Nanomaterial-Based Drilling Fluids for Exploitation of Unconventional Reservoirs: A Review

Muhammad Ali, Husna Hayati Jarni, Adnan Aftab, Abdul Razak Ismail, Noori M. Cata Saady, Muhammad Faraz Sahito, Alireza Keshavarz, Stefan Iglauer and Mohammad Sarmadivaleh
Additional contact information
Muhammad Ali: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Perth 6151, Australia
Husna Hayati Jarni: Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam 40450, Malaysia
Adnan Aftab: Petroleum Engineering Department, Mehran UET, Kahirpur Mir’s Campus, Sindh 66020, Pakistan
Abdul Razak Ismail: Petroleum Engineering Department, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Malaysia
Noori M. Cata Saady: Department of Civil Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Muhammad Faraz Sahito: College of Engineering & Applied Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Alireza Keshavarz: School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup 6027, Australia
Stefan Iglauer: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Perth 6151, Australia
Mohammad Sarmadivaleh: Western Australia School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Perth 6151, Australia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-30

Abstract: The world’s energy demand is steadily increasing where it has now become difficult for conventional hydrocarbon reservoir to meet levels of demand. Therefore, oil and gas companies are seeking novel ways to exploit and unlock the potential of unconventional resources. These resources include tight gas reservoirs, tight sandstone oil, oil and gas shales reservoirs, and high pressure high temperature (HPHT) wells. Drilling of HPHT wells and shale reservoirs has become more widespread in the global petroleum and natural gas industry. There is a current need to extend robust techniques beyond costly drilling and completion jobs, with the potential for exponential expansion. Drilling fluids and their additives are being customized in order to cater for HPHT well drilling issues. Certain conventional additives, e.g., filtrate loss additives, viscosifier additives, shale inhibitor, and shale stabilizer additives are not suitable in the HPHT environment, where they are consequently inappropriate for shale drilling. A better understanding of the selection of drilling fluids and additives for hydrocarbon water-sensitive reservoirs within HPHT environments can be achieved by identifying the challenges in conventional drilling fluids technology and their replacement with eco-friendly, cheaper, and multi-functional valuable products. In this regard, several laboratory-scale literatures have reported that nanomaterial has improved the properties of drilling fluids in the HPHT environment. This review critically evaluates nanomaterial utilization for improvement of rheological properties, filtrate loss, viscosity, and clay- and shale-inhibition at increasing temperature and pressures during the exploitation of hydrocarbons. The performance and potential of nanomaterials, which influence the nature of drilling fluid and its multi-benefits, is rarely reviewed in technical literature of water-based drilling fluid systems. Moreover, this review presented case studies of two HPHT fields and one HPHT basin, and compared their drilling fluid program for optimum selection of drilling fluid in HPHT environment.

Keywords: unconventional reservoirs; shale; drilling technology; nanotechnology; rheology; shale inhibition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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