A Combined Barite-Ilmenite Weighting Material to Prevent Barite Sag in Water-Based Drilling Fluid

Barite sag is a serious problem encountered while drilling high-pressure/high-temperature (HPHT) wells. It occurs when barite particles separate from the base fluid leading to variations in drilling fluid density that may cause a serious well control issue. However, it occurs in vertical and inclined wells under both static and dynamic conditions. This study introduces a combined barite-ilmenite weighting material to prevent the barite sag problem in water-based drilling fluid. Different drilling fluid samples were prepared by adding different percentages of ilmenite (25, 50, and 75 wt.% from the total weight of the weighting agent) to the base drilling fluid (barite-weighted). Sag tendency of the drilling fluid samples was evaluated under static and dynamic conditions to determine the optimum concentration of ilmenite which was required to prevent the sag issue. A static sag test was conducted under both vertical and inclined conditions. The effect of adding ilmenite to the drilling fluid was evaluated by measuring fluid density and pH at room temperature, and rheological properties at 120 °F and 250 °F. Moreover, a filtration test was performed at 250 °F to study the impact of adding ilmenite on the drilling fluid filtration performance and sealing properties of the formed filter cake. The results of this study showed that adding ilmenite to barite-weighted drilling fluid increased fluid density and slightly reduced the pH within the acceptable pH range (9-11). Ilmenite maintained the rheology of the drilling fluid with a minimal drop in rheological properties due to the HPHT conditions, while a significant drop was observed for the base fluid (without ilmenite). Adding ilmenite to the base drilling fluid significantly reduced sag factor and 50 wt.% ilmenite was adequate to prevent solids sag in both dynamic and static conditions with sag factors of 0.33 and 0.51, respectively. Moreover, HPHT filtration results showed that adding ilmenite had no impact on filtration performance of the drilling fluid. The findings of this study show that the combined barite-ilmenite weighting material can be a good solution to prevent solids sag issues in water-based fluids; thus, drilling HPHT wells with such fluids would be safe and effective.