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Mud motor failure downhole may be happened from time to time. The questions that are usually raised are things like How do I know if the mud motor fails down hole? and What indications will I see that this has happened? etc. Due to this, I would like to share my personal experience regarding mud motor failure and its symptoms.
The following signs indicate that you may be faced with downhole mud motor breakdown. Frequent Mud Motor Stall Motor stall happens when the rotor of the mud motor has stopped moving. Typically, the motor stalls only with a high differential of pressure. However, if the motor doesnt perform as normal, it will get stalled with by a small amount of differential pressure. For instance, a mud motor normally drills at 400 psi differential pressure, but if the motor is stalled out with only 100 psi you can suspect the problem is with the motor. Pressure fluctuation while rotating As you know, differential pressure it a set parameter while rotating down, not based on the weight on bit (WOB). Rotating with a good mud motor wont create pressure fluctuations, whereas a bad mud motor will show fluctuation in stand pipe pressure and you may not be able to maintain constant pressure. Abnormally high surface pressure A stator is made of rubber. When the stator rubber is worn out and breaking into pieces, small parts of rubber can jam the flow path in the motor. This situation also results in high stand pipe pressure. Reduction in Rate of Penetration If there are no changes in formation and drilling parameters, the decreasing in ROP (Rate of Penetration) may be caused by failure of the down hole tool. Moreover, if the tool is severely damaged, you will not be able to drill any footage. What should you do if the problem is clearly identified? The only thing you can do is pull out of the hole and change a new tool. It is almost impossible to drill with a damaged mud motor unless you only have a few feet to the well target depth. With the mentioned indicators of mud motor failure above, you should be able to identify your suspected problem and begin troubleshooting as soon as possible to minimize non-productive time on a drilling rig.
(Mill Tooth Bit) Milled-tooth bits have steel tooth cutters, which are fabricated as parts of the bit cone. The bits cut or gouge formations out when they are being rotated. The teeth vary in size and shape, depending on the formation. Teeth of the bits are different depending on formations as follows: Soft formation: The teeth should be long, slender and widely spaced. These teeth will produce freshly broken cuttings from soft formations. Hard formation: The teeth should be short and closely spaced. These teeth will produce smaller, more rounded, crushed, and ground cuttings from hard formations. 2. Tungsten Carbide Insert (TCI) or Insert bits
(Tungsten Carbide Insert Bit) Tungsten Carbide Insert (TCI) or Insert bits generally have tungsten carbide inserts (teeth) that are pressed into the bit cones. The inserts have several shapes such as long-extension shapes, round shaped inserts, etc. Teeth of the bits are different depending on the formation as follows: Soft formation: Long-extension, chisel shape inserts Hard formation: Short-extension, rounded inserts
(PDC Bit)
(Diamond Bit) Nowadays, with the improvement that have been made in fixed cutter bit technology, the PDC bits can drill almost any kind of formations from soft to hard formation. However, if you plan to drill very hard formations, you might consider using diamond bits instead.
Universal Engineering Solution For Rig People- I Know You Would Love It
Working on the drilling rig, you nee such a simple solution to help you through troubles which can be occurred. My friend just sent me the universal engineering solution for rig personnellook very simple and work!!! What do you think about it?
In the demonstrated instruction, there are many times that you stop and condition mud which will bring mud properties back to normal. Ps, this is based on my experience you may need to adjust to suit with your drilling operation.
Underbalanced drilling is a drilling technique that hydrostatic pressure from drilling mud is less than reservoir pressure. The underbalanced drilling can be created by using low weight fluids as base oil, fresh water which has less hydrostatic pressure than the expected formation pressure. Additionally, this drilling method is achieved by using low density drilling fluids as gas, foam, combination between conversional drilling fluid and foam/air. The main advantage of Underbalanced drilling is to minimized formation damage in reservoir. With underbalanced drilling, the reservoir fluid is allowed to flow out into the well therefore the chance of mud invasion into the reservoir is minimal. Hence, the production from the well from this technique is higher than normal wells. Conversely, drilling with conventional method (overbalanced drilling) creates near wellbore damages which affect hydrocarbon production. The underbalanced drilling is often applied to horizontal drilling wells because long horizontal reservoir will not be damaged with drilling fluid. Only few inches of near wellbore damage in the horizontal section can drastically reduce the reservoir performance. This video from Shell demonstrates you regarding underbalanced drilling and there is one section showing comparison between conventional and underbalanced drilling. This short VDO will definitely give you clear picture of this technique.
