WELL FLUIDS - Questions

Chapter 1 1. List at least five of the main purposes of a drilling fluid. State which two you think are the most important. Chapter 2 1. Give a list of some of the advantages and some of the limitations of using water-based drilling fluids. 2. What are the requirements for the fluids pumped into a well? 3. The drilling fluid deposits a filter cake on the wall of the hole. How should this be and what is its purpose? 4. State the main compositions of: 1) a salt-based drilling fluid you are familiar with. 2) drilling fluid for use in a 36" and a 26" hole. 5. What are the functions of the polymers in a drilling fluid? 6. What are the functions of KCl when it is in contact with formation clays? 7. Describe 'spud mud'. State the requirements for this type of drilling fluid. 8. State the most important water-based drilling fluids. 9. Explain how the content of particles affects the characteristics of the drilling fluid. 10. Describe the type of equipment involved with the drilling fluids, from the circulation through the pumps until it is back in the storage tanks. 11. Why are there agitators in the mud tanks? 12. Why does the shale shaker machine have two decks? Explain how this machine works. 13. Why should the solid material in the drilling fluid be separated during the first circulation and not be pumped into the well again? 14. Draw a sand trap and describe its functions. Which factors limit the amount of particles trapped at the bottom? 15. What is the function of a hydro-cyclone and how does it work?

16. If you were to drill through a sand formation, which drilling fluid functions would you consider? 17. What would you do to separate the sand from the drilling fluid when it reaches the surface? 18. Why do we not want sand in the drilling fluid? Chapter 3 1. What are the functions of weighting material in the drilling fluid? What happens if the weight is over or under estimated? 2. List the different weighting materials that can be used in a drilling fluid and their special characteristics and limitations in use. 3. We have 100 m3 of drilling fluid, with density 1.3 kg/L in a tank. In the next hole section we have to drill using a drilling fluid weight of 1.4 kg/L due to higher pore pressure. We will use barite (SG 4.2 kg/L). What volume of barite must we add and how much will it weight? 4. We will reduce the weight of the drilling fluid volume of 120 m3 by using water. The drilling fluid has a density of 1.34 kg/L. The density will be reduced to 1.20 kg/L. a) Calculate the volume of water to be added. b) How many tons of water does this make up? c) What will the drilling fluid volume be? 5. We have measured the density of the drilling fluid as 1.25 kg/L. We weigh the drilling fluid to 330 g. What is the volume? 6. In the same drilling fluid with a density of 1.25 kg/L, we want to increase the density to 1.40 kg/L by using barite. How much barite (g) do we have to add? 7. What is the drilling fluid volume now? 8. We will reduce the drilling fluid again by mixing in a different drilling fluid weighing 1.15 kg/L. a) How much do we have to add to make the density 135 kg/L? b) What is the drilling fluid volume now? Chapter 4 1. List some of the most common clay minerals in the North Sea. 2. What is meant by swelling clay? Explain what happens.

3. Which chemicals in the drilling fluid prevent the reactive clays from swelling? 4. What do you think can happen if you drill through a formation that consists of illite? 5. How can these conditions be prevented or reduced? Chapter 5 1. Which tests do you do in a laboratory to test the quality or characteristics of water-based drilling fluids? 2. What is meant by viscosity? 3. What equipment is needed to measure the viscosity of drilling fluids on an installation? 4. How does the viscosity change with pressure and temperature in water-based and oilbased drilling fluids? 5. What can happen in a well if the viscosity is too high when running and pulling the drill string, and when re-starting the pumps? 6. How is YS or YP calculated? 7. What do we mean by the gel strength and what is its function? Chapter 6 1. Which chemicals limit the use of water-based drilling fluids at high temperatures? 2. Give the constituents in an oil-based drilling fluid and which functions the different additives perform. 3. What are the main groups of oil-based drilling fluids and what distinguishes them? 4. What do we mean by inverted drilling fluid? 5. What advantages and disadvantages are there in using oil-based drilling fluids? 6. What limitations have the authorities placed on their use? 7. What do we mean by toxicity, bioaccumulation and biodegrading? 8. What is the function of the water added to the oil-based drilling fluid? 9. What effect does the oil have on formation clays in a well?

