Nanoparticle-based drilling fluids as promising solutions to enhance drilling performance in Egyptian oil and gas fields

Abstract

Over the years, the discovery of petroleum in various regions of the world has led to the development of different techniques and equipment to enhance and optimize the drilling and production operations in this vital industry. Egypt is both one of the major oil-producing non-OPEC countries and one of the oldest energy producers in the Middle East. Recently, the Egyptian government have signed several agreements for the exploration of oil and gas in several provinces/regions including; the Mediterranean, the Western desert, the Nile Delta, and the Gulf of Suez. Petroleum companies have given great attention to Egypt's new discoveries such as Zohr Gas Field, and Nour exploration prospect. Successful drilling operations to reach the oil and gas targets depends strongly on the effectiveness of the drilling fluids. Drilling fluids can be considered as the heart of the drilling process. They are used to fulfil several functions, such as controlling pressure, carrying cuttings and cooling bit and drill strings, stabilizing wellbore as well as controlling fluid losses.Drilling fluid technology is one of the most targeted and developed technologies worldwide. Several studies have examined the use of various types of nanoparticles (NPs) as additives to enhance the properties and improve the performance of the drilling fluid to mitigate the drilling problems. NPs can be defined as a simplest structure with a size in the range of nanometers. The effectiveness of NPs can be accredited to their small sizes and thus, high surface-area-to-volume ratio. NPs were also showed promising enhancements on the rheological and filtration characteristics of the drilling fluid (mud). Additionally, swelling and collapse of shale formations is expected under drilling with water-based mud, which might result in complicating the drilling operation. Adding NPs to the drilling mud was found to minimize the shale permeability and thus, promote the wellbore stability.This research paper discusses the latest applications and presents the most valuable findings concerning the efficient use of NPs in the drilling fluid industry. Based on that, different recommendations are stated. This might help researchers to better understand NPs' functionality in this area of application and promote using NPs-based drilling muds as cost-effective and environmental-friendly fluids to drill the Egyptian oil and gas wells.

Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids as Clay Swelling Inhibitors: Mechanism, Performance Evaluation, and Effect of Different Anions

“… 26 − 29 One of the main concerns with sodium silicate is the critical concentration, and above that concentration, it formed a gel-type material and caused pumping problems. 30 Several nanoparticles were investigated to improve the shale swelling characteristics such as silica, 31 graphene, 32 iron oxide, 33 titania, 34 and multiwalled carbon nanotubes. 35 Surfactants have been used as shale swelling inhibitors.…”

Al2O3 and CuO nanoparticles as promising additives to improve the properties of KCl‐polymer mud: An experimental investigation

“…[21,22] The pros and cons in utilizing OBM and/or WBM inspired the researchers to formulate novel nanofluids as optimum choices (environmentally friendly and cost-effective) for shale drilling. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] It is worth mentioning that the average pore throat size of shales ranges from ~10-30 nm compared to the barite and bentonite range of ~100-10 000 nm. [18,36,37] To form a physical barrier, the particle size should be smaller than the pore throat size.…”

Nanomaterial-Based Drilling Fluids for Exploitation of Unconventional Reservoirs: A Review

“…Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 30 nano-silica polymer grafted polymer [61], ZnO polymer nanocomposite [43], TiO2/polymer nanocomposite [62], TiO2/clay nanocomposite [63], and several others [64]. Nanomaterials are widely used for different purposes, including enhanced oil recovery [65][66][67][68], wettability alteration [69][70][71][72], IFT reduction [73][74][75], surface adsorption [76], and CO2 storage applications [77][78][79][80][81].…”

“…Nanosize additives with enhanced characteristics are actively being investigated in regards to drilling of HPHT wells [33,50]. Several nanomaterial have been investigated such as nano silica [51], graphene oxide [52], graphene nanoplatelets [43,53], multi-walled carbon nanotube [51,54,55], single walled carbon nanotube [54,56], nano ZnO [57,58], TiO 2 [59], CuO [60], and Fe 2 O 3 , nano-cellulose, nano-silica polymer grafted polymer [61], ZnO polymer nanocomposite [43], TiO 2 /polymer nanocomposite [62], TiO 2 /clay nanocomposite [63], and several others [64].…”