‫( وما أوتيتم من العلم الا قليلا‬

‫صدق هللا العظيم‬

DEDICATION
This work is dedicated to that one who still improving his self
,knowledge and his nation when a lot of others are hopeless. To our
friends. To our mothers who pray, days and nights, for us to achieve

our aims.
 ACKNWOLEDGEMENT

All the acknowledgement is to God for being our strength through all our
challenging moments. To Dr. Ezzi Alfaqeeh, our supervisor, for his
immense contribution to the success of this work. To
 LIST OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE
2 Dedication iii
3 Acknowledgement iv
4 List of contents v
5 List of tables
List of figures
List of maps
List of images
List of abbreviations
Abstract
Chapter

1 Introduction
1.1 Background
1.2 Research importance
1.3 Research aims
1.4 Research justification
1.5 Area of study
1.5.1 Geographic location
1.5.2 Location
1.5.3 Astronomical location
2 Literature review
3 Material and research methodology
3.1 research materials
3.2 research methodology
4 Results and discussion
5 Recommendations

List OF TABLES
Tables PAGE
 LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURES
LIST OF MAPS
LIST OF IMAGES
LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS
ABSTRACT
 This research was done in the period from 31-October-2016 to 25-
November-2016. It was about mud lost circulation. It discussed the
reasons, effects, and combating methods of MLC.

It contain some literature review about this phenomena and its result.

Also it shows the experiments that we did and its results. Finally, it shows

the conclusions and recommendation.

 ‫الخالصة‬
‫تم اعداد هذا البحث في الفترة من ‪-31‬أكنوبر‪ 2016-‬إلى ‪-25‬نوفمبر‪.2016-‬كان البحث حول‬
‫ظاهرة فقدان دورة سائل الحفر‪ .‬ناقش البحث أنواع‪ ,‬أسباب‪ ,‬أضرار وطرق معالجة‪ ,‬فقدان سائل‬
‫الحفر‪.‬‬

‫تضمن البحث بعضا ُ من الدراسات السابقة و نتائجها حول هذه الظاهرة‪ .‬يعرض هذا البحث‬
‫التجارب التي قمنا بها والنتائج التي حصلنا عليها‪ .‬أخيراُ‪ ,‬يقدم البحث االستنتاجات التي على‬
‫ضوئها قدمنا بعض التوصيات‪.‬‬
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Mud losses are one of the most severe problems encountered in
drilling. This is commonly known as lost circulation. It can occur in
naturally fractured formation, high permeability formation, cavernous
formation and induced fractures in formation through drilling.

Lost circulation is defined as the partial or complete loss of drilling fluid

during drilling, circulating or running casing or loss of cement during
cementing. Lost circulation occurs when the hydrostatic pressure of mud
exceeds the breaking strength of the formation, which creates cracks
along which the fluid will flow. For lost circulation to occur, the size of
the pore opening of the induced fractures must be larger than the size of
the mud particles. In practice, the size of openings that can cause lost
circulation is in the range 0.1- 1.0 mm.

1.1 Background

Mud drilling has been used with the rotary drilling system for first time in
Texas by Lucas in the mid of twenty centenary.

The first mud lost circulation was performed with diatomaceous earth in
1956 by Carl Huber, (Phillip petroleum company) and John Crocker

( Magcobar) on a Phillips Petroleum Company well north of Pampa,

Texas. The loss was because of induced fractures and it toke 4 to be
combated.

1.2 Research importance:

The drilling industry has suffered a lot because of lost

circulation. In a well that has lost circulation will have anywhere
from $8000 to $50000. This is not including the rig costs because of the
time lost, damage to the drill pipe and/or blowout. Due to all these
factors, it was necessary to do a research which may give solutions for
this phenomena.

1.3 Research aims:

- Determining the reasons of lost circulation in Sunah field.

- Identifying the undesirable effects of MLC.

- Determining MLC methods.

1.4 Research justifications:

This research was done as a requirement to pass scientific research

methodology course and also for training to make a research in a right
and scientific way.

1.5 Study area:

1.5.1 Geographic location:

Sunah field is located in block-14 in Al-masilah basin. Al-masilah

basin is located in Hadhramaut governorate in the east of Republic of
Yemen.
map(1-1) geographic location of Al-masilah.
 map(1-2) geographic location of Petro Al-masilah.

1.5.2 The location:

Al-masilah is bounded by Shibam from the west, and from east eastern
Al-ddeis and Al-mukala from south.

