The Performance of Gum Arabic on Water-Based Drilling Mud at High Temperatures

Abstract

Abstract To drill deeper and consequently more hazardous wells and to exploit productive formation more fully, the drilling mud must have physical and chemical properties that will enable it to contend with greater variety of well conditions. The mud used in rotary drilling is one of the major factors in the success or failure of the drilling operation. One of the challenges in drilling deep and ultra–deep wells is the negative impact on the rheological and thixotropic properties of the drilling mud when exposed to high temperature conditions. For a successful drilling operation, the drilling Engineer must have a good estimate for the values of rheological properties of drilling fluid, such as viscosity, density, yield point, gel strength and fluid loss. In this work, laboratory experiment was conducted on water-based drilling fluid from ambient condition to very high temperature. Effects of elevated temperature up to 180°c on the rheological and thixotropic properties of the drilling fluid with Gum Arabic as a major additive. Results show that mud density, viscosity and yield point are largely affected at Elevated temperatures for lower concentration of gum Arabic at Elevated temperature and pressures considered. However, with higher concentration of the Gum Arabic, carrying capacity is boosted, cation exchange is reduced, and total mud density is only slightly reduced at elevated temperature considered. With this result, important information that can guide drillers of high pressure and temperature wells, to achieve safety and drilling efficiency with Gum Arabic as additive, is now available.