3rd International Conference on Sustainable Development Indicators 1

in the Minerals Industry, June 2007, Milos island, Greece

Sustainable drilling for oil and gas: challenging drilling environments de-
mand new formulations of bentonite based drilling fluids

V.C. Kelessidis
Department of Mineral Resources Engineering, Technical University of Greece, Hania, Greece

ABSTRACT tonite remained high, between 12.5 and 17.5

million tons per year (2002 data, Robinson
Demand for multifunctional drilling fluids con-
et al., 2004; Agnello, 2005) with USA produc-
tinuously increases. In the quest for more hy-
ing 44% while exporting 22%. Greece runs a
drocarbons, drilling has extended to deep water
close third from China, with 1.26 million tons
areas (now in excess of 2.000 m) and to very
per year, contributing ~ 7.5% to world produc-
deep wells (now in excess of 6.000 m). In these
tion (Robinson et al., 2004). Of the many uses
extreme conditions, low temperatures, as low as
of bentonite, the use in oil well drilling fluids
1-50C on the sea bed, high temperatures, in ex-
accounts for about 25% in USA (USGS, 2005)
cess of 200oC, and high pressures, more than
and about 5% in South Africa (Robinson et al.,
1.000 bars, in the bottom of the well, are fre-
2004), countries for which data were publicly
quently encountered.
available. In Figure 1, the apparent use of ben-
In these harsh environments, synthetic oil
tonite over the past seven years in USA is
and oil based drilling fluids are used, but the
shown together with the consumption of ben-
former are expensive while strict environmental
tonite by drilling fluid industry.
requirements have limited the use of the latter.
Drilling fluids are essential elements for the
Thus, drilling industry has turned back to water
successful drilling of oil, gas, and geothermal
based drilling fluids which use bentonite as
wells. Drilling fluids are used to: (1) cool and
primary viscosifier and as a fluid loss control
lubricate the bit, (2) transfer the cuttings from
additive. However, in conditions of high tem-
the bit face to the surface, (3) apply hydrostatic
peratures, bentonite suspensions gel and loose
pressure to keep formation fluids from entering
their exceptional low temperatures properties,
the wellbore, and (4) maintain stability of the
thus, additives are needed to overcome such
borehole. The drilling environment is changing
problems.
to more hostile conditions because deeper and
In this article we review these challenging
drilling environments and establish the require- 4.0E+06
ments for the multifunctional drilling fluids. Our 3.5E+06
research indicates that demand for continuing
use of bentonite by drilling fluid industry is 3.0E+06

strong. Furthermore, we bring forward the op- 2.5E+06

Metric tons

portunities for new additive development which 2.0E+06

can expand the operational ranges of bentonite 1.5E+06
suspensions.
1.0E+06

5.0E+05
1. INTRODUCTION drilling fluid total bentonite
0.0E+00
Bentonite is an essential component for the oil- 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