The following reasons why the slug does not do its job are as follows: Slug volume is not enough to slug the pipe. Recommended volume is around 25- 40 bbl. You should chase slug by pumping mud at least surface volume from mud pump to a rotary table. Otherwise, you will not get desired slug volume in the drillstring because it is still left in the surface volume. Weight of slug is not sufficient. As a normal practice, the slug weight should have at least 2 ppg over your current mud weight. There is something inside the drill string so the slug could not push mud in the drill string down. If you want to learn more about slug, please read the following articles: What is slug mud? How much volume and weight of slug mud should be? Barrels of slug required for desired length of dry pipe
What is slug mud? How much volume and weight of slug mud should be?
Slug Mud: It is heavy mud which is used to push lighter mud weight down before pulling drill pipe out of hole. Slug is used when pipe became wet while pulling out of hole. Normally, 1.5 to 2 PPG over current mud weight is a rule of thumb to decide how much weight of slug should be. For example, current mud weight is 10 PPG. Slug weight should be about 11.5 to 12 PPG. Normally, slug is pumped to push mud down approximate 200 ft (+/2 stands) and slug volume can be calculated by applying a concept of U-tube (see a figure below)
This equation expresses that the higher slug volume, the deeper of dry in drill pipe is met. As per the above equation, length of dry pipe can be substituted by 200 ft. In normal practice, slug volume pumped to clean drill pipe is around 15-25 bbl depending on drillpipe size. Moreover, it also depends on situations because sometime mud in annulus side may be heavier than measured MW due to cutting, drilling solid contaminated in mud, hence more slug volume is needed.
Volume of slug required for required length of dry pipe can be calculated by this following equations: Step 1: Determine hydrostatic pressure required to give desired drop inside drill pipe: Hydrostatic Pressure in psi = mud weight in ppg x 0.052 x ft of dry pipe Step 2: Determine difference in pressure gradient between slug weight and mud weight: Pressure gradient difference in psi/ft = (slug weight in ppg mud weight in ppg) x 0.052 Step 3: Determine length of slug in drill pipe: Slug length in ft = Hydrostatic Pressure in psi (in step 1) Pressure gradient difference in psi/ft (step 2) Step 4 Slug volume required in barrels: Slug volume in barrel = Slug length in ft x drill pipe capacity in bbl/ft Example: Determine the barrels of slug required for the following: Desired length of dry pipe = 200 ft Drill pipe capacity = 0.016 bbl/ft Mud weight = 10.0 ppg Slug weight = 11.5 ppg Step 1 Hydrostatic pressure required: Hydrostatic Prssure in psi = 10.0 ppg x 0.052 x 200 ft Hydrostatic Prssure in psi = 104 psi Step 2 differences in pressure gradient between slug weight and mud weight: Pressure gradient difference in psi/ft = (11.5 ppg 10.5 ppg) x 0.052 Pressure gradient difference in psi/ft = 0.078 psi/ft
Step 3 length of slug in drill pipe: Slug length in ft = 104psi 0.078 Slug length in ft = 1,333 ft Step 4 Slug volume required in barrels: Slug volume required = 1333 ft x 0.016 bbl/ft Slug volume required = 21.3 bbl Please find the Excel sheet for calculating barrels of slug required for desired length of dry pipe.
Image from the internet This is the example based on my experience, I drilled a 12-1/4 section with mud motor 1.5 degree bend and I slid 30 stands without back reaming. When I finish my motor run, I circulated hole clean and pulled out of hole to change to a rotary BHA. When I tripped back in hole, I could not pass where I started sliding therefore I ended up with reaming down all the way to the previous TD. It took me 4.5 hours extra. After I learned this event, I changed my drilling practice. I back ream at least 1 times every slide I made and I rarely had the problem while running casing/completion or tripping back in hole. In my opinion, you should not use this practice if you are drilling into very soft formations because you will easily lose your angle. PS, this is my opinion based on my experience. Please ask your boss again before back reaming .
What are the differences between steering (orienting or sliding) and rotating?
Steering (orienting or sliding) is drilling with mud downhole steerable mud motor. Drilling with the steerable motor does not rotate drill pipe because it uses hydraulic power to drive down hole motor and bit. Steering is used in order to control well direction. Rotating is drilling with Topdrive or rotary table and drillstring is rotated in order to gouge the hole. Rotary drilling will be used when straight hole direction is needed. Comparing between steering and rotating, steering can create dog leg more than rotating because mud motor incorporating with bend housing is designed to directionally drill to the specified direction; however, when Rotating, BHA is stiffer and has tendency to hold the direction. Rotating ROP is always faster than steering ROP by these following reasons: Friction force exerts on stable drill string when steering is always more than rotating. When steering, WOB is limited. Motor can be stalled or worn out if WOB excesses. Direction of well must be controlled carefully that means well can not be drilled faster.
Normally, material requirement plan must be revised everyday because sometimes drilling operation is not ongoing as plan. Therefore, some equipment must be delayed or some special equipment must be urgently requested for specific drilling operation.
