STATISTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PERFORMANCE OF BIOPOLYMER DRILL-IN FLUID FOR DIFFERENT RHEOLOGICAL MODELS

STATISTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PERFORMANCE OF BIOPOLYMER DRILL-IN FLUID FOR DIFFERENT RHEOLOGICAL MODELS

ABSTRACT

Appropriate selection of rheological models is important for hydraulic calculations of pressure loss prediction and hole cleaning efficiency of drilling fluids. Power law, Bingham-Plastic Herschel-Bulkley models are the conventional fluid models used in the oilfield. However, there are other models that have been proposed in literature which are under / or not utilized in the petroleum industry. The primary objective of this study is to recommend a rheological model that best-fits the rheological behaviour of xanthan gum based biopolymer drill-in fluids for hydraulic evaluations. Ten rheological models were evaluated in this study. These rheological models have been posed deterministically. Obviously this is unrealistic so these deterministic models are replaced by statistical models by adding an error (disturbance) term and making suitable assumptions about them. Rheological model parameters were estimated by least-square regression method. Models like Sisko and modified Sisko which are not conventional models in oil industry gave a good fit. Modified Sisko model which is a four parameter rheological model was selected as the best-fit model since it produced the least residual mean square. There is 95% certainty that the true best-fit curve lies within the confidence band of this function of interest.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    INTRODUCTION

The use of rheological models to approximate the behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids is very paramount in the oil and gas industry especially during drilling, well completion, workover and acidizing. In drilling operations, mathematically designed rheological models are used to describe the viscous forces to develop frictional pressure loss equations. Accurate prediction of pressure losses help in the determination of bit optimization hydraulics, estimation of equivalent circulating density (ECD) and drilling fluid compressibility. The benefits of a more accurate estimation of ECD is adequate hole cleaning efficiency to enhance total drilling rate which in turn reduces total drilling cost. Prevention of circulation loss, maintenance of under-balanced drilling conditions and detection of potential kick are achieved if ECD is rightfully predicted (Bailey and Peden, 2000). Estimated model parameters help to perform other hydraulics calculations.

Power Law and Bingham Plastic models are widely used for hydraulics evaluation. They are assumed for standard API hydraulics calculations. Herschel-Bulkley, Roberston-Stiff and Casson models have been accepted to some extent in the petroleum industry. These models and the corresponding hydraulic calculations do provide a way for fair estimates of hydraulics for conventional wells using simple drilling fluids as asserted by Guo and Hong in 2010. Power Law model predicts shear stress well at low shear rate (in the annulus) and Bingham Plastic model describes the characteristics of drilling fluid at high shear rate (in the drill pipe).

STATISTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PERFORMANCE OF BIOPOLYMER DRILL-IN FLUID FOR DIFFERENT RHEOLOGICAL MODELS