Prediction of Hydrostatic Pressure and Downhole Mud Temperatures While Drilling

izzy Kutasov, Lev Eppelbaum

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In deep and hot wells, the densities of water/oil mud and brine (geofluids) can be significantly different from those measured at surface conditions. As a result, bottom-hole pressures predicted with constant mud densities can be in error by hundreds of psig. Determining accurately the density of drilling mud (the density of the formation fluids) under downhole conditions needs for calculating the actual hydrostatic pressure in a well and predicting differential pressure at the bottom hole. This will help to reduce the fluid losses resulting from miscalculated pressure differentials. In areas with high geothermal gradients, the thermal expansion of drilling mud can lead to unintentional underbalanced, and a kick may occur. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of an empirical equation for the downhole circulating mud temperature as well as the early derived analytical equation for the drilling mud hydrostatic pressure. A field example is presented.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)53-57
Number of pages5
JournalInternational Journal of Petroleum Technology
Volume2
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2015

Keywords

  • Drilling
  • Deep wells
  • Hydrostatic pressure

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