An Innovative Approach to Improve Cleaning Efficiency of Filter Cake in Gas & Oil Drilling Wells

Abstract

Drilling fluids are the complex fluids used for the drilling of oil and gas wells. The effective completion of an oil and gas well and invention of hydrocarbons from the oil and gas reservoir depends to a significant extent on the properties of drilling fluids selected during drilling operations. Filter cake stick provisionally until it is removed by dissolvers at the last stage of the well drilling. Theoretically the filter cake is composed of the mud contents; starch, polymer and weighting materials (CaCO3) and all are removed by acid and enzyme dissolvers. However, filter cake contains unknown percent of drilled solids that may not be soluble by the conventional dissolvers. The main attentiveness of this paper is to study the effect of drill solids percent and types (shale/clay, sand or other minerals) in mud cake in order to come up with best methodology of cleaning the filter cake that contain both mud contents and drilled solids. It was observed that the comprehensive removal of filter cake will lead to increase in productivity of oil & gas wells.