1.5.3 Astronomical Location:

Latitude in decimal degrees: 15.6132 - 15.8134 N

Longitude in decimal degrees: 50.882 - 51.9755 E

 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Causes of loss of drilling fluid cycle:

1- Take down the tubes too quickly.

2- Combines rock pieces (Cutting) on the pipes leading to the closure of

the annular space between the wall of the well and the pipe leading to the
decline of the liquid to be recycled when the mud or making a narrow
annular vacuum in the best of cases, and this generates high pressure
leads to break the weak layers.

3-The mud weight increase when you rotate the mud into the well from
what it is in sleep state. This phenomenon leads to break the weak layer
where caused an increase in recycling density (ECD) and increasing
recycling intensity when increasing the viscosity, especially when
increasing the plasticity point, that the use of non-slip materials loss with
clays heavy increase of recycling intensity so you must use these
materials with few mud density.

Getting started rotate the mud flow at high rates and where the mud was
so still and be of high strength gelation, this large amount paid would
meet resistance rapidly lead to be opposite pressure on the layer may
break them.

The increase in the gelation and viscosity in the mud leading to the run
pumps high pressure and this leads to the refraction of the class.

To overcome the emergence of the gas or the flow of salt water or sulfur,
are increasing the mud weight or use of the throttle (Chock Line), leading
to increased hydrostatic pressure of column of mud and thus leads to
break the weak layers.

There are three main reasons for the occurrence of loss of drilling fluid
cycle:

1- rock formations.

2- the well conditions.

3- pressure of the drilling fluid.

1-Rock formations:

Rock formations that cause the loss of drilling fluid cycle are classified
to:

a) Natural or implied slits (natural or intrinsic fracture):

These can occur in any type of rock. The mud level decreases slowly
in the pit and if the drilling is continued more fractures become exposed
to the drilling mud, which can lead to a complete loss. The natural
fractures in formation are represented in Figure 2.1. Figure 2.1
demonstrates that for a natural fracture to exist, the overburden must be
self-supporting.

Figure 2.1. natural fractures.

b) Cavernous Formation:

These are most commonly limited to limestone formations.

Where these occur there is a sudden loss of mud and before the loss
starts taking place the drilling bit drops anywhere from several inches to
a few feet into a new zone. The drilling becomes rough before the loss
starts taking place. Figure 2.2 shows that these are fractures of large
proportions and the mud can flow from an upper zone to a lower zone
,making the fracture more difficult to be sealed.
 Figure 2.2. cavernous formation.

c) Unconsolidated or high permeable formation:

These are highly permeable formations, as shown in Figure 1.5. This

results in a drop in the mud level in the pit. If drilling is continued,
there can be a complete loss of drilling fluid. These formations need
to have a permeability of 10-100 Darcy for the loss to occur.
Shallow sands and gravels often have such permeability and therefore
are prone to mud losses.

Figure 2.3. unconsolidated formation.

 The positive identification on the nature of rock formations that cause
the loss of drilling fluid cycle is an important factor in the
appointment and find a way to restore the fluid cycle.

2- The well conditions:

a) Heterogeneous non-permeable walls:

This situation allows the use of thick-walled cylinder, in which the

vertical cracks formed when overcomes the internal pressure of the fluids
on the tensile strength rock theory, plus the external pressure the
unknown and who is trying to prevent cracking rocks under tensile
condition.

Drilling fluids can enter into the pungent layers and cause shedding
pressure in the central pore, and should be the amount of pressure is
greater than the total pressure Alantmar plus the pressure required to
overcome the tensile strength rocks in the acrid areas along the non-rock
thick layers, which in turn lead to cracking these configurations allowing
the entry of another amount of drilling fluids into the rock formation.

b) Closed hydraulic system (Close hydrostatic system):

When the well is closed, any presence of surface pressure not only
increases the bottom of the well, but it also puts part of the rock
formation in the case of tightening and this puts force upward on the tube
is equal to the product of the surface pressure of internal space to clip the
tube, and is this case is clear and concrete in wells deep other.

c) Pressure of the drilling fluid:

There must be balance between the pressure of drilling fluid and

pressure of formations which are drilled through. But there are some
cases in which the drilling mud pressure increase which causes problems
in the well and to formations. These cases are shown in the table below.
 Table 2.1. Reasons of pressure increasing.

Cases of Pressure Build Up REASONS

Increase of hydrostatic
pressure.
High pressure at the moment
of starting circulation.
High pressure losses in the
annular space.
High pressure surges caused
by moving the drill string
down
-High solids content.
-High gel strength of the mud.
-Pumps start too rapidly.
-High plastic viscosity and yield point of the
mud.
-Narrowing the annular space due to thick
filter cake.
-High viscosity and gel strength of the mud.
-Too fast running of the drill string down the
hole.
-Balling up the bit and drill collars due to
thick filter cake and accumulation of
cavings in the hole.

