Publications

Lost circulation (LC) is one of the major problems that drilling companies face on a regular basis during their daily activities. Lost circulation (or lost returns) is defined as the total or partial loss of drilling fluids or cement slurries into highly permeable zones, cavernous formations, and fractures or fractures induced during drilling or cementing operations. However, currently there are no solutions on the market that would provide a consistent cure to these losses. The need to improve conventional practices of combating lost circulation while drilling has been identified as a major task on the way to creating a new superior solution. LC fiber based solution - is a high performance and cost-efficient lost-circulation solution for curing losses caused by natural fractures with the fracture width up to 5mm. Fiber system is designed for use in water-based fluids to cure lost circulation. The fiber system can be deployed in a spacer ahead of cementing or in a spotting pill during drilling. This solution can disperses readily in water-base fluids and is fully compatible with standard surface mixing and pumping equipment when used within the recommended concentrations. It has also been demonstrated that the fiber solution can be pumped through qualified drill bits, Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD) tools and float shoes with specified pill formulations. The case study consisted of 1 pill (20 bbls) was successfully executed as a spacer ahead. As a result of the operation, we got a full return while cement job and good cement bond in prospect zone. Beside the losses, there is a field challenges to get rapid cement set (early built up Compressive in long casing/liner) with smart retarder system. This paper describes the whole process of candidate selection, design and optimization of pills with fibers as well as actual placements and the results achieved from a number of such treatments performed with PERTAMINA EP.