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Maintaining Salt Saturation at the Bottom Hole Temperature Alpha 1655 is used to maintain a supersaturated NaCl system for

3 principle reasons:

1. Preventing cuttings from dissolving into the mud so that the top of the ARA salt can be
easily identified from cuttings samples, and the casing point picked before drilling into a potentially over pressured zone 2. Preventing washouts and over-gauge hole in the ARA salt 3. Minimising crystallisation and screen blinding which leads to whole mud losses However it is possible to maintain saturation without using this expensive chemical. Table I details salt saturation and chlorides concentrations at various temperatures. When the mud filtrate (of mud without Alpha 1655) is tested for chlorides then a maximum chloride concentration of about 189 kg/m3 will be obtained. This is because the mud will have cooled to room temperature and any suspended salt crystals will have been filtered out by the API filter paper. However the circulating mud may well have sufficient salt suspended in it (in the form of fine crystals) to be fully saturated at the BHT. This cannot be measured using the normal test method for chlorides at room temperature (without Alpha 1655) as this test can only ever give a maximum of 189 kg/m3 Table 1 approximate solubility of NaCl at increasing temperatures Temp C 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 TS (NaCl ) kg / m3 brine 316.7 317.5 318.6 319.9 321.5 323.5 325.4 327.9 330.9 334 337.1 340.2 340.1 346.8 Cl- kg/ m3 brine 192.2 192.7 193.3 194.1 195.1 196.3 197.5 199.0 200.8 202.7 204.6 206.4 206.4 210.5

In order to determine the total NaCl content of the mud take a known volume of mud (taken after the shakers) and mix with a known volume of distilled water. All the excess NaCl will dissolve, if the chlorides of the mixture are measured it is possible to determine if there is sufficient NaCl in the mud (dissolved and present as fine crystals) for the mud to be saturated at the elevated BHT temperature when it is pumped back downhole.

Procedure

Take 100 250 cc mud carefully measured into a cylinder or flask at room temperature. Take the same volume of distilled water Pour the mud into a larger beaker and then rinse out the mud container with the known volume of distilled water. Do this in 3 rinses to ensure all the mud and suspended salt are rinsed out. Stir or mix this fluid for 10-15 minutes to ensure all the suspended salt dissolves Use the API filter-press and obtain a sample of filtrate, then accurately measure the chlorides. = C Measure the corrected solids of the undiluted mud using the retort and from this determine the brine volume of the undiluted mud. BV = 100 %corrected solids %oil.

Then the total chlorides in the mud sample (before dilution) would be: TC = C x (100 + BV) BV Total salt in the mud would be TS = TC x 1.65 Refer to Table 1 and see if there is enough salt in the mud (TS) to maintain saturation at the circulating BHT Example

Depth 4200 m Estimated BHT 110 C Flowline temperature 50 C Mud Weight 12 kPa/m API Chlorides = 189 kg/m3 Calculated corrected solids = 6 % Brine Volume BV = 100 6 = 94 Circulating volume 280 m3

Measured chlorides of the 50:50 mixture of mud distilled water C = 89 kg/m3 Then, the total chlorides of the mud would be TC = 89 x (100 + 94) 94 = 183.7 And, the total salt including suspended salt would be TS = 183.7 x 1.65 = 303.1 kg/m3 From table 1 it can be seen that 330.9 kg/m3 are required to saturate the system at 110 C. This is a requirement of 330.9 303.1 = 27.8 kg/m3 salt to be added to the mud Therefore total NaCl addition required for saturation = 27.8 x 280 x 0.94 = 7,317 kg

The above example is to fully saturate the system, when running the system the calculation should be indicating that there is sufficient suspended salt in the mud for saturation! Running the system Table 1 gives the approximate saturation figures for NaCl at elevated temperatures. Remember that the predicted static BHT will be higher than the circulating BHT and the system needs to be saturated at the circulating BHT. In reality once the system has had enough NaCl added for saturation at the BHT it should not be necessary to make continual additions of extra salt. If this is happening perhaps the shaker screens are too fine and you are screening out the very fine crystals of salt. It is recommended to have shaker screens no finer than 175 mesh initially If the mud sample is taken before the shakers then you will overestimate the total salt in the system as some of the salt will be stripped out by the shakers. You are concerned with maintaining enough dissolved and suspended salt in the mud so that when the mud from the active pit is pumped down hole, it already contains enough salt to saturate itself and does not dissolve additional salt from the well-bore or cuttings. The above calculations are approximate and do not take intro account brine and temperature coefficients. However, the chlorides end-point and retort analysis are not 100 %accurate, so the above simplified calculation is adequate to ensure there is sufficient salt in the mud to prevent dissolving the fresh cuttings or washing out the well-bore

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