2.2 Methods of locating lost circulation zone:

Usually when losses occur during drilling, lost circulation

materials(LCMs) is spotted across the suspect zone to combat fluid
losses. However, in severe lost circulation cases the location of the "thief"
( or lost circulation) zone must be determined prior to combating fluid
losses. There are a number of established methods for this purpose,
including temperature survey, radioactive trace survey and spinner
survey.

2.2.1 Temperature survey:

Figure 2.4. principle of temperature survey.

A temperature recording device is run in hole on a wire to provide a
record of temperature against depth. Under normal conditions, a constant

Increase in temperature with increasing depth is observed, This trend (as

shown in figure 2.4) is recorded under static conditions to provide a base
log. A quantity of cool mud is then pumped in the hole and another
survey is made. The cool mud will cause the device to record a lower
temperature than previously record, down the "thief " zone where mud is
lost. Below the "thief" zone, the mud level is static and its temperature is
higher than the mud flowing into the thief zone. It follows that the new
temperature log will show an anomaly across the thief zone and the
location of thief zone can be determined by reading the depth at which at
which the temperature line changed in gradient. Figure 2.4 shows two
logs, one under static conditions and the other with flowing mud.
Location of the lost circulation zone is clearly seen.

2.2 Conditions for lost circulation:

Lost circulation can take place whenever there are favourable

conditions that can help the drilling mud to propagate into the geological
formation nearby. These conditions include:

1) The pore openings are larger than the mud particles

2) Unconsolidated formations like porous sands and gravels can be

fractured easily.

3) Vugular or cavernous formations provide channels for the loss to

occur.

4) Circulating high-density drilling fluids induce fractures. Whenever

the pipe is pushed down there are pressure surges which can cause lost
circulation.

5) The presence of natural fractures makes it very easy for the drilling
fluids to break down such formations.
2.3: Categories of mud losses:

The nature of losses as a result of lost circulation can be categorized

in terms of degree of mud losses into:

-Moderate Loss

Moderate loss of circulation is usually defined as those losses that are

less than total. In oil based drilling fluids more than10 barrels per hour
but less than 30 is commonly accepted as moderate. In water based fluids
25 to 100 bbl/hr. is an acceptable range. When circulation is lost while
drilling, the cause may be several fold. That is, when the mud pumps are
shut down and the hole stands full, the loss is said to be caused by a
marginal increase in bottom hole pressure (BHP) due to a hydraulic
pressure drop in the annulus. This condition is also a direct result of
apparent ECD conditions. Circulation may also be temporarily lost due
to pressure surges induced while running casing pipe or because bottom
hole pressures are exceeded when breaking circulation after a trip.

-Seepage loss:

For purposes of this discussion we will define a seepage loss of a

whole mud that is less than 10 barrels per hour for oil based drilling fluids
and 25 bbl/hr. for water based drilling fluids. This rate of loss may be
caused by a number of factors resulting from the drilling operation or it
may only be a perceived loss. That is, fast-drilling rates in a reasonably
competent formation can result in the perception of having a seepage
situation where none actually exist.

-Severe and total loss:

Mud losses are said to be severe when the rate of loss is greater than
500 bbl/hr. Total losses occur when no fluid returns is seen through the
annulus. These types of losses occur in long, open sections of gravels;
large, natural horizontal fractures, caverns, interconnected vugs, and
widely-opened induced fractures (Nayberg, 1987). Losses into large
caverns occur only at very shallow depths and are difficult to treat.
Sometimes, a cure may not be possible and may require other actions
(Ferron et al. 2011).
2.4 Effects of mud loss:

Consequences of mud loss can be divided into two categories:

-Economic Effects:

a) Increasing rig time.

b) Preparing new volumes of mud.
c) Cost of additives.

-Technical Effects:

There are two basic consequences of lost circulation. First, if the level
of fluid in the well bore is lost due to losing mud inside the formation,
lower hydrostatic pressure is created which results in the flow of fluids
inside the formation into the well bore. This process is commonly
called kick. If the kick is not controlled, it may causes Well Blowout.
Second, if the drilling is continued to a point where there is no
fluid left inside the well bore, it can result in damage to the well
bore including the destruction of the bit. This phenomenon is called dry
drilling.

As a consequence of mud losses, the well may be abandoned.

2.5 Combating mud lost circulation:

2.5.1 Restoring mud