MBDCI

Shales

Maurice Dusseault
5-B Shales
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Example: Shale Problems in Drilling

Severe sloughing and hole enlargement

 Hole cleaning difficulties, hole fill on trips
 Mud rings and blockages

 Swabbing pressures on trips to change the bit

 Difficulty in controlling drilling mud properties

Sudden influx of shale cavings (when po > pmud)

Instability in shale increases the risk of blowouts
and lost circulation
5-B Shales

Shales comprise 70% of the rocks drilled

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Fractured Shales

This log shows:

Acoustic wall scan to
image the borehole

Natural joints planes
(sinusoidal) with dip

Differential caliper
measurements (inches)

Standard caliper

Cross-sectional view
from caliper data
5-B Shales

(ellipticity)
Palermo Aike shale, Magellan Straits, H.
Fontana and Hong See-Ong, SPE 10474
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What do We See?

A naturally fractured
shale

Increasing wash-out size
with depth

Increasing ellipticity
with depth (differential
caliper data)

Leading to severe
drilling problems and
lost time
5-B Shales

Palermo Aike shale, Magellan Straits, H.

Fontana and Hong See-Ong, SPE 10474
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How Was this Mitigated?

Identify the problem correctly: i.e., intensely
naturally fractured shales, not reactive shales

Apparently, no development of good wall
support (p) to keep the blocky shale in place

Leading to these changes, which greatly
reduced the problems:
 Use WBM and reduce the mud weight (!)
 Add a blocking agent to the WBM to plug up the
fissures to achieve some p
5-B Shales

 Redesign the BHA and bit choice to reduce drill

string vibrations and whipping
5-B Shales

BEFORE
Before and After

AFTER
MBDCI

Palermo Aike shale, Magellan Straits, H.

Fontana and Hong See-Ong, SPE 10474
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Shale Behavior Arises from Clays

Clays have large surface area (Sa), especially

smectite; illite and kaolinite less so..
S smectite These are the most common
 K kaolinite

 I illite

 C chlorite
} clay minerals, accounting for
>95% of clays found in
clastic sequences

High surface area and small grains govern:

 Transport properties important
 Fickian, Darcian, Fourier processes (D, k, )

 Geochemical sensitivity
5-B Shales

Clay behavior is complicated!

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Physical Model of Shales

No cohesion Mineral cohesion

Kaolinite

Bentonite
(Smectite)

Soft system Stiff Clay

system mixture
5-B Shales

Issues defining shale behavior are mineralogy, density,

presence of cementing agents, mineral transformations,
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State of Water in Shales

up to 9-11 layers of bound H2O; closest
Silicate minerals adsorb
layers most tightly bound, molecular water on the free surfaces
exchange occurs by Brownian effects

The greater the surface
ate r
Na+ ew
fre ater
area, the more H2O is
dw cle
so
rb e
a rt i
Na+
absorbed
a d ra lp
m i ne hydrated
In reactive shales, most
l a y r Na+
c ate cations
fre
e w H2O is adsorbed
at
thro p article
Non-reactive shales: H2O
n e r a l
clay mi
is less adsorbed, more
pore throat blocked by adsorbed H2O free to move (advection)
5-B Shales

In smectitic (reactive) shales, >90% of H2O is bound

In illitic or chloritic shales (non-reactive), <30% is bound
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Some Characteristics of Shales

Progression of compaction/induration:
mudstone claystone shale slate

Porosity, strength, stiffness, and many other
properties echo this progression
 Porosity and moisture content drop with
induration/compaction
 and, stiffness and strength increase

 and, seismic velocities increase, etc., etc.

If shales have been deeply buried, then erosion

5-B Shales

occurs, they are far stronger than expected:

Alberta, Colorado, many on-shore basins
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Strength and Moisture Content

30
Water content w = 6.83%
Water content w = 2.72% Y
Deviatoric stress (MPa)

20 E
Pierre II shale
10

Equilibrated in activity-
controlled oil-base mud
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Strain (%)
5-B Shales

Moisture content is roughly half the porosity (6% water content

is about 13% porosity). Y and E increase as w drops
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More Characteristics of Shale

Very small pore throats in ductile smectitic
shale because of fine grains (D95 < 0.5 m)

Also (see above), much of the H2O may be
immobilized by surface adsorption forces

So, in ductile shales:
 Advection rates (p flow) are extremely small
 Permeabilities expressed in nanoDarcies or lower

But, in naturally fractured or damaged shales

 Fissures totally dominate flux (k 10-5-10-2 D)
5-B Shales

 Fissures are very sensitive to p and !

