Testing protocol and breakeven cost analysis of mud dewatering for closed-loop drilling system

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1997

Abstract

Closed-loop drilling operations in environmentally sensitive areas require integration of conventional solids control system with chemically-enhanced centrifugation, a continuous dewatering process. The paper presents a design method for continuous dewatering. The method is based on rigsite mud dewaterability testing and breakeven cost economics. The protocol for dewaterability test describes instrumentation and stepwise procedure to measure dewatering cake's moisture content and evaluate efficiency of volume reduction. Emphasized is preparation of weighted mud samples through removal of weighting material and correction for residual barite. The presented testing protocol eliminates volumetric measurements and replaces them with weight measurements which improve accuracy by an order of magnitude. The paper explains how to use results from dewaterability tests to analyse cost efficiency of the dewatering component in closed-loop drilling operations. The analysis is based upon an analytical model of breakeven cost. The model combines dewaterability with depth-related quantities representing drilling progress and rates of waste generation, recycling and disposal. The paper shows: 1. How to evaluate dewatering performance while drilling; 2. How to set up technical requirements soliciting bids for dewatering services; and, 3. How to predict drilling depth below which the process is not economical.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

First Page

51

Last Page

58

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