Hydrate Control in Drilling Mud

This book provides pathways and strategies for mud engineers and drilling students in the future drilling industry. The data on the effect of drilling mud additives on hydrate formation thermodynamics and kinetics are discussed to aid proper additives selection and blending for optimum performance. Practical field operations of hydrate-related drilling are discussed with insights on future drilling operations.

Preface Drilling fluid design is very crucial in all drilling operations. Gas hydrate wells or hydrate sediments are future reservoirs that are believed to produced clean natural gas that will replace the current fossil fuels. Hydrate management has now become a part of the drilling operation and for that matter, relevant knowledge and guidelines of drilling  fluid design for hydrate management in drilling-related operations would help establish a strong foundation for hydrate-related drilling operations.

This book is useful to mud engineers, students, and industries who wish to be drilling fluid authorities in the21st-century energy production industry.

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Fundamentals of Hydrates and Drilling Mud.- Chapter 3. Testing Drilling Fluid and Hydrate Properties.- Chapter 4. Rheology of Hydrate-Based Drilling Mud.- Chapter 5. Hydrate Thermodynamic Behaviour in Drilling Mud.- Chapter 6. Hydrate Kinetics Behaviour in Drilling Mud.- Chapter 7. Practical Application of Drilling Mud in Hydrate Related Drilling Operations.

Dr. Bhajan Lal is a senior lecturer in Chemical Engineering Department at the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. He is a core research member of the Carbon Dioxide Research Centre in the Institute of Contaminant Management at UTP. After receiving his PhD degree, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow and Research Scientist in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Turkey, and Malaysia. His main areas of research interests are clathrate hydrates, CO₂ capture and storage, natural gas storage, flow assurance (gas hydrate as well as corrosion), gas hydrate-based wastewater treatment, and water-based drilling fluid. He supervised master, Ph.D., and postdoc students since 2013. He has published 70 peer-reviewed journal papers, 38 conference papers, and 4 book chapters, and a book titled “Chemical Additives for Gas Hydrates”. In addition, as project leader, he has secured 8 gas hydrate-related research projects worth RM 2 million from oil and gas industries, UTP, and the Malaysian Government.

Dr. Titus Ntow Ofei is a PIRE research fellow and the lead researcher on particle sedimentation in oil-based drilling fluids at the Department of Geoscience and Petroleum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He has more than 8 years of experience in teaching and research in both Malaysia and Norway. Dr. Ofei formerly worked as a senior lecturer at the Petroleum Engineering Department, University Teknologi PETRONAS from 2014 to 2018. Through international collaborations, he secured and executed 6 research projects, supervised more than 30 students, and published more than 40 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and book chapters. Dr Ofei holds PhD and MSc. degrees in petroleum engineering and BSc. (Hons) degree in mechanical engineering. His research expertise includes drilling fluid technology, rheology, wellbore hydraulics, cuttings transport, experimental and computational fluid dynamics. Dr. Ofei is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

Mr. Cornelius Borecho Bavoh is a research fellow, a Ph.D. candidate, and a graduate assistant at the Phase Separation Laboratory of the Research Center for CO₂ Capture (RCCO₂C) in the Chemical Engineering Department of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Seri Iskandar, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia. He has more than 5 years of experience in tutoring and research at the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. He has worked on several industrial and fundamental projects related to drilling, gas hydrate, and CO₂ capture and separation, and published more than 30 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and book chapters. Mr. Bavoh holds MSc. degrees in chemical engineering and BSc. (Hons) degree in petroleum engineering. His research expertise includes thermodynamics and kinetics of reservoir fluid phase modeling and characterization, gas hydrate in flow assurance, production of naturally deposited methane hydrates, and application of gas hydrate-based technology in CO₂ Capture and natural gas storage and transportation, drilling fluid technology, rheology, and cuttings transport. Mr. Bavoh is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).