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Role of Glycol in K+-Glycol Mud

It has a chemical effect,
glycol plugs
microfissures reducing swelling
pi

It has a mechanical effect,
blocks cracks
pw

This helps maintain the
support pressure
chip

pi
Glycol concentration
pw F must be kept above the
cloud point (solubility
WBM
limit) so that free droplets
chip support F: are throughout the mud
5-B Shales

F ~ A(pw pi)
A = chip area
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Permeability and Shale Drilling

Microfissures increase k

Two options: reduce microfissure intensity
or block the microfissures somehow

Reducing microfissure intensity is difficult
and causes slower drilling (high MW )

Blocking natural & induced microfissures
 Starchin NaCl muds
 Glycol in KCl-Glycol muds

 Gilsonite and other deformable asphalts

5-B Shales

 Graded LCM for larger fissures, etc.

And, use Oil-Base Muds in ductile shales

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Maintaining p with OBM

pw po = p = ow/2r oil-base
mud
oil r H2O
shale
p capacity
po
ow = oil-water pw
surface tension
r = curvature radius

shale,
borehole water-wet
5-B Shales

Capillary fringe

The major OBM effect is the capillary fringe with sustains

p support, which is why they work so well in intact shales
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More Shale Characteristics: Fissility

Under high compaction loads but modest T,
shales become more and more fissile
 Shales part easily along the fissility planes,
especially if the fissility is to the borehole wall
 Accentuated by the presence of carbon on bedding
planes (carbonaceous shales)
 Accentuated by fine lithological lamination
(silt/clay/silt/clay)

Fissile shales present problems to drilling in
5-B Shales

long-reach wells in flat-lying strata

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Trajectory Choice for Fissile Shales

Selected trajectories and careful choice of drill
site can also easily be applied to drilling on land.

mudline

Drilling to cross fissile

shale closer to 90 This trajectory gives too much intersection
of the fissile shale at a low angle 20-30

troublesome fissile shale

deviated
wells
troublesome fractured shale

reservoir
5-B Shales

Also, drilling at a high angle reduces the time

spent in the shale and the intersection length

Drill through fissile and fractured shales at 902 5

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Trajectory and Fissile Shales

Excessive sloughing

Enter a fissile
90 shale as steeply
as possible
Acceptable sloughing
5-B Shales

horizontal fissility
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Are Thermal Properties Important?

Their importance arises if the shale is being
cooled (stabilizing) or heated (destabilizing)

The coefficient of thermal expansion - , and
the thermal conductivity - , are useful

Cooling at the bit increases shale stability

Heating at the shoe decreases stability there

Heating weakens shale a little bit

Heating also
5-B Shales

 Reduces the adsorbed water thickness, increases

reaction rates, reduces water viscosity, etc.
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Higher T Reduces Strength

80
Temperature = 20C 3 = 2.5 MPa
Temperature = 60C
Deviatoric stress (MPa)

60

40

20

Mancos shale
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Strain (%)
5-B Shales

Strength tests show some deterioration in strength with

increasing T, more at higher T of course
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Fissility and Heating (Increase in )

T +
T + T
Bit gauge

Wellbore with
5-B Shales

heated annulus Fissile shale, to well direction

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Confining Stress Effects ()

100

3 = 5.0 MPa
80
Deviatoric stress (MPa)

60

40
3 = 2.5 MPa

20
E Mancos shale
5-B Shales

0 Strain (%)
0 1 2 3 4
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Confining Stress Effects in Shale

Stiffness increases with confinement -

Strength envelopes are strongly non-linear

Strength is strongly anisotropic (fissility,
laminations, bedding planes)

Local strains arise because of volume changes
from diffusive processes (T, p, C)

Because shales are stiff, a small V has a large
effect on stresses in the wall
5-B Shales

Must be assessed in any geochemical process

that changes volume (V), e.g. mud salinity
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Non-Linear Stiffness Effects ()

Stiffness - E We can certainly include non-
linear effects in mathematical
modeling, but the question
remains: Are our data overall
Eo
good enough to warrant it?
Non-linear Stiffness

3
5-B Shales

Non-linear Strength n
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Shrinkage / Swelling

Other things being equal, moisture content and

porosity are inversely linked to strength, but the
relationship is different for different shales

In ductile shale, exposure to higher salinities in
the mud leads to moisture transfer

Volume reduces, near-hole stresses drop

This generally increases stability, but
 Microfissures can open (rapid fluid flow)
5-B Shales

 Local strains can degrade cohesion

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Shale Shrinkage is Good!