well drilling industry. World production of ben- Figure 1: Bentonite total end use and use in drilling fluids
in USA (from USGS, 2005).
2 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Development Indicators
in the Minerals Industry, June 2007, Milos island, Greece
more horizontal wells are drilled encountering,
harder rock and abrasive formations, and higher
pressures and temperatures. Drilling fluid re-
search has resulted in a range of drilling fluids
with many additives that are capable of per-
forming these formidable tasks in difficult envi-
ronments. Among the properties that drilling
fluid must posses are appropriate viscosity and
fluid loss values. Additives together with ben-
tonite are used to formulate drilling fluids for
difficult drilling conditions.
Bentonite, with montmorillonite as the prin-
cipal component, when mixed with water forms
non-Newtonian suspensions. Bentonite suspen-
sions have the unique ability to gel when left
undisturbed and it is this property that makes
bentonite valuable to drilling industry because
the suspension can support and transfer rock
cuttings from the bottom of the hole to the sur-
face. Furthermore, bentonite forms a filter cake
of low permeability on the walls of the borehole
thus isolating the well from the producing for-
mations. These exceptional characteristics are
observed in fresh water systems and room tem-
peratures. In conditions of high salinity and high
temperatures bentonite particles flocculate and
lose their filtration and rheological characteris-
tics (Rossi et al., 1999; Kelessidis et al., 2007a,
b, c).
Demand for more oil and gas production will
be on the rise at an average rate of 1.5% per
year for the years to come (Energy Information
Administration, 2006). By 2010, half of the oil
and gas daily volumes needed to meet projected
worldwide demand is not on production today,
Figure 2: Production in Gulf of Mexico, from deep water wells (>305 m) and total production (MMS, 2004).
and the estimated costs of finding the needed oil
are around US$ 100 billion, substantially more
than the industry spending in 2002 (Longwell,
2002). Petroleum exploration and production
industry, however, is one of the highest-tech in-
dustries in the world and will meet these chal-
lenges relying on technological advances, as it
has done for the past 150 years, since the first
oil discovery by Col. Drake in Pennsylvania, in
1859. This will be achieved by focusing on off-
shore oil and gas production and more specifi-
cally in deep waters, despite earlier strong pes-
simism, as for e.g. thirty years ago, presented in
a well respected scientific journal, where it was
stated that ‘hydrocarbon potential is not consid-
ered adequate to give any optimism for the
deeper waters providing substantial additions to
the reserves of exploitable hydrocarbons’
(Wharman, 1978). Developments in the past ten
years have proven these views wrong and un-
covered the strong potential of subsurface ocean
waters, with about 550% increase in oil and gas
production from water depths greater than 305
m in the Gulf of Mexico (Mineral Management
Services, 2004), as depicted in Figure 2.
These technological achievements come of
course at a price. Costs for deep (greater than
305 m) or ultra deep (greater than 1500 m) wa-
ter depth wells are in the range of US$ 10 to 50
million. Similarly, deep well drilling costs for
directional exploration wells for gas production
may range from US$ 3 million for an on-shore
17.500 ft well (5.333 m) to nearly US$ 9 million
for a 19.000 ft (5.790 m) off-shore Gulf of Mex-
ico well (Schlumberger, 2005). Drilling costs
3rd International Conference on Sustainable Development Indicators
in the Minerals Industry, June 2007, Milos island, Greece
accounted for about 50% of these expenses with
costs for drilling fluids being the second largest
contributor, accounting for 9.5% of the drilling
costs, after the costs for tubulars (Schlumberger,
2005). However, a significant portion of non-
drilling costs is related to overcoming signifi-
cant drilling problems which were drilling fluid
related.
The continuous demand for better performing
drilling fluids coupled with their significant
costs drives research and development of drill-
ing fluid industry for formulating drilling fluids
with optimal properties. This paper addresses
the challenges put forward to drilling fluid in-
dustry in today’s but also future difficult drilling
environments and aims to establish the require-
ments for multifunctional water based drilling
fluids and to point out the opportunities that
may exist for bentonite industry.
2. DRILLING FLUIDS
Drilling fluids can be divided in water and oil
based fluids. Water based fluids or muds
(WBMs) consist of fresh or sea water, with a
weighting agent (usually barite), bentonite clay
(priced at US$ 35-110/ton; Murray, 2002) and
several water soluble polymers like polysac-
charites, natural and synthetic polymers (Jones
and Hughes, 1996). Lignites, tannins and ligno-
sulfonates have been used to enhance thermal
stability of water-bentonite suspensions (Gray
