This paper presents main results of a shale stability study, related to the understanding of shale/ fluid interaction mechanisms, and discusses shale strength correlation. The major shale/ fluid interaction mechanisms: Capillary, osmosis, hydraulic, swelling and pressure diffusion, and recent experimental results are discussed. Factors affecting the shale strength are discussed, and a sonic com...

This paper explores the possibility of developing early warning indicators based on incident investigation. The use of early warning indicators may contribute to ensure that oil companies produce oil and gas without harmful spills. The incident investigated was a hydraulic oil leak from the Eirik Raude drilling rig during exploration drilling in the Barents Sea in April 2005. The incident is an...

Drilling fluid plays the same role in oil and gas well drilling as blood human body. A new type of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion has been developed using diesel dispersed phase, brine water continuous xanthan gum viscosity modifier clay stabilizer filtration controlling agent. Initially, standard recommended techniques were opted to detect rheological properties emulsions. The fluids have also sh...

Well-drilling fluid and a number of the known components (barite, clay, Aldacide, Surflo, and Dowicide, were tested for effects on the biomass and community structure of the microbiota that colonize marine sands exposed for eight weeks to running ambient seawater. Shading the microbiota from light depressed the microflora without a significant effect on the biomass, while well-drilling fluids l...

Large amount of drilling waste associated with the expansion of the Orinoco Oil Belt (OOB), the biggest proven reserve of extra-heavy crude oil (EHCO) worldwide, is usually impregnated with EHCO and highly salinized water-based drilling fluids. Oxidative exoenzymes (OE) of the lignin-degrading enzyme system (LDS) of fungi catalyse the oxidation of a wide range of toxic pollutants. However, very...

We show that crude oil production from existing wells in Texas does not respond to current or expected future oil prices, contradicting a basic prediction of Hotelling’s (1931) canonical model of exhaustible resource extraction. In contrast, the drilling of new wells exhibits a strong price response, as does the rental rate on drilling rigs. To explain these observations, we reformulate Hotelli...

Amine compounds are believed to have acceptable results regarding their use as clay swelling inhibitor and corrosion inhibitor additives in drilling fluids. It is crucial to know the capability of amine compounds to enhance the thermal stability of drilling fluid; herein, a water-based fluid composed of biopolymer and other additives as the proper representatives of muds used in the pay zone se...

Oil well drilling operation is a complex process, in which there are always new lessons learned during drilling operation. Case-based reasoning (CBR) is an approach to problem solving that recalls previous experiences. Whenever the process is running smoothly, or is failing, the experiences gained during such episodes are valuable and should be stored for later re-use. This paper presents a met...

Recent developments in water-soluble hydrophobically associating polymers are examined with particular emphasis on their use for oilfield applications. These polymers have potential for use in EOR, acidizing, drilling fluids, completion fluids and profile modification. They have also been reported to selectively reduce water permeability in sandstones, and have been used as drag-reducing agents...

the late detection of the kick (the entrance of underground fluids into oil wells) leads to oil wellblowouts. it causes human life loss and imposes a great deal of expenses on the petroleum industry.this paper presents the application of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system designed for an earlierkick detection using measurable drilling parameters. in order to generate the initial fuzzy infere...