There is relationship between pump pressure and pump stroke that you really need to understand and be able to determine pump pressure after adjusting new pump stroke. There are 2 formulas used to determine pump pressure as shown in the detail below: 1st formula for estimating new circulating pressure (simple and handy for field use) New circulating pressure in psi = present circulating pressure in psi x (new pump rate in spm old pump rate in spm) 2 Example: Determine the new circulating pressure, psi using the following data: Present circulating pressure = 2500 psi Old pump rate = 40 spm New pump rate = 25 spm New circulating pressure in psi = 2500 psi x (25 spm 40 spm) 2 New circulating pressure = 976.6 psi 2nd formula for estimating new circulating pressure (more complex) For the 1st formula, the factor 2 is used but its just the round up figure. If you want more accurate figure, you need to figure out an exact figure. So the 2nd formula has one additional formula to calculate the factor based on 2 pressure readings at different pump rate. Please follow these steps to determine new circulating pressure 1. Determine the factor n and the formula to determine factor n is below: Factor (n) = log (pressure 1 pressure 2) log (pump rate 1pump rate 2) 2. Determine new circulating pressure with this following formula. New circulating pressure in psi = present circulating pressure in psi x (new pump rate in spm old pump rate in spm) n Note: factor n comes from the first step of calculation. Example: Determine the factor n from 2 pump pressure reading Pressure 1 = 2700 psi at 320 gpm Pressure 2 = 500 psi at 130 gpm Factor (n) = log (2700 psi 500 psi) log (320 gpm 130 gpm) Factor (n) = 1.872 Example: Determine new circulating pressure by using these following information and the factor n from above example: Present circulating pressure = 2500 psi Old pump rate = 40 spm New pump rate = 25 spm New circulating pressure, psi = 2500 psi x (25 spm 40 spm) 1.872 New circulating pressure = 1037 psi Please find the Excel sheet used to calculate new circulating pressure based on pump pressure and pump stroke relationship.
The flow rate is below the critical flow rate, isnt it? In the following articles, we will have more in depth details regarding system constrains for drilling hydraulics. The topics that we will discuss are as follows: Annular velocity and its importance on drilling hydraulics Power Law constant determination Effective viscosity Reynolds number Flow regime and critical Reynolds numbers Critical flow rate We also have an intention to demonstrate step-by-step calculation to show you all calculation because only equations are not good enough to get all the pictures.
Mud Gas Separator is commonly called a gas-buster or poor boy degasser. It captures and separates large volume of free gas within the drilling fluid. If there is a "KICK" situation, this vessel separates the mud and the gas by allowing it to flow over baffle plates. The gas then is forced to flow through a line and vent it to a flare. A "KICK" situation happens when the annular hydrostatic pressure in a drilling well temporarily (and usually relatively suddenly) falls below that of the formation, or pore, pressure in a permeable section downhole, and before control of the situation is lost. It is always safe to design the mud/gas separator that will handle the maximum possible gas flow that can occur.[1][2]
Contents
Closed bottom type Open bottom type Float type Fixed type Elevating type
Poor boy degasser in China is usually named according to vessel diameter.So the type also including
FLQ800 or ZYQ800
Principle of operation
The principle behind the mud gas separator is relatively simple. On the figure, the mud and gas mixture is fed at the inlet allowing it to impinge on a series of baffles designed to separate gas and mud. The free gas then is moved into the flare line to reduce the threat of toxic and hazardous gases and the mud then discharges to the shale shaker and to the tank.
Vacuum degasser and poor boy degasser is both are degasser in oilfield, there are some differences some maybe confused.
The right side is the vacuum degasser, and the left side is the mud gas separator(poor boy degasser). The vacuum degasser suck the drilling mud and separated mud and gas by vacuum pump. Our vacuum degasser operates on a thin strata principle. The drill mud enters the tank and forces it to flow and distributed to a layer of internal baffle plates engineered to allow the liquid inside the vacuum degasser to flow as thin film and is exposed to the vacuum within the vessel. This layer of mud allows the gas to escape or break out of the mud . The vacuum pump releases the gas and discharge it to the disposal line. Mud exits the vessel under the action of the venturi and is returned to the mud system. The poor boy worked by the physical characters. The GN MUD/GAS SEPARATOR (poor boy degasser) consists of a cylindrical pressure vessel in a fixed vertical position. Inside is a series of specially angled baffle plates, stepped from the top to the bottom. When contaminated mud is routed into the separator, it flows downward successively over each plate. During this process, the heads of entrained gases break out. The released gas is then carried by the vent lines to a remote location where it can be safely flared. The flow of liquid from the vessel can be regulated by a liquid-level-control valve or a U-tube, ensuring adequate retention time in the separator for the gas to break out.