10. What is the most costly contaminant to enter an oil-based drilling fluid? a) water b) gas c) salt d) other Give reasons. 11. Why should the drill pipe stands not be hosed down with water when using oil-based drilling fluids? 12. What is an Health, Environment and Safety computer sheet and what information does it contain? 13. What is the difference between the use of oil-based drilling fluids and water-based drilling fluids in the working environment? Give reasons. 14. What effect do oil-based drilling fluids have on the marine environment? Chapter 7 1. What do we mean by circulation loss, how does it occur and what is done to stop it? 2. Why is circulation loss so much more problematic when using oil-based drilling fluids than water-based fluids? 3. Which products are there on board to stop circulation loss? 4. What reason can there be for differential drill string sticking, and how can it be released? 5. If you drill with a water-based drilling fluid and enter a salt zone, what would you do with the drilling fluid beforehand? 6. How would a water-based drilling fluid react if you drilled through a salt formation and what would you do in this case? 7. Give examples of gases from the formation and the disadvantages these can create: a) in the hole b) on the surface 8. Explain why mixing drilling fluid and cement is undesirable. 9. What can be done to prevent this? 10. What should be done if the drilling fluid is contaminated by cement and which properties of the fluid are changed?

Chapter 8 1. Why do we not want large amounts of filtrate invading the reservoir? 2. What can an invasion of fine particles in the reservoir cause and how can this be avoided: a) when drilling into a reservoir? b) when completing or doing work over on a reservoir? 3. List the most important completion fluids used for different processes in the well. 4. What function does a spacer fluid have and when is it used? 5. When are salt solutions used? 6. List the most important factors that form the basis for the choice of salts used in a reservoir. 7. List other additives used with salts and their function. 8. What do we mean by the crystallisation temperature of a salt solution? 9. What are spacer fluids and when are they used? Give examples. 10. What do we mean by the salt solution being compatible with the formation? Chapter 9 1. Explain how cement is made, the raw materials used and the most important components of finished cement. 2. What are the most commonly used cement classes in the North Sea and why are they used the most? 3. List the most common additives in a cement slurry and their functions. 4. Give some examples of what can happen in the well if some of the planned criteria for the cement slurry are wrong, for example filter loss and setting time. 5. Which chemicals can be used to reduce the drying time in a cement slurry and what are they called? 6. What happens if sodium chloride (NaCl) is added to a cement slurry? 7. What function do thinners have in cement slurry? What happens if we have too little or too much of these in formations that have:

a) high permeability? b) low permeability? 8. Into which three categories can we divide the weight-reducing additives that are used in cement? 9. What is the purpose of adding weighting material to a cement slurry? 10. Which weighting materials are used in cement slurry? 11. What can you say about the relationship between the thinners content in a cement slurry and the pressure the slurry is exposed to in the well? 12. Which undesirable effects can a large filtrate loss of cement result in? 13. Can Lost Circulation Material act as a multi-phase sacrificial material? 14. Which flow profile do you think is most desirable in a cement slurry when it is pumped into the well? Explain why. 15. Describe the cement slurry and the equipment used. 16. What are the primary aims in cementing the casing? 17. Which are the most common methods of doing this? 18. Briefly explain the methods of primary cementing? 19. When do we use washing fluids and why? 20. Explain what information is collected in connection with estimating the composition of the cement slurry and its physical and chemical characteristics. 21. What is the basis of the volume calculations and what are the levels of over-estimated volumes for the different sections? 22. What is primary cementing? 23. What do we mean by balanced plug cementing? Give some examples of when it is used. 24. Explain the principles of pressure cementing and how it is done. 25. Give the most common reasons for failed cementing jobs. 26. Outline some of the methods used in connection with evaluating the quality of a pressurecementing job.

27. List the different stages where quality control is done and which tests are performed. 28. What is a pilot test? 29. Describe the tests done during a planned cement phase, why they are done and what they tell us.