Effect of Different Weighting Agents on Drilling Fluids and Filter Cake Properties in Sandstone Formations

Weighting agents such as barite, micromax, ilmenite, and hematite are commonly added to drilling fluids to produce high-density fluids that could be used to drill deep oil and gas wells. Increasing the drilling fluid density leads to highly conspicuous fluctuation in the drilling fluid characteristics. In this study, the variation in the drilling fluid's rheological and filtration properties induced by adding different weighting agents was evaluated. For this purpose, several water-based drilling fluid samples were prepared and weighted up using the same concentration of various weighting materials including barite, micromax, ilmenite, and hematite. The characteristics of the used weighting agents' (particle size distribution and mineralogy) were measured. Subsequently, the rheological properties of the drilling fluid were obtained using a Fann viscometer at 80 °F. The filtration test was carried out at 200 °F and 300 psi differential pressure to form a filter cake over the sandstone core samples. The properties of the formed filter cake layer such as thickness, porosity, and permeability were determined. Furthermore, the typical properties of core samples including porosity and permeability were assessed before and after the filtration test. The displayed results confirmed that the plastic viscosity (PV), yield point (YP), and filter cake sealing properties were all significantly influenced by the ratio of the large to fine particle size (D₉₀/D₁₀) of the weighting agents irrespective of the weighting material type. Among the examined weighting agents, barite showed novel potency to control both rheological and filter cake properties for 14 ppg drilling fluid. The results showed that D₉₀/D₁₀ is a key factor for the PV and YP properties as increasing the D₉₀/D₁₀ ratio caused PV increase and YP decrease, which indicated that the interaction among the loaded weighting materials in the drilling fluid dominated its viscosity.