SPE 25867 Society of Petroleum engineers

Drilling Successfully Through Deforming Shale Formations:

Case Histories
Soran Talabani, U. of Oklahoma, and Godwin Chukwu* and Dimitrios Hatzignatiou, *
U. of Alaska Fairbanks
•SPE Members

Copyright 1993, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Rocky Mountain RegionaVLow Permeability Reservoirs Symposium held in Denver, CO, U.S.A., April 12-14, 1993.

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ABSTRACT can cause difficulties in controlling the
sloughing and/or swelling problems because of
Shale sloughing and swelling are the two major the variations in shale composition, ion
problems encountered when drilling through exchange capacity, formation water content
shale formations. Some areas are characterized and shale strength.
by shale sections containing bentonite or other
hydratable clays, which continually absorb INTRODUCTION
water, swell and slough into the hole. These
types of formations are known as heaving Shales make up over 75% of drilled formations
shales. This problem, if left uncombated, results and cause over 90% of wellbore stability
in high cost of drilling the hole and significantly, problems. Shale instability in a borehole may be
to other hole problems (pipe sticking, excessive attributed to any or all of the following
solid buildup in the mud and hole bridging), and combination of forces!: (a) overburden pressure
sometimes abandoning the well because of the (b) degree of compaction at the formation (c)
difficulty of reaching the targeted or anticipated pore pressure in shale exceeding the hydrostatic
pay depth. Drilling through shale formations pressure (d) rate at which the clays absorb water,
can, many a time result to hole stability (e) tectonic forces and (f) presence of
problems and may be aggravated the more microfractures along cleavage planes on the clay
when drilling through more than one kind of platelets. Subsurface shales have been
shale lithology. dehydrated by the pressure of the overlying
sediments. Drilling a well relieves the lateral
The existing literature addresses possible pressure and the formation imbibes water from
solution techniques to combat the shale the drilling fluid. This change can result in very
problems based on laboratory studies but these high swelling pressures which destabilize the
techniques neglect the existence of shale borehole1 . Thus, the stability of the borehole
heterogeneities which may cause sloughing and depends, to a large extent, on the interactions
swelling while drilling the same shale formation. between the drilling fluid and the exposed
shales. Interactions between the drilling fluid
This paper examines the physical appearance of filtrate and the clays present in potential
various shale samples with a view to (a) producing formations may restrict productivity if
determining the physical properties which the incorrect type of drilling fluid is used to drill
contribute to the shales' undesirable properties, these formations. Highly bentonitic shale can
and (b) proposing methods to minimize their absorb water, soften, and become incorporated
effects on drilling performance. Five field cases into the drilling fluid, thus increasing the
are presented where sloughing and swelling viscosity of the drilling fluid to detrimental high
shales were encountered. These cases reveal values.
that the heterogeneity of the shale formations