and Darley, 1980; Rabaioli et al., 1993). Use of
synthetic sulphonated polymers has also been
reported for temperatures up to 200oC (Plank
and Hamberger, 1988). Oil based drilling fluids
(OBMs) were formulated for high temperature
environments and were originally using crude or
diesel oil, but later have been replaced by re-
fined mineral oils with less than 0.25% wt aro-
matic content. The oil is normally stabilized
with emulsifiers, of which organophillic clays
are the components mostly used, priced at US$
1500-4000/ton (Murray, 2002). These are ben-
tonite (or hectorite) clays saturated with an or-
ganic cation, more commonly a quarternary
amine cation to provide viscosity and filtration
properties (Jones and Hughes, 1996).
Stricter environmental regulations, however,
together with the continued increase in explora-
tion depths have necessitated the formulation of
Synthetic Base Muds (SBMs) which do not con-
3
tain any aromatics thus reducing toxicity of the
base fluids significantly. These compounds con-
tain usually carbon chains between C14 to C22
and can be esters, ethers, poly-α-olefins, deter-
gent alkylates, linear-α-olefins and isomerized-
olefins (Growcock and Frederick, 1996). In
general, SBMs are the most expensive, with
price tags at around US$ 165 per bbl (US$ 825
per ton) followed by OBMs with the WBMs be-
ing the least costly (Urstadt, 2006). Economics,
therefore, push the research for expanding the
operating window of WBMs to higher and
lower temperatures.
Annual worldwide expenditure for drilling
fluids is hard to find. Reports have put the price
tag around US$ 3.8-4.5 billion for 1990 (Jones
and Hughes, 1996) with average cost for drilling
fluid per well in deep water in the range of US$
500.000 (Urstadt, 2006). However, in very dif-
ficult environments costs can be substantially
higher and cases have been reported where bet-
ter formulated drilling fluids have saved opera-
tors over US$ 1.0 million (Cameron, 2005).
3. EXPANDING THE FRONTIERS
3.1 Deep water and deep gas drilling
In the quest for more hydrocarbons and with the
availability of appropriate technology, the in-
dustry has turned to deep and ultra deep waters,
particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore
Brazil, Angola, Nigeria and even in Mediterra-
nean. In Figure 3 the locations of semi-
submersibles and drill ships from a major drill-
ing company around the world are shown. Sig-
nificant finds in the recent past has proved that
deep water drilling, although risky endeavor, is
worth taking. These successes enabled more and
more countries, for e.g. Angola, Brazil, China,
Egypt, Libya and very recently Cyprus, among
Figure 3: Transocean drilling rigs in ultra deep waters
(>1400 m) (from Transocean, 2004).
4 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Development Indicators
in the Minerals Industry, June 2007, Milos island, Greece
Figure 4: High pressure and high temperature wells (from
Brownlee et al., 2005).
many others, to open or re-open large areas for
international exploration and production in deep
waters. Drilling in ultra deep waters in Mediter-
ranean, for e.g. Egypt, has resulted in significant
finds for natural gas, in 2.700 to 3.000 m water
depths, while there are indications for oil at
even deeper wells (Osman and Sabry, 2003).
Drilling in ever increasing water depths and
record breaking well depths results in encoun-
tering pressures exceeding 1.000 bar and tem-
peratures in excess of 200oC (high temperature
high pressure wells, HPHT). In Figure 4 tem-
peratures and pressures from some of the known
wells are shown (Brownlee et al., 2005). Thus,
deep water drilling poses significant challenges
to drilling operators with many of them related
to drilling fluid formulations such as high
equivalent circulating densities, gelation both at
high (bottom hole) and low (close to sea bed)
temperatures and provision of protection against
formation of gas hydrates (Cameron, 2005).
Land drilling in great depths for gas is also
ever expanding in US (Drilling Contractor,
2005). Great challenges have been reported for
HPHT drilling fluids. In gas deep drilling, wells
from 18.000 up to 20.500 ft (5.485 to 6.250 m)
have been reported in Wyoming and Louisiana,
while in Oklahoma the average depth was
5.360 m with average well costs of US$ 2.65
million (Snead, 2005). In these environments,
pushing the operating window for WBM for
deep wells pays dividends by enhancing envi-
ronmental protection and minimizing disposal
costs. Newly formulated thinners for high tem-
peratures for WBMs are in continuous demand,
with reports, for e.g. for drilling at 5.500 m and
temperatures of 204oC, use of new thinners en-
abled the operator to achieve well objectives
(Drilling Contractor, 2005).
3.2 Challenges for bentonite industry
The difficult well environments require holistic
approach to drilling fluid design. Industry is re-
searching for flexible drilling fluids with adjust-
able parameters, which require development of
additives to obtain the required performance
(Dearing et al., 2004; Smalling et al., 2006).
