American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016 - 77

SpecialReport: Drilling Fluids Update
Well Economics
Brian Teutsch, senior product line
manager at Baker Hughes, says drilling
fluid manufacturers understand the fiscal
concerns of oil and gas operators, and
are responding with new products and
services engineered to elevate performance
while holding the line on cost.
In particular, he points to ongoing refinements to improve the performance
and cost effectiveness of high-performance
WBMs designed for troublesome formations.
"The technology behind high-performance WBMs has been around, but the
challenge is to make it affordable while
improving the results to make them similar
to, or even better than, NAFs," he details.
"This is where innovation comes into
play. To say the industry already has a
solution is only valid to the extent that
it's an economical solution, and that is
where we are focusing much research
and development effort. We see a huge
market need for reliable, cost-effective
products that meet performance requirements."
Incremental improvements continue
to be made to the advanced WBMs commercialized during the high levels of
shale drilling activity prior to early 2015,
Teutsch insists. "The technology provides
many positives for operators, and its performance is only going to get better. The
demand for high-performance WBM fluids
will again pick up as the market recovers.
"For WBM and NAF, everyone has a
wish list as to what a fluid system should
do. They want very specific rheological
properties, very specific parameters from
the fluids, and a number of other things,"
he says. "The wish list was pretty long
up until the end of 2014, so costs got
pretty high as well. As commodity prices
declined, the wish lists got a lot shorter."
However, Teutsch notes that customers
recognize that the product with the lowest
unit cost is not always the best choice in
terms of total drilling economics. "The
pendulum is starting to swing the other
way, and operators are looking for fluid
systems that will give them the most
bang for their buck," he comments.
"Maybe that is a fluid system that delivers
solid performance, but doesn't have every
possible bell and whistle."
Teutsch cites a Norwegian operator
as one example of someone getting what
he paid for. The well drilled a record
19,960 feet of horizontal reservoir in a

The BRIDGEFORM™ bridging system from Baker Hughes is a single-sack solution to
overbalanced drilling situations. The bridging and sealing additive reduces downhole
losses and mitigates the risks of differential sticking.

single run with a Baker Hughes drilling
fluid system. The North Sea well was
drilled using PERFFLOWTM, a waterbased reservoir drill-in fluid for low-density applications.
That attention to cost also is affecting
operators' recycling and reclamation decisions, Teutsch says. In choosing which
system to use, he points out that NAFs
sometimes can be more economical because operators typically reuse the fluids,
but he notes that drill cuttings and waste
disposal costs are much higher than for
WBMs.
"Solids control equipment is another
area where investing in more expensive
services can be more economical in the
end," Teutsch goes on. "The more efficient
your solids control equipment, the less
dilution is required, which drastically
cuts down on the volume of fluid as well
as the amount of chemicals consumed.
We have seen the most dramatic efficiency
improvements when approaching solids
control and drilling fluid as an integrated
effort. This not only saves on dilution
and waste, but it also maximizes drilling
performance. That is a key to achieving
our 'mile-a-day' drilling rates in the
Northeast U.S. land."
Handling Overbalances
Producers operating in overbalanced
situations in which mud weights are significantly higher than reservoir pressures
can take advantage of BRIDGEFORMTM
from Baker Hughes. Teutsch describes it
as a bridging and sealing additive that
reduces downhole losses and mitigates

the risks of differential sticking.
Customized bridging systems usually
are a first choice, but circumstances don't
always allow for that, he says. "In those
cases, BRIDGEFORM is a single-sack
product, so you do not have to know
everything about the reservoir to get it in
the system and immediately get the benefits," he states.
The single-sack system is effective in
both WBM and NAF systems, and has
minimal impacts on rheology, Teutsch
says, describing it as quick and simple,
and the single-sack approach provides
inventory advantages over fully customized
systems.
"It has a broad particle size distribution,
so it fits into a wide range of pore sizes.
The particles are resilient, so they do not
crush easily. They fit into fractures and
pores without being crushed," he relates.
"Other particles are sized specifically to
seal into the microfractures and the pore
spaces around the other bridging particles.
These particles deform to the shape of
the pore space, creating an effective seal."
The bridging and sealing particles
combine to contain pressure within the
wellbore, which allows operators to use
higher fluid pressures without getting
stuck or destabilizing the wellbore, Teutsch
concludes.
Modified WBMs
Adding new twists to WBMs provides
operators with enhanced performance
and lower costs, says Dr. James Friedheim,
drilling solutions marketing and technology
NOVEMBER 2016 77

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016

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