Magnificent mud

Fluid failures

"One of the major causes of drilling problems and associated rig down time is the inability to control drilling fluid losses to highly porous, permeable and fractured formations", explains Grant.

"It's not just the cost of the drilling fluid that can be significant, because when you start losing drilling fluid to the formations drilled, you can cause borehole instability in upper hole sections which can lead to serious stuck pipe problems and the potential loss of the hole."

When drilling carbonate formations, which are commonly encountered throughout most of the Middle East, certain layers may be highly fractured and under pressured. In this instance mud losses to the formation can occur immediately. "This can reach a point where you experience total losses without any fluid returns to the surface, although this is the most extreme case," explains Grant.

When downhole losses are encountered, lost circulation material (LCM) is added to the drilling fluid system or pumped as concentrated pills.

"These materials are specially designed and sized to help plug the pore throats or fractures which are causing this loss. However, if the losses are being encountered in a reservoir section, it's vitally important to ensure that non-damaging LCM is displaced to the loss zone," explains Grant.

"While drilling through a reservoir section you can't risk squeezing anything down there that could cause permanent damage or impair the production from the reservoir. If fluid losses in the reservoir occur, we have a range of specialized LCM products which can be squeezed into the thief zone to provide a temporary barrier, which will not permanently damage the reservoir," he added.

"A more sophisticated approach is to use our X-LINK technology which has been proven to provide effective lost circulation control in extreme situations," added Grant.

False economy

With a vast array of advanced drilling fluid technologies available which are designed to cope with specific well conditions, the ability to improve wellbore stability, reduce drilling time and maximize hydrocarbons productivity is possible, however there is a concern that the best "tools" for the job aren't being deployed, even when oil companies are under pressure to improve performance, reduce overall drilling costs & maximize hydrocarbons production from their existing field assets.

Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids is a leader in the development and application of advanced, environmentally friendly High Performance Water Base Mud (HPWBM) Systems.

"Our PERFORMAX, TERRA-MAX, MAX-BRIDGE and PER-FLEX Systems have all been used successfully for various customers in the Middle East," added Grant.

"Oil companies should not just look at the cost of the drilling fluid products alone, but instead assess the value which the drilling fluid brings to the table by helping to reduce the overall cost/metre or cost/foot to drill the well, by evaluating the environmental impact of using non-aqueous fluids and by measuring the capacity of the well to maximize hydrocarbons production", explains Grant.

"Sometimes it may seem cheaper on paper & thus an attractive option to buy more basic, less expensive drilling fluid products, however, if the well takes an extra 10 days to drill, then the overall cost per metre or per foot drilled can be substantially higher, so the entire project cost can be unsustainable."

Such fears are common in an oil industry where, it is acknowledged amongst the drilling fraternity and the engineers at the sharp end, that the wrong bottom line is being studied.

"If you look at the big picture, you want products & services that bring value to the project, but sometimes it's not easy to get this message across," says Grant.

"The procurement stage is where inferior products often get selected for their perceived value and then it's then discovered during the execution phase that the drilling fluid products and systems selected based on the lowest price are not adding value to the drilling operation" he adds. Words that will no doubt resonate with drillers across the region.

"Our drilling fluid engineers and our customers' drilling engineers understand this fully, and this is an issue which needs to be recognised and addressed collectively by the industry as pressure is mounting to maximize drilling performance and reduce the overall drilling costs in today's market place," warns Grant.

Year ahead

E&P spend this year is estimated to fall significantly short of 2008, but there are already signs of an oil price recovery, and indeed, many aspects of the Middle East industry show reasons to remain upbeat.

On the horizon is the potential for Iraq to return to the fore, and on a recent visit Grant was given much to be positive about.

News that the Iraqi Drilling Company will have an additional 25 rigs in country by the end of this year is clearly a demonstration of their commitment to increase upstream activity in Iraq and meet their production targets.

"I was in Baghdad to attend the First Iraq Energy Expo & Conference last December, and I met a lot of interesting people there. Aside from meeting representatives of the national Iraqi oil companies I met many international oil company representatives, which is a sign of how far things have come."

Grant signs off with a positive note. "There's lots of doom and gloom about, but I tend to be an optimist because I've been there before. Just recently I saw an article which said $200/bbl oil is back on the horizon, so who knows? However we're dealing with a finite resource and it's important to avoid any speculative price hikes if we're to maintain some stability in our industry. Adverse economic conditions globally are undoubtedly a major concern, however there is still a lot of latent demand for oil & gas, particularly from India and China, and I hope that before the year is out the industry will be recruiting again," he concludes.

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