The height and diameter of an atmospheric separator are critical dimensions which affect the volume of gas and fluid the separator can efficiently handle. As the mud and gas mixture enters the separator, the operating pressure is atmospheric plus pressure due to friction in the gas vent line. The vertical distance for the inlet to the static fluid level allows time for additional gas break-out and provides an allowance for the fluid to rise somewhat during the operation to overcome friction loss in the mud outlet lines. As shown in Figure 39, the gas-fluid inlet should be located approximately at the midpoint of the vertical height. This provides the top half for a gas chamber and the bottom half for gas separation and fluid retention. The 30 in. diameter and 16 ft minimum vessel height requirements have proven adequate to handle the majority of gas kicks. The separator inlet should have at least the same ID as the largest line from the choke manifold which is usually 4 in. Some separators use tangential inlet, which creates a small centrifugal effect on the gas-fluid mixture which causes faster gas break-out. The baffle system causes the mud to flow in thin sheets which assists the separation process. There are numerous arrangements and shapes of baffles used. It is important that each plate be securely welded to the body of the separator with angle braces.
A 8 in. minimum ID gas outlet is usually recommended to allow a large volume of low pressure gas to be released from the separator with minimum restriction. Care should be taken to ensure minimum back pressure in the vent line,. On most offshore rigs, the vent line is extended straight up and supported to a derrick leg. The ideal line would be restricted to 30 ft in length and top of the line should be bent outward about 30 degrees to direct gas flow away from the rig floor. If it is intended that the gas should be flared, flame arresters should be installed at the discharge end of the vent line. As stated previously, when the gas pressure in the separator exceeds the hydrostatic head of the mud in the U-tube, the fluid seal in the bottom is lost and gas starts flowing into the mud system. The mud outlet downstream of the U-tube should be designed to maintain a minimum vessel fluid level of approximately 3 1/2 ft in a 16 ft high separator. Assuming a 9.8 ppg mud and total U-tube height of 10 ft the fluid seal would have a Well Control" href="/well-control2/hydrostatic-pressure.html">hydrostatic pressure equal to 5.096 psi. This points out the importance for providing a large diameter gas vent line with the fewest possible turns to minimise line frictional losses. The mud outlet line must be designed to handle viscous, contaminated mud returns. As shown in Figure 39 an 8 in. line is recommended to minimise frictional losses. This line is recommended to minimise frictional losses. The line usually discharges into the mud ditch in order that good mud can be directed over the shakers and untreatable mud routed to the waste pit. During well control operations, the main purpose of a mud gas separator is to vent the gas and save the drilling fluid. This is important not only economic reasons, but also to minimise the risk of circulating out a gas kick without having to shut down to mix additional mud volume. In some situations the amount of mud lost can be critical when surface volume is marginal and on-site mud supplies are limited. When a gas kick is properly shut in and circulated out, the mud gas separator should be capable of saving most of the mud. rilling S Well Services Training There are a number of design features which affect the volume of gas and fluid that the separator can safely handle. For production operations, gas oil separators can be sized and internally designed to efficiently separate gas from the fluid. This is possible because the fluid and gas characteristics are known and design flow rates can be readily established. It is apparent that 'gas busters' for drilling rigs cannot be designed on the same basis since the properties of circulated fluids from gas are unpredictable and a wide range of mixing conditions occur downhole. In addition, mud rheological properties vary widely and have a strong effect on gas environment. For both practical and cost reasons, rig mud gas separators are not designed for maximum possible gas release rates which might be needed; however, they should not handle most kicks when recommended shut-in procedures and well control practises are followed. When gas low rates exceed the separator capacity, the flow must be bypassed around the separator directly to the flare line. This will prevent the hazardous situation of blowing the liquid from the bottom of the separator and discharging gas into the mud system. Figure 39 illustrates the basic design features for atmospheric mud gas separators. Since most drilling rigs have their own separator designs, the Drilling Supervisor must analyse and compare the contractor's equipment with the recommended design to ensure the essential requirements are met. The atmospheric type separator operates on the gravity or hydrostatic pressure principle. The essential design features are:
Internal baffle arrangement to assist in additional gas break-out Diameter and length of gas outlet A target plate to minimise erosion where inlet mud gas mixture contacts the internal wall of the separator, which provides a method of inspecting plate wear A U-tube arrangement properly sized to maintain fluid head in the separator.
Here we set a few pictures to state this point. Maybe that sounds more.
The mud gas separator is used before shale shaker, while the vacuum degasser is used after the shale shaker, so they have different function. The poor boy degasser usually used to separate the most dangerous gas, and the vacuum degasser is used only when we need more effective and more efficient results.