Propriety blends of additives for WBMs have
been reported with excellent results (Hayes and
Beasly, 2004). Different formulations are re-
quired at different depth intervals. Some exam-
ples have been recorded from numerous SPE
and AADE papers and are reported below.
In South China Sea, in the intermediate cas-
ings, the drilling fluid was a high temperature
glycol water based mud containing 0.8% ben-
tonite, 1.5% resin/lignite blend, 4.0% glycol for
temperatures in excess of 200oC and 1000 bar,
at depths of 4.700 m (Oakley et al., 2000). Off-
shore Louisiana (Dearing et al., 2004) polyols
and sulphonated asphalts have been used in
WBMs to enhance shale stability. Oxidized sub-
bituminous coal has also been used to defloccu-
late clays providing very good performance of
the drilling fluid in conditions of high salinity,
the necessary conditions to combat gas hydrate
formation. Similarly, non-chrome zirconium
compound has been used to combat gelation at
high temperatures (Dearing et al., 2004).
WBMs have been preferred over OBMs and
SBMs even in shallow waters offshore Louisi-
ana, but in very difficult environments in terms
of shale stability, because they demand minimal
storage and deck space. Components used in-
cluded 10 lb/bbl bentonite, 5 lb/bbl humalite,
0.5 lb/bbl xantan gum with additives for shale
stability including methyl-glucoside (1-5%) and
a complex ester (1-5%) for added lubricity
(Smalling et al., 2006).
Even in well killing operations, requiring
long waiting times, bentonite has been used in
combination with low molecular weight co-
polymer for enhanced stabilization providing
resistance to 2600C (Spooner et al., 2003).
SBMs have many advantages over WBMs in
terms of performance for rheology, filtration
control and maintaining borehole stability. In
these great depths, however, pore pressures are
very high thus requiring high mud weights
while overbalance pressure margin is very
small. Hence, mud losses through fractured
3rd International Conference on Sustainable Development Indicators
in the Minerals Industry, June 2007, Milos island, Greece
formations are very common (Oakley et al.,
2000) and due to the higher costs of SBM flu-
ids, optimal formulations of WBMs to withstand
these harsh environments can reduce overall
costs of drilling fluids.
Better formulation of a synthetic based drill-
ing fluid in deep waters helped saved as much
as US$ 1.0 million in a single well while in an-
other well saved US$ 250.000, by reducing sig-
nificantly mud losses downhole (Cameron,
2005) thus providing great incentives for the
development of fluid additives to stabilize ben-
tonite suspensions.
Several studies exist reporting the combined
use of bentonites with polymers and/or lignites
to extend water based fluid suspension stability
at higher temperatures (Rossi et al., 1999; Wu
et al., 2002) while recent work (Kelessidis et al.,
2007a, b, d) has shown that Greek lignites could
be excellent drilling fluid additives for high
temperature wells. Addition of organic additives
to clay suspensions modifies their colloidal and
rheological properties. The additive layers are
thought to adsorb onto the clay surfaces leading
to dispersion, stabilization or deflocculation
(Rossi et al., 1999). The polymers used could be
anionic, cationic or nonionic and various modes
of interaction have been proposed, as depicted
in Figures 5 and 6 (Alemdar et al., 2000;
Benchabane and Bekkour, 2006). These, and
many additional works, point out the way to the
bentonite industry for future research and de-
velopment work in order to develop appropriate
additives to expand the operating ranges of ben-
tonite suspensions capturing thus not only an
existing, but also an ever expanding niche mar-
Figure 5: Representation of (a) montmorillonite multis-
cale organization and (b) bentonite-CMC interaction
(from Benchabane and Bekkour, 2006).
5
Figure 6: Representation of adsorption of cationic surfac-
tants on bentonite particles (from Alemdar et al., 2000).
ket with products of considerable value.
4. CONCLUSIONS
Demand for hydrocarbons will be on the rise for
the years to come. The oil and gas industry has
responded by exploring deep horizons
(>6.000 m) and deep (>305 m) and ultra deep
(>1.500 m) waters in various places around the
world. Hostile conditions are encountered, how-
ever, with temperatures in excess of 200oC,
close to freezing and pressures exceeding 1.000
bar. Drilling operations rely strongly on the ex-
cellent performance of drilling fluids. A multi-
tude of formulations has been developed in the
past and the search is for flexible drilling fluids
and newer additives which could expand the op-
erating ranges of water based fluids. These de-
mands present unique challenges to bentonite
industry to work together with drilling fluid in-
dustry and academia so that newly formulated
additives, using lignites and polymers, are de-
veloped, capitalizing on knowledge of the re-
quirements for such fluids and on the capabili-
ties that technological advances offer.
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