Laboratory evaluation to assess the effectiveness of inhibitive nano-water-based drilling fluids for Zubair shale formation

While drilling through shale formations, shale hydration, including shale swelling and dispersion, is frequently reported as the main wellbore instability problems, particularly when conventional drilling fluids (water-based) are used. These problems have many adverse effects on the drilling operations resulting in non-productive time. Nanoparticles have been recently introduced as a unique alternative to improve the performance of water-based drilling fluids for shale applications. This paper presents an experimental evaluation to investigate the effectiveness of an inhibitive nano-water-based drilling fluid in reducing the swelling of Zubair shale formation. Well-preserved core samples, which were retrieved from Zubair formation, were characterized using X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluoresces to quantify the amount of the swelling minerals. Scanning electron microscopy was used to identify the existence of microfractures within the samples. Three different nano-based drilling fluids containing titanium dioxide (TiO2), copper oxide (CuO), and magnesium oxide (MgO) at two different concentrations (0.5% and 1.5% by vol) were evaluated through a set of tests to assess the shale reactivity in the presence of these nano-based fluids. In addition, the effect of these nanoparticles on the rheological and filtration properties was studied. The results showed that the shale samples contain 41.26% silicon dioxide (SiO2) and 22.73% aluminum oxide (Al2O3), indicating the presence of smectite and illite. Based on the reactivity tests, fluids containing CuO at 1.5% by vol outperformed the other fluids in terms of reducing the reactivity, where the expansion rate was reduced by 82.7% compared to the reference sample submerged in fresh water. In addition, the addition of nanoparticles resulted in reducing the plastic viscosity, increasing both the yield point and gel strength, and reducing the fluid loss under low-pressure low-temperature conditions.