Experimental study of improved rheology and lubricity of drilling fluids enhanced with nano-particles

An experimental study of the rheology and lubricity properties of a drilling fluid is reported, motivated by applications in highly deviated and extended reach wells. Recent developments in nanofluids have identified that the judicious injection of nano-particles into working drilling fluids may resolve a number of issues including borehole instability, lost circulation, torque and drag, pipe sticking problems, bit balling and reduction in drilling speed. The aim of this article is therefore to evaluate the rheological characteristics and lubricity of different nanoparticles in water-based mud, with the potential to reduce costs via a decrease in drag and torque during the construction of highly deviated and ERD wells. Extensive results are presented for percentage in torque variation and coefficient of friction before and after aging. Rheology is evaluated via apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity and gel strength variation before and after aging for water-based muds (WBM). Results are included for silica and titanium nanoparticles at different concentrations. These properties were measured before and after aging the mud samples at 80°C during 16 hours at static conditions. The best performance was shown with titanium nanoparticles at a concentration of 0.60 % (w/w) before aging