ABSTRACT
Drilling mud design aims at preventing formation instability problems associated with fluid invasion, shale swelling, and cuttings dispersion, although oil-based mud (OBM) can be used to achieve these goals, environmental concerns limit its application. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the suitability of nanoparticle as a water based drilling mud addictive.
The proposed methodology was focused on drilling mud performance evaluation, drilling mud performance was assessed using defined guidelines API RP 13-I and API RP 13 B1.
The laboratory analysis was conducted for 2 different mud samples, the proposed nanoparticle (graphene oxide) water -based drilling mud and the conventional carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC) water-based drilling mud.
Graphene oxide was evaluated as fluid loss control additive in water-based drilling mud, the results obtained show that there was about 77.46% reduction in fluid loss at graphene oxide content of 2g per 500mL of mud. However, standard polymer, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) of 2g per 500mL mud resulted in fluid loss reduction of about 88.59%. Thus graphene oxide and CMC compare favorably, it was established that graphene oxide can be deployed as fluid loss control additive in water-based drilling mud as it exhibits good filtration loss control potentials.
When mixed with the fresh mud, a mud density of 8.5ppg was found to be constant for all samples with and without graphene oxide and carboxyl methyl cellulose. The graphene oxide did not have any improvement on the rheology of the drilling mud and as such cannot be deployed in improving the rheological properties of drilling fluids, it was therefore recommended to use a viscosifier to improve the rheological properties of the drilling mud.
