Identification of lift-off mechanism failure for salt drill-in drilling fluid containing polymer filter cake through adsorption/desorption studies

Drilling fluid's contact with the productive zone of horizontal or complex wells can reduce well productivity by fluid invasion in the borehole wall. Salted drilling drill-in fluid containing polymers has often been applied in horizontal or complex petroleum wells in the poorly consolidated sandstone reservoirs of the Campos basin, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This fluid usually consists of natural polymers such as starch and xanthan gum, which are deposited as a filter cake on the wellbore wall during the drilling. Therefore, the identification of a lift-off mechanism failure, which can be detachment or blistering and pinholing, will enable formulation improvements, increasing the chances of success during filter cake removal in open hole operations. Likewise, knowledge of drill-in drilling fluid adsorption/desorption onto sand can help understand the filter cake–rock adhesion mechanism and consequently filter cake lift-off mechanism failures. The present study aimed to identify the lift-off failure mechanism for this type of fluid filter cake studying adsorption/desorption onto SiO2 using solutions of natural polymers, lubricants, besides the fluid itself. Ellipsometry was employed to measure this process. The adsorption/desorption studies showed that the adsorbed layer of drilling fluid onto the walls of the rock pores is made up of clusters of polymers, linked by hydrogen bonds, which results in a force of lower cohesion compared to the electrostatic interaction between silica and polymers. Consequently, it was found that the most probable filter cake failure mechanism is rupture (blistering and pinholing), which results in the formation of ducts within the filter cake.