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The major types of shale usually encountered in inhibition with potassium chloride (b) coating
drilling a borehole are: shales with polymers to slow or prevent
dispersion and (c) mechanically sealing hairline
fractures with gilsonite.
(a) Brittle (sloughing) shale: this type of
shale has low montmorillonite content, SHALE STRUCTURE
but high kaolinite and illite fractions.
Shales are high compressible sedimentary rocks.
(b) Gumbo (plastic) shale: this group and have the ability to absorb water through
contains about 10-25% of their lattice structure. They are composed of
montmorillonite. 20-30% of illite and may many different minerals, such as quartz.
contain formation water. feldspar. dolomite. calcite, siderite and gypsum.
These minerals are considered to be basically
(c) Hydratable (swelling) shale: The swelling inert and are not affected by the chemical
shales have high content of environment of drilling fluids. although their
montmorillonite and contains almost no presence may result in mechanical instabilities.
formation water. Though this type of clay Other minerals such as kaolinite, illite, chlorite.
is inferior to bentonite. it contributes to montmorillonite. and mixed-layer clays adsorb
excessive drilling fluid viscosity. water when exposed to water-base fluids and
are the reactive portion of a shale formation
that causes varying degrees of instability8.
In recent years, some work on shale properties
have been published 1-4. Cook et al. 4 attributed Like many other kinds of rock formation. shale
the formation of micro-cracks which lead to can undergo metamorphic structural change
failure, to low strain rates and low effective with time depending on the surrounding
confining pressure (confining pressure minus temperature condition and the concentration of
pore pressure). At low strain rates, the pore potassium ions. Shalescontain about 10-15% by
fluid move relatively easily over short distances volume of connate water. As some of this water
in the shale. and the cracks forming in and is released to surroundi ng permeable
within the shale body are filled with fluid. formations. a normal pore pressure is
pressurized and continue to propagate until the maintained along the shale stratum. If the
shale fails at a low stress. As the strain rate released water is trapped within an
increases. restricted fluid flow within the shale impermeable stratum. an abnormal pressure
reduces the pote pressure. thus increasing the column will be created. If the connate water
stress required for failure 4 • within the pores of both illite and chlorite shale
structures is released. they will change to
Roehl and Hackett~ in their paper on screening muscovite. Shales may also expel their connate
shale swelling inhibitors. explained the peculiar water to the surrounding permeable strata. thus
crystalline and osmotic characteristic swelling of attaining low permeability values.
shales. They maintained that high electrolyte
concentrations can reduce the crystalline Shales could be identified either by using x-ray
swelling of shales. The results of their laboratory diffractometer or via MBT (Methylene Blue Test).
studies showed that rather than using high ion By using the x-ray diffractometry method. the
concentration mud. the use of polymer muds is shale mineral constituents can be identified
more effective in minimizing the surface using the Hanawalt method Y• In addition to
swelling of shales. The polymer solution using the MBT to estimate the bentonite and
approach was also followed by Griffin et al. b. bentonite equivalents contained in a given
The authors recommended designing a polymer volume of shale. Griffin et al. 6 had suggested the
fluid whose chemical activity matches that of the use of this technique to identify clays other than
formation water in the shale. bentonite on the basis of adsorption rates based
on the clays' surface area. Since MBT is based on
Anderson and Edwards' proposed a three- adsorption rate. the technique allows clays to be
pronged attack necessary to stabilize shales. distinguished and identified.
They recommended the use of: (a) chemical

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SPE No. 25876 S. A. Talabani, G. A. Chukwu, and D. G. Hatzignatiou 3

CASE HISTORIES

Five field cases are presented here on five oil Fine brittle to coarse shale was encountered at a
wells that had distinct and different shale depth of 8188 feet with a shale thickness of
problems. Wells 1, 2 and 3 were drilled through about 1700 feet. The formation had a very high
brittle shales composed of different percentages pore pressure and the salinity of the formation
of montmorillonite and kaolinite. Well 4 was was 150,000 ppm. The shale composed of 30%
drilled through hydratable shale, whereas Well illite, 10% muscovite and 10% calcium
5 was drilled through complicated gumbo shale. montmorillonite. Stuck pipe was encountered
Table 1 shows the mineral compositions of Wells after drilling through the first 100 feet of the
1 through 4. Table 2 shows the clay mineral shale formation, and heaving increased under a
contents of Well 5 obtained from x-ray sudden pump shut-off. The mud system was
diffraction analysis. The properties of the changed to oil base with low viscosity, but
drilling fluids used to successfully drill these without a solution. The use of an API mud
wells are given in Table 3. filtrate over 3.0 ((/30 min. aggravated the
heaving problem. This section of the hole was
enlarged by 200%.

