American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 92

SpecialReport: Drilling Fluids Technology
Based on conventional wisdom, the
operator should have seen increases in
both gas shows and borehole instability
with a low mud weight. In many cases,
however, the results were decreased gas
shows and vastly improved borehole stability. In fact, there were no more borehole
instability issues when drilling vertically
at the lower mud weight (this may not
hold true for horizontal or steep directional
drilling through finely laminated shales).
Drilling through the Dexter with lowmud-weight OBM proved that concerns
about Dexter overpressuring creating potential well control and borehole stability
issues at low mud weights were ground-

less. This important discovery opened
the door to developing an MPD program.
The increased complexity of combining
OBM and MPD required developing an
operational best practices (OBP) manual
tailored to the particular rigs employed.
MPD Best Practices
Each step within the OBP process
was determined over time to be the most
efficient with a strict focus on safety.
The management processes for continuously improving the OBP using OBM
and MPD included:
* Performing review and planning
sessions for each phase of drilling;

FIGURE 4
Decision Tree for Category IV and V Losses

FIGURE 5
OBM MPD Drilling Cost versus Time
450.00

400.00

$387

350.00
$308
300.00

$280

$274
$259
$/foot

250.00

$246
$233
$222

200.00

$227

$261
$248

$236

$254
$231

$240

$233
$217

$215
$187

150.00

100.00

50.00

-

92 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

$205 $207

$216

$220

$216
$196

$189

$197
$184 $184

$177

$169

* Discussing challenges to known
best practices;
* Securing involvement from all personnel performing work tasks;
* Documenting challenges as well
as both positive and negative outcomes;
* Submitting new ideas for best practices;
* Validating new best practices; and
* Updating the OBP manual.
The OBPs were designed to maximize
overall efficiency of drilling operations
and to minimize the challenges associated
with using OBM. Those challenges included managing the additional cost, incidence/economic impact of lost circulation, OBM recycling, surface losses, well
control, rotating the control head, the
choke system and gas buster, fluid system
handling, pulling out of the hole to run
casing, rig setup, crew training and disposal
procedures.
The OBP manual contained more than
215 pages and included almost 200 lessons
learned from the design and construction
of the drilling location to rig move-out.
Locations were designed to contain any
OBM that might spill. The pad design
included a secondary containment berm
around the location and a trench system
designed to route any runoff or OBM
spillage to sumps (Figure 3A). Vacuum
trucks were used to suck up any spillage
or runoff.
A stand-alone roll-top box system
caught OBM cuttings for transport to a
disposal site. An auger system was used
to move the OBM cuttings into the box.
Each rig also was equipped with a cuttings
dryer to recover diesel and further reduce
the volume of solids. Figure 3B shows
the vacuum system for OBM recycling.
All external fluids coming into the
mud system went over shakers to filter
the mud. The rig-up for frac tank transfer,
pumping out the cellar, pumping out the
vacuum unit, and pumping excess mud
from the dryer shakers resulted in four
hoses going into the possum belly of the
shakers. The vacuum system allowed efficient cleanup of any spills, and also was
tied into the mud bucket on the rig floor.
Pulling Out Of The Hole
One challenge unique to OBM MPD
was the process of pulling the BHA out
of the hole prior to running casing. The
Glen Rose-the deepest interval-typically
was drilled with an 8.9-9.0 pound/gallon
mud while flowing as much as 5 million
cubic feet a day equivalent oil and gas.



American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015

Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - Cover1
American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - Cover2
American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 3
American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 4
American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - Contents
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