Cuttings Transport with Foam in Highly Inclined Wells at Simulated Downhole Conditions / Transport urobku wiertniczego przy użyciu piany w silnie nachylonych otworach w symulowanych warunkach w otworze

Abstract

Along with the rapidly growing demand and development activities in unconventional resources, is the growth of environmental awareness and concerns among the public. Foam, as an alternative to traditional drilling fluid, is gaining more and more momentum in the drilling industry. Drilling with foam can minimize formation damage, water usage, and drag and torque. Foam also costs less and leaves a much smaller environmental footprint than other commonly used drilling fluids, such as synthetic oil-based fluids, when developing vulnerable formations such as shale gas. As drilling in horizontal and near horizontal sections has become very common, and the need for such sections is increasing, it is very important to understand cuttings transport and hole cleaning issues when drilling with foam in such sections.A team from University of Tulsa Drilling Research Projects (TUDRP) conducted a series of experiments focused on studying the effects of change in hole inclination angle from 90 degrees to 70 degrees on cuttings transport with foam under Elevated Pressure and Elevated Temperature (EPET) conditions. This experimental and theoretical study also includes other influential parameters such as foam quality, foam flow rate, polymer concentration and drill pipe rotary speed. We have observed that there is no significant difference in cuttings concentration and frictional pressure losses as inclination changes from 70 to 90 degrees. Also, an increase in superficial foam velocity reduces cuttings concentration within the annulus. Pipe rotation influences cuttings concentration and frictional pressure losses for low quality foams, but does not have a significant effect on high quality foams.A correlation for the cuttings bed area and a computer simulator are developed for practical design and field applications. The predicted results are compared with experimental results from this study and previous studies. The comparison shows good agreement.We believe that the findings of this paper will help designers with the choice of optimal drilling fluid for drilling horizontal wells in unconventional (shale) gas/oil reservoirs. Keywords 482Równolegle ze stale rosnącym zapotrzebowaniem na prowadzenia prac udostępniających w złożach niekonwencjonalnych notuje się wzrost świadomości społecznej odnośnie zagadnień ochrony środowiska. Piana jako alternatywa dla tradycyjnej płuczki wiertniczej nabiera coraz większego znaczenia w górnic-twie otworowym. Wiercenie przy użyciu piany pomogą ograniczać zniszczenia formacji geologicznych, redukuje zużycie wody, pozwala na zminimalizowanie oporów ruchu i momentów obrotowych silników. Ponadto, koszty piany są niższe a jej oddziaływanie na środowisko naturalne jest mniej znaczne niż w przypadku typowych płuczek opartych na olejach syntetycznych używanych w trakcie udostępniania trudnych w eksploatacji złóż, np. gazu łupkowego. Wiercenia odcinków poziomych lub prawie poziomych są już szeroko stosowane a zapotrzebowanie na takie odcinki wrasta, ważnym jest właściwe rozpoznanie problemów związanych...

Variable interaction empirical relationships and machine learning provide complementary insight to experimental horizontal wellbore cleaning results

“…However, most systems used to date can only operate at ambient pressure and temperature conditions. The experimental flow loops reported use both opaque (Piroozian et al, 2012) and transparent flow-loop systems at reduced (Leporini et al, 2019) and fullscale facilities (Xu et al, 2013). By carefully measuring the injection rates, weights, and volumes of cuttings materials, typically sand of different particle sizes, it is possible to establish the equivalent ROP of the system configuration of such flow loops.…”

Transient and steady state analysis of drill cuttings transport phenomena under turbulent conditions

“…Although experiments of such kind hold considerable promise for revealing new phenomena, the considerations are indicative of the fact that these investigations would be rather too complex. Many researchers have demonstrated via experiments that cuttings transport is affected by drilling variables such as pipe rotation, hole inclination and many other factors (Iyoho et al 1986;Capo et al 2004;Chen et al 2007;Duan et al 2006;Duan et al 2010;Han et al 2010;Osgouei, 2010;Ozbayoglu et al 2010;Xu et al 2013). It is worth mentioning that a majority these works have analysed cuttings transport phenomena as a function of the cuttings concentration and pressure drop which are relatively easy to physically measure.…”