seam permeability is largely influenced by the shrinkage of coal matrix caused by CBM desorption. This indicates the feasibility of increase in gas production from CBM wells by increasing the drainage rate.

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