The top of the shale was located at a depth of The heaving problem in the hole was solved by
2,790 feet. The formation characteristics were changing the mud system to biopolymer system
coarse brittle shale with some sand streaks in mixed with 10% carboxyl high viscous CMC. The
between. There was little or no formation water mud salinity increased to the formation water
present, and the cuttings contained about 40% salinity of 150,000 ppm, and the equivalent
kaolinite and 15% montmorillonite. circulating density was maintained equal to the
pressure gradient. Three successful cement jobs
The initial hole problem was encountered when were performed after drilling every 600 feet of
the drill pipe got stuck.after drilling through 300 the shale formation.
feet of the hole with fresh water bentonite mud
having a PH of 8.0. The drill string was released
by 25 tons overpull. Heaving of the shale
increased when the mud weight was increased Shale formation was encountered at a depth of
from 10.0 ppg to 10.5 ppg. Partial to complete 9550 feet and it had a thickness of 880 feet. The
loss of circulation was encountered at the same formation was of a brittle shale lithology, had a
zone. The drill string movement aggravated the low pore pressure and contained a mixture of
sloughing problem and a rotary speed of less kaolinite and illite, and about 20% of feldspar
than 60 rpm was inadequate. The mud system and siltstone.
was changed to potassium base, but with no
success. Sixteen cement jobs were attempted The initial problem encountered while drilling
unsuccessfully. A caliper log was run which through this formation started with fast drill
showed a hole enlargement by almost 138%. string rotation. This decreased the torque on
the pipe. The mud density increased and a PH
The well's heaving problem was solved by above 8.0 was observed. A potassium base mud
changing the mud system to polymer mud made system aggravated the heaving problem and this
up of 60% biopolymers, 38% ionic modified resulted in a hole enlargement of about 158%.
carboxy-ethyl cellulose (CEC) 1.2% lovic and 0.3
Iblbbl of calcium chloride. The mud equivalent The sloughing problem encountered in the
.circulating density was increased to the pore borehole was solved by changing the mud
pressure gradient equivalent of 10.3 ppg. Other system to polymer mud, composed of
mud properties are shown in Table 1. Sloughing polyssacharide having Ca + + concentration of
decreased to 15% with ·no more hole 10,000 ppm, and 0.8 Ib/bbl of high viscosity
enlargement. Three successful squeeze cement polymer. The mud flow rate was increased and
jobs were done on the contaminated section of the drill string rotation was decreased to 60 rpm.
the hole at the top 500 feet from the surface. The mud density was increased to the equivalent
of the pore pressure gradient so that the mud

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equivalent circulating density exceeded the mud density was reduced to 12.3 ppg and the
pore pressure gradient by 50 psi, which was formation water salinity was maintained at
enough to control the formation water at the 80,000 ppm.
lower part of the formation. Hole enlargement
was decreased to 5%. Cutting analysis on two selected zones within
the shale lithological column was performed.
The first zone that was investigated was from a
depth of 3,795 feet to 4,620 feet. The column
In this well, hydratable shale was encountered at was identified as a deforming shale with high
a depth of 3,280 feet, and had a thickness of 800 montmorillonite content, formation water
feet. The formation contained about 80% of salinity of 80,000 ppm and Ca"" of 800 ppm.
montmorillonite and it had little or no The hole column had a very heterogeneous
formation water. It contained streaks of shale lithology.
siltstone and could easily swell in the presence of
both water and oil base muds. The problem Heaving and swelling problems increased when
started when the mud density was increased the mud system was changed from fresh water
with mud having a PH of 9.0. The drill pipe was bentonite mud to each of the following mud
partially stuck. The drilling cuttings had a systems; (a) potassium base mud, (b) oil base
popcorn characteristic at the surface when they mud and (c) lime mud. After drilling the first 100
were observed at the shaker. feet of the formation, heavy swelling and
sloughing of the shale were encountered. The
The swelling problem encountered in the mud density was increased from 12.3 ppg to 12.7
formation was solved by changing the mud ppg without any solution. Frequent changing of
system to invert emulsion mud that had 50,000 the mud density led to mud losses into the hole.
ppm salinity to control the siltstone streaks High mud density increased the osmotic
which contained formation water. Also at every hydration and low drill string rpm increased the
addition of new drill pipe joint, a heavy mud heaving of the shale formation. Frequent
spot was injected to the bottom by an amount partial stuck pipe problems with very high pipe
equal to the difference between the hydrostatic torque were encountered. There occurred a
pressure and the equivalent circulating density. complete mud loss to the formation resulting in
The mud flow rate and the drill string rotation the loss of a 9S18-inch casing pipe.
were both reduced.
The control of the hole problems was difficult. A
biopolymer mud system was finally used to drill
the entire shale section to protect the hydration
Sloughing shale was encountered in Well 5 at a of the cement joints at the upper depths and
depth of 4,100 feet. After drilling 900 feet of the mud plastic viscosity was adjusted to more
the shale formation, the cuttings were jointed. than twice the yield point value with very low
More than 22 tons overpull was needed to free filtrate loss. The mud density was increased to
the drill string. A 10 ppg fresh bentonite mud, above the pore pressure while the flow rate was
measured to have 46 seconds March funnel decreased together with the drill string rpm.
viscosity, 12 cp plastic viscosity and PH of 9.0 was The zone was plugged back by squeezing
used. .Jointed shale fragments were cement at a pressure of 900 psi. After 150 hours
encountered at a depth of 4,250 feet with of WOC, the cement plug was redrilled and the
resulting high torque and overpull. The well mud density was decreased to 12.3 ppg. Normal
was located at the flank of a field and the shale drilling operation continued by applying drill-
beds had a dip angle of 32 degrees. The rotation plug-procedure for every 200 feet drilled hole,
of the drill string in these high dipping beds until the total depth was reached.
caused severe sloughing of the shales.
DISCUSSION
The drilling fluid was changed to salt saturated
mud system with low PH and higher density of The mechanisms of water adsorption on the
13.5 ppg. lost circulation occurred after drilling clays are surface hydration and osmotic swelling.
another 300 feet of the shale formation. The laboratory experiments showed that the use of

