Earth boring – well treating – and oil field chemistry – Well treating – Contains organic component
Patent
1999-04-30
2000-12-26
Tucker, Philip
Earth boring, well treating, and oil field chemistry
Well treating
Contains organic component
507211, 507234, 507244, 507245, 507260, 507261, 507265, 507266, 507268, 507927, 166311, 166312, C09K 300, E21B 2100
Patent
active
061659460
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for facilitating the disposal of flowable and pumpable working fluids based on emulsifier-containing w/o invert emulsions and for the simplified cleaning of solid surfaces soiled therewith using water-based washing aids. In the following description of the invention, the elements of the teaching according to the invention are described with reference to flowable and pumpable fluids for use in geological exploration, more particularly corresponding well servicing fluids, which contain an oil phase and an aqueous phase using emulsifiers. As a characteristic example of servicing fluids of this type, the invention is described in the following with reference to drilling fluids and drilling muds based thereon. However, the modified auxiliary fluids according to the invention are by no means confined to this particular field of application. Related applications covered by the invention include, for example, spotting fluids spacers, packer fluids, auxiliary fluids for workover and stimulation and for fracturing
The use of the teaching according to the invention is of particular importance for the development, particularly the offshore development, of oil and gas occurrences, but is by no means confined to this particular application The new teaching may also be generally used in land-supported drilling operations, for example in geothermal drilling, water drilling, geoscientific drilling and mine drilling.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
It is known that drilling fluids for sinking wells in rock and bringing up the rock cuttings are flowable systems thickened to a limited extent which may be assigned to any of the following three classes:
Purely aqueous drilling fluids, oil-based drilling fluids, which are generally used in the form of so-called invert emulsion muds, and water-based ohm emulsions which contain a heterogeneous finely disperse oil phase in the continuous aqueous phase.
Drilling fluids with a continuous oil phase are generally formulated as three-phase systems: oil, water and fine-particle solids. The aqueous phase is heterogeneously and finely dispersed in the continuous oil phase. Several additives are used, including in particular emulsifiers, weighting additives, fluid loss additives, alkali reserves, viscosity regulators, water-soluble salts and the like. Relevant particulars can be found in the Article by P. A Boyd et al. entitled "New Base Oil Used in Low-Toxicity Oil Muds" in Journal of Petroleum Technology, 1985, 137 to 142 and in the Article by R. B. Bennett entitled "New Drilling Fluid Technology--Mineral Oil Mud" in Journal of Petroleum Technology, 1984, 975 to 981 and the literature cited therein.
Even today, oil-based w/o invert systems are undoubtedly the safest fluids, particularly for drilling through water-sensitive clay layers. The continuous oil phase of the w/o invert emulsion forms a continuous semi-permeable membrane on the surface of the drilled layers of rock and the cuttings introduced into the drilling fluid so that potential diffusions of water can be direction-controlled. The optimization of the working result achieved by using w/o invert fluids has never been matched by any other type of drilling fluid. However, the use of these working media also presents considerable problems from the point of view of their disposal and the possible pollution of the environment which this involves. This applies in particular to large-scale applications, such as offshore drilling where drill cuttings covered with considerable residues of the w/o invert muds accumulate in large quantities. In offshore drilling operations, these cuttings have hitherto been dumped overboard.
Drilling fluids of the type just mentioned and other well servicing fluids of comparable composition originally used mineral oil fractions as the oil phase. Considerable environmental pollution can thus be caused if, for example, the drilling muds enter the environment either directly or through the drilled rock. Mineral oils are not
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Foerster Thomas
Fues Johann-Friedrich
Herold Claus-Peter
Mueller Heinz
von Tapavicza Stephan
Drach John E.
Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien
Murphy Glenn E.J.
Trzaska Steven J.
Tucker Philip
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