Drilling fluids play an important role in the construction of oil and gas wells. Furthermore, drilling of oil and gas wells at offshore fields is an even more complex task that requires application of specialized drilling muds, which are non-Newtonian and complex fluids. With regard to fluid properties, it is necessary to manage the equivalent circulation density because its high values can lead to fracture in the formation, loss of circulation and wellbore instability. Thus, rheology of the used drilling mud has a significant impact on the equivalent circulation density. The aim of the present research is to develop compositions of drilling muds with a low solids load based on salts of formate acid and improve their rheological parameters for wells with a narrow drilling fluid density range. Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide of different molecular weights was proposed as a replacement for hydrolized polyacrylamide. The experiment was conducted on a Fann rotary viscometer. The article presents experimentally obtained data of indicators such as plastic viscosity, yield point, nonlinearity index and consistency coefficient. Experimental data were analyzed by the method of approximation. Analysis is performed in order to determine the most suitable rheological model, which describes the investigated fluids’ flow with the least error.

Improved drilling and reservoir penetration efficiency is directly related to the quality of the drilling mud used. The right choice of mud type and its components will preserve formation productivity, stability of the well walls and reduce the probability of other complications. Oil and gas operators use barite, less often siderite or hematite weighting agent as a weighting component in the composition of drilling muds for the conditions of increased pressure. But the use of these additives for the penetration of the productive formation leads to the reduction of filtration characteristics of the reservoir, as it is almost impossible to remove them from the pore channels. Therefore, barite-free drilling mud of increased density based on formic acid salts with the addition of carbonate weighting agent as an acid-soluble bridging agent is proposed. The results of experimental investigations on rheological parameters of barite-free solutions are given and the obtained data are analyzed. Based on the comparison of results it is recommended to use high-density drilling mud on the basis of formic acid salts (sodium and potassium formate) and with the addition of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide with molecular mass of 27 million.