Water can be sucked out by several
mechanisms (see list next slide)

Causes a V around the hole, changes

low wall reduced peak
stress

peak
shift (r) distributions

borehole
radius
zone of
5-B Shales

shrinkage

Stability is enhanced!
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Shrinkage Mechanisms

Cooling the borehole wall causes shrinkage

Using a Ca++-base WBM tends to generate
shrinkage in highly reactive shales

Using a K+-base WBM also, because K+
fits into cation sites more snugly

If the WBM filtrate is substantially more
saline than the pore water in the shale:
 Osmotic suction is set up, water is sucked out
of the shale, shrinkage occurs
5-B Shales

Some chemicals coat clays, reducing the

water layer thickness, leading to shrinkage
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Shales and Salinity Effects

To test a shale, place a
carefully prepared intact Constant oedometric load

specimen in a circular
oedometric cell

Flood with different
salinity H2O Sample

Measure L changes

Reactive shale = large
changes. Non-reactive,
small changes L in response to
5-B Shales

changes in the pore

fluid salinity
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Geochemistry leads to V

0
Vertical strain (%)

-0.1
Oedometric V, exposed to
saturated NaCl brine

-0.2
Queenston shale
Mancos shale
Pierre shale
-0.3
0 5000 10000 15000
Time (min)
5-B Shales

Pierre II shale is highly smectitic, Queenston shale is not, and

Mancos shale is intermediate with some CaCO3 as well
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Effect of Shrinkage

Volume of shale in wall is reduced
 Temperature decrease
 Exchangeable cation changes (e.g. Na+ to Ca++)

 Osmotic effects related to salinities

Volume reduction alters stress fields

 Less on borehole wall
 Peak displaced into confined rocks

BUT! Short axial extension fractures are

more likely and might accelerate filtrate
5-B Shales

penetration in intact shales

 Considered to be a secondary effect only
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Effect of Expansion

Volume of shale in wall is increased
 Temperature increase
 Exchangeable cation changes (Ca++ to Na+)

 Osmotic effects (ionic gradients) if drilling with

low-salinity WBM, promotes swelling

Volume increases alter the stress fields
 Higher on borehole wall
 Peak right on borehole wall

Shear instability is much more likely

5-B Shales

Sloughing, etc

Avoid any expansion of shales
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Heating Leads to Expansion

Heating, swelling, and increase in

tangential pressure all increase the ]max
stress -
(r) for heating value at the borehole wall

]max

Initial h
To Kirsch elastic solution
thermoelastic heating (convection) radius
Tw
5-B Shales

borehole
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Geochemical Sensitivity in Shales

A measure of shale reactivity is given by:

= SaGsw
 = Reactivity coefficient (dimensionless)
 Sa = Specific surface of shale
 Gs = Solids specific gravity
 w = Water mass density
 = Double layer thickness
Measures both clay and aqueous phase
5-B Shales

properties
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Reactivity Coefficient

Specific surface is a measure of the particle

size, which affects geochemical sensitivity

Double layer thickness is related to the
activity (salinity) of the aqueous phase

Queenston quartz-illite shale: ~ 0.035

Mancos shale, some smectite: ~ 0.115

Pierre II shale, much smectite: ~ 0.79

I suggest that a value of > 0.10 defines a
5-B Shales

reactive shale
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Simple Tests on Shale

Specific surface (surface area) helps

Dispersion behavior of drill chips (best is
OBM chips) in water of various salinities

Electrical permittivity (reaction of water in
shale to high frequency electromagnetics)

Settlement tests (disperse thoroughly in water
and then let settle with time)

Of course, strength and acoustic velocities on
chips, cavings, etc.
5-B Shales

All good stuff!

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Conclusions for Shale

In addition to all else:

 Thermal effects are first-order and complex in
shales in drilling
 Geochemical effects are first-order & complex in
sensitive swelling shales (smectitic shales)

We now have a good understanding of the
coupled behavior of shale

Coupling must be achieved through volume
change relationships, otherwise stress analyses
5-B Shales

are not possible