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SPE No. 25876 S. A. Talabani, G. A. Chukwu, and D. G. Hatzignatiou 5

calcium ions improved on the shale stability. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. (Dec. 1987) 24, pp.
Field experience on most wells showed that the 365-370.
use of potassium ions gave good indications of
shale stabilization for approximately 48-72 2. Steiger, R.P. and Leung, P.K.:
hours. Beyond this time, the shales started to "Quantitative Determination of the
swell and part especially the ones in which Mechanical Properties of Shales," SPE
caustic potash was used instead of caustic soda. Paper No. 18024 presented at the 1988
A SO/50 mixture of both salts produced better SPE Annual Technical Conference and
results. Both the mud and filtrate alkalinity Exhibition, Houston, Oct. 2-5.
were maintained as low and close as possible. 3. Green, S.J., Griffin, R.M., and Pratt, H.R.:
"Stress-strain and Failure Properties of a
The use of biopolymers alone is not Porous Shale," SPE Paper No. 4242
recommended for drilling through sloughing presented at the 1973 SPE Conference on
shale formations. This is due to the loss of fluid Drilling and Rock Mechanics, Austin,
to the formation in form of polymer solution. Texas, Jan. 22-23.
This causes an increase in the osmotic pressure,
thus weakening the shale bonds which may lead 4. Cook, 1M., Sheppard, M.C., and Houwen,
to shale swelling and heaving. It is O.H.: "Effects of Strain Rate and
recommended to prepare a drilling fluid Confining Pressure on the Deformation
composed of 70-80% of biopolymers, and with and Failure of Shale." SPE Drilling
the same salinity as the formation, or using CaCI 2 Engineering, (June, 1991), pp. 100-104.
or KCI and then adding 20-30% of PHMP
(Partially hydrolyzed high molecular weight 5. Roehl, E.A., and Hackett, J.L.: "A
polymers) when the PH is approximately equal Laboratory Technique for Screening Shale
to 8.0. This will result to a stable hole condition Swelling Inhibitors," SPE Paper No. 11117
while drilling through sloughing shale presented at 1982 SPE Annual Technical
formation. The presence of CaCI 2 or KCI helps to Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans,
eliminate the differential osmotic pressure. Sept. 26-29.

