Drilling Fluid Management & Disposal
Drilling fluid waste management and solids control of drilling mud related technical and developed situation.
Use of traditional cuttings handling systems based on washing the cuttings. By cleaning the cuttings, the oil content in the cuttings can be brought down to approximately 100g oil content per. kg drilled cuttings, which is the average allowable discharge of oil per. well. This again means that the cleaned cuttings can be dumped to sea after cleaning is performed.
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The fates of drill cuttings from offshore wells, and their effect on the marine environment, have been studied by means of side-scan sonar, scuba and underwater photography. Adverse effects are minimal and short-lived, and in some instances the accumulation of cuttings may be beneficial. Modification of normal mud and cuttings discharge procedures would be needed only in very unusual circumstances.
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Oil-based drilling fluids have long been recognized as a sound technical answer to problems encountered in deep-hot holes and, more recently, to stabilize boreholes with thick intervals of reactive clay formations. However, oil-based mud product development was slowing down until the introduction of low toxicity base oils in the late seventies created a need for new investigations. This innovation sparked a resurgence of oil mud research and development which has resulted in oil-based mud (OBM) systems being used routinely in many active drilling areas worldwide.
Continue reading “RIG PREPARATION FOR DRILLING OIL-BASED MUD”
The rotating separator process is based on a different principle than the shale shaker process. The mud line flow is fed into the slowly rotating separator. The drilling fluid contaminated with drilled cuttings is fed into the centre of a screen coated drum as shown schematically in Fig. 1. The outside of the drum is connected to an under-pressurised ventilation system.
Continue reading “Use of Rotating Separators as an Alternative to Shale Shakers”
