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Comparative Analysis of the Pressure Loss from the Circulation of Drilling Fluid During Microhole Drilling with the Use of Coiled Tubing

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Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils Aims and scope

The choice of fluid-circulation conditions is of great importance in microhole drilling (MHD) conducted with coiled tubing (CT) as the drill string because of the long length and small bending radius of the tubing coiled on the reel, which result in high circulation friction pressure loss (CFPL). A model for calculating CFPL in flexible CT has been constructed by combining a power-law fluid flow equation and the Dean Number. The calculations have revealed patterns of change in the CFPL during MHD. The CFPL in CT, whether reeled or in downhole, increases steeply with an increase of drilling fluid flow rate, decreases slowly with increasing CT inner diameter, and rises linearly with an increase in CT length. The total CFPL over the entire CT decreases slowly with decreasing CT length when the CT is run downhole from the reel. Deep MHD is suitable only for low drilling-fluid flow rates when the inner diameter of CT is large. Suitable ranges of drilling-fluid flow rate and CT inner diameter have been determined for various drilling depths. The research will provide a basis for selecting CT and drilling-fluid circulation parameters for MHD.

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The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 51374266), the Basic and Frontier Research Project of the Chongqing Science and Technology Commission (Grant No. cstc2013jcyjA90011), the Scientific and Technological Research Program of the Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KJ131413), the Key Cultivation Fund Projects of Chongqing University of Science and Technology (Grant Nos. CK2013Z07 and CK2014B07), and the Education Reform Project of Chongqing University of Science & Technology (Grant Nos. 201140, YJG2014y004, and GJ201407).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing, China

    Hou Xuejun & Qi Zhilin

  2. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Hou Xuejun

  3. Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing, China

    Liang Qimin

  4. CNOOC Research Institute, Beijing, China

    Sun Tengfei

Authors
  1. Hou Xuejun
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  2. Qi Zhilin
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  3. Liang Qimin
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  4. Sun Tengfei
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Correspondence to Hou Xuejun.

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Translated from Khimiya i Tekhnologiya Topliv i Masel, No. 4, pp. 20 – 24, July – August, 2015.

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Xuejun, H., Zhilin, Q., Qimin, L. et al. Comparative Analysis of the Pressure Loss from the Circulation of Drilling Fluid During Microhole Drilling with the Use of Coiled Tubing. Chem Technol Fuels Oils 51, 361–370 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10553-015-0613-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10553-015-0613-x

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