CONCLUSIONS 6. Griffin, J.M., Hayatdavoudi, A., and

Ghalambor, A.: "Design of Chemically
1. When drilling through shales that contain Balanced Polymer Drilling Fluid Leads to a
formation water, it is safer and more Reduction in Clay Stabilization," SPE
trouble free to maintain the same level of Paper No. 12491 in the proceedings of the
salinity and total dissolved solids in both Sixtieth Symposium on Formation
formation water and mud system. Damage Control. Bakersfield, CA (Feb. 13-
14,1984).
2. Drilling mud with similar ions as those in
shale formation should be used when 7. Anderson, D.B. and Edwards, C. D.:
drilling through troublesome shale "Development of Fluids for Drilling
formation. Sloughing and Heavi ng Shales,"
Petroleum Engineering, Sept., 1971.
3. If step dip exists, the pore pressure must
be exceeded. and plug back cementing 8. Lummus, J.L. and Azar, J.J.: Drilling Fluids
job under pressure is preferable when Optimization: A Practical Field Approach,
drilling through step dip gumbo-plastic (Tulsa, OK PennWeli Publ. Com, 1986),
shales. p.80. .

REFERENCES 9. Selected Powder Diffraction Data for

Minerals - Search Manual; Joi nt
1. Sargand, S.M. and Hazen, G.A.: Committee on Powder Diffraction
"Deformation Behavior of Shales", IntI. 1 Standards, Philadelphia (1974).

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Drilling Successfully Through Deforming Shale Formations: Case Histories SPE No. 25876

Table 1:
Mineral Composition of Wells 1 Through 4

Percent Composition
Mineral
Well 1 Well 2 Well 3 Well 4

Quartz 34 38 -- 10
Feldspar 3.5 4 20' 2
Calcite 2 6 -- 6
Sedrite 1 1 2 --
Gypsum 0.5 -- 1 2
Kaolinite 4.0a 30 7 --
Illite -- 1 60d --
Chlorite 3.5 10 6 --
Montmori 1I0nite 15 lOb 1 80
Muscovite -- -- 3 --

aKaolinite with illite

bCa + • montmorillonite
(Feldspar with calcite
dlliite with siltstone

Table 2:
Clay Mineral Contents of Well 5 Obtained from X-Ray Diffraction Analysis

Percent Mineral Composition

Depth (ft)
Quartz Calcite Dolomite Montmorillonite

3830 - 3863 50 100 25 traces

3930 - 3963 50 100 25 traces
4163-4195 25 100 traces traces
4662 - 4695 25 75 traces 50
5095-5128 50 75 -- 75
5128 - 5162 25 75 -- 75
5162·5195 75 50 -- 50
5361 - 5395 75 100 traces 25

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SPE No. 25876 S. A. Talabani, G. A. Chukwu, and D. G. Hatzignatiou 7

Table 3:
Drilling Fluid Properties and Composition Used to Successfully Drill Wells 1 Through 5

Well 1 Well 2 Well 3 Well 4 WellS

Mud 60% Biopolymer 8#/bbl Emulsion Mud Ca" Base
Composition Biopolymers, and 10% HV Polysaccharide with Salinity Biopolymer
38% Modified CMC, Salinity 0.8#/bbl HV = 50,000ppm Mud System
CEC,1.2% = 150,000ppm and 10,000
Lovie and 0.3 ppmCaCI2
#/bbl CaCI2
Density, #/gal 10.3 12.7 =Pore Press =Pore Press > Pore Press
AV,ep t15 50 70 95
PV,ep 46 45 20 60 78
YP, #/100 ft2 71 140 60 20 34
Filtrate, 1.0 0.3 0.8 0.1 0.05
ec130 min.

10 Sees/tO 4/18 10/37 12120 10/24 16126

min. gel
strength,
#/100ft 2

PH 11 8.5 9.0 8.2 7.8

Sloughing 15% Minimum 5% Minimum Minimum

,
Reduced

289