Researchers test mud formulas for Turkey's Dadas shale

The Dadas formation is deltaic. Sandstone and shale are found in outcrop in the Dadas and Zenala areas of North Diyarbakir and Mardin High. The formation's age ranges from Late Silurian to Early Devonian.

Table 1 shows X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of Dadas shale cuttings and core samples. Dadas shale consists of clay, dolomite, and quartz. The clay is almost exclusively caolinite and illite.

Potassium replaces sodium in illitic clay's lattice structure, making it less prone to swelling than in smectite clays.

XRD analysis showed the feasibility of WBM and PBM formulas for Dadas shale. Researchers added thinners and deflocculants to control drilling-fluid water loss.

Table 2 shows WBMs thermal stability. KCl mud was designed to handle contamination caused by the shale play (Table 3).

The entry of solids and fluids from the formation into the drilling mud contaminates it. Shale as a contaminant was studied to determine how its entry might deteriorate key properties of specific drilling fluids.

Researchers ground shale samples into particles smaller than 75 microns. They added 30 g of particles to the drilling fluids being tested.

Each sample of contaminated and uncontaminated mud stood for 16 hrs at four different temperatures: 80°, 150°, 200°, and 250° F.

A rotational viscometer determined rheological properties. Researchers used a filter press to measure filtration properties at 80° F. under 100 psi and used a high-temperature, high-pressure filter press for tests at under 100 psi pressure difference, 200 psi with back-pressure applied, and 300 psi. The filter presses were API certified.

Testers also noted mud-cake thickness and the pH of mud and filtrate. Researchers tracked conformance with API's Recommended Practice RP13 throughout the study. Each experiment was repeated at least three times.

Shale contamination

Contamination from the shale itself caused an increase in the viscometer and rheometer readings, indicating an increase in the fluid's viscosity. Dial readings were taken at six different rpm: 600, 300, 200, 100, 6, and 3.

Fig. 1 shows plastic viscosity, contamination, and temperature variables of the three mud systems. Plastic viscosity values changed slightly with higher temperature.

Fluid-loss properties varied with contamination and temperature (Fig. 2). Results are shown at room temperature for the bentonite mud. Bentonite's rheology stabilized at high temperature in spite of clay contamination.

Contamination and increased temperature caused a slight increase of water loss up to 200° F., and water loss rates increased more above 200° F.

Filtration values were 15 ml or less (API standards require filtration of less than 15 ml) even in different temperatures. Bentonite samples tolerated shale entry up to 250° F.

Shale contamination caused a slight increase at room temperature in dial reading and plastic viscosity values for lignosulfonate mud samples.

The plastic viscosity of the uncontaminated lignosulfonate mud samples decreased with higher temperature (Fig. 2). The lignosulfonate mud sample's viscosity, however, improved and did not decrease even at higher temperatures. Results revealed that the developed lignosulfonate mud samples' rheology was unaffected by shale contamination.

Contamination and increased temperature caused a slight increase in water loss up to 200° F. Water loss rates increased at 250° F. Filtration values were below 15 ml up to 200° F. Filtration values equaled 22 ml at 250° F. Although this value is above the API recommendation, it is still acceptable for field application.

Lignosulfonate mud samples also tolerated shale entry without measured changes in rheological and filtration properties. KCl mud's rheological properties were similar to bentonite mud. Shale contamination increased dial readings and caused higher plastic viscosity values for KCl mud samples at room temperature.

Plastic viscosity values measured more than 19 cp up to 200° F., but then decreased. Even so, they remained higher than those of the uncontaminated mud sample.

KCl mud was designed to provide good filtration properties in case of contamination. Fig. 2 shows that uncontaminated KCl mud's filtration was too high (>50 ml). When contaminated, however, filtrate volumes were very low even at higher temperatures. The water-loss values were all below 10 ml, in adherence with the API-recommended sub-15 ml recommendation.

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The author
Mustafa Hakan Ozyurtkan ([email protected]) is an assistant professor at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). He received his BS (2003) in petroleum engineering from ITU. He also earned MS degrees (2006) in petroleum engineering and energy science from ITU, where he became a research and teaching assistant in 2005. He studied wellbore cement as a visiting scholar at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., in 2010, and received a PhD (2012) from ITU.