The Rule of Carrying Cuttings in Horizontal Well Drilling of Marine Natural Gas Hydrate

Na Wei, Yang Liu, Zhenjun Cui, Lin Jiang, Wantong Sun, Hanming Xu, Xiaoran Wang and Tong Qiu
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Na Wei: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Yang Liu: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Zhenjun Cui: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Lin Jiang: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Wantong Sun: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Hanming Xu: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Xiaoran Wang: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Tong Qiu: State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Horizontal well drilling is a highly effective way to develop marine gas hydrate. During the drilling of horizontal wells in the marine gas hydrate layer, hydrate particles and cutting particles will migrate with the drilling fluid in the horizontal annulus. The gravity of cuttings is easy to deposit in the horizontal section, leading to the accumulation of cuttings. Then, a cuttings bed will be formed, which is not beneficial to bring up cuttings and results in the decrease of wellbore purification ability. Then the extended capability of the horizontal well will be restricted and the friction torque of the drilling tool will increase, which may cause blockage of the wellbore in severe cases. Therefore, this paper establishes geometric models of different hole enlargement ways: right-angle expansion, 45-degree angle expansion, and arc expanding. The critical velocity of carrying rock plates are obtained by EDEM and FLUENT coupling simulation in different hydrate abundance, different hydrate-cuttings particle sizes and different drilling fluid density. Then, the effects of hole enlargement way, particle size, hydrate abundance and drilling fluid density on rock carrying capacity are analyzed by utilizing an orthogonal test method. Simulation results show that: the critical flow velocity required for carrying cuttings increases with the increase of the particle size of the hydrate-cuttings particle when the hydrate abundance is constant. The critical flow velocity decreases with the increase of drilling fluid density, the critical flow velocity carrying cuttings decreases with the increase of hydrate abundance when the density of the drilling fluid is constant. Orthogonal test method was used to evaluate the influence of various factors on rock carrying capacity: hydrate-cuttings particle size > hole enlargement way > hydrate abundance > drilling fluid density. This study provides an early technical support for the construction parameter optimization and well safety control of horizontal well exploitation models in a marine natural gas hydrate reservoir.

Keywords: marine natural gas hydrate; horizontal wells; orthogonal test method; carrying cuttings capacity; critical flow velocity (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 (2)

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