Highlights
Highlights
Benefits
- Gain improved wellbore stability by stabilizing troublesome shales and clays
- Reduce drilling fluid costs with low surface dilution rates
- Safely discharge cuttings in environmentally sensitive areas
Applications
- Water-based drilling fluids
- Reactive shales
- Deepwater, highly deviated, and extended-reach wells
Overview
Overview
Optimize wellbore stability and ensure excellent cuttings inhibition with the Baker Hughes AQUA-DRILL™ low-molecular-weight glycol drilling fluid system. The flexible system can be optimized to meet your specific well conditions—from deepwater to highly deviated to extended-reach wells.
Ensure superior performance while minimizing your environmental impact
The non-toxic, non-sheening AQUA-DRILL system can give you proven performance in situations where other drilling fluids fall short. The system uses low molecular weight polyols, which are low in toxicity and readily biodegradable. The inhibitive nature of these polyols helps reduce dilution rates, which reduces the overall volume of water-based fluid additives you discharge to the environment and lowers your disposal costs.
The AQUA-DRILL system provides a flexible, environmentally friendly solution for drilling reactive shales. Because of the system’s flexible design, many existing polymer drilling fluids are easily converted to AQUA-DRILL systems without displacement, saving you valuable rig time.
One key to AQUA-DRILL’s superior wellbore stability is the ability to engineer the fluid’s “cloud point”. The glycol/salt combination of each AQUA-DRILL system is engineered such that its cloud point is below the temperature of the freshly drilled cuttings. When the fluid contacts the warmer shale, the glycol drops out of solution – forming a protective layer in and around the cutting that minimizes its reaction with the water.
The cuttings cool as they travel up the wellbore. Once the cutting temperature drops below the AQUA-DRILL system’s engineered cloud point, the surface glycol dissolves back into the fluid system, which helps minimize glycol depletion. At the same time, glycol microemulsions just below the surface continue to protect the cuttings against swelling. As your bottomhole temperature changes, Baker Hughes field engineers adjust cloud point to optimize drilling performance and shale stability.
Contact us today to learn how the AQUA-DRILL low-molecular-weight glycol drilling fluid system can optimize your wellbore stability while drilling.