Analysis of the impact of an aerated polymer solution on the technological properties of drilling fluids

Background: As demand for hydrocarbons continues to grow, oil and gas industry operators are faced with drilling deeper wells to access previously unattainable hydrocarbons. The importance of deep and ultra-deep well exploration is rapidly increasing to meet the growing global demand for oil and gas. Drilling at such depths poses a wide range of challenges. Most accidents and complications are caused by the use of drilling fluid that does not meet the drilling conditions. The need to develop deep pays requires the use of drilling fluids that can prevent dispersion and hydration of clayey rocks and ensure long-term wellbore stability and high-quality penetration of productive formations.

Aim: The purpose of the analysis on this subject is to consider the dependence of the properties of drilling fluid based on acrylamide polymer additives and to analyse the influence of polyacrylamide concentrations on the technological parameters of drilling fluids.

Materials and methods: This study considers a synthetic high-molecular compound used for treatment drilling fluids – polyacrylamide and gaseous drilling agents. Polyacrylamide works as a filtration reducer only in clayey drilling fluids and is ineffective in this capacity in solutions without a solid phase. However, as an aqueous phase thickener, it can be successfully used in clay-free systems, including mineralized aqueous solutions.

Results: Justification of the parameters and quality of the flushing liquid and the use of solutions used at the Zholamanov field and practically tested by PETRO-UNIT LLP.

Conclusion: The use of aerated fluids provides a number of benefits: minor deterioration of reservoir properties, rapid evaluation of cuttings for hydrocarbons, loss of circulation prevention, and significantly higher penetration rates in hard rock formations. Additional costs associated with the necessary equipment are taken into account, both for drilling with conventional drilling fluids and for drilling with gaseous agents. It is necessary to have properly functioning purificationsystem equipment at the drilling rig in order to ensure effective purification of the drilling fluid from the solid phase, which will reduce the cost of processing the solution, since with an increase in the solid phase content, the density of the solution, rheological properties and clay colloidal phase increase.