In-line methods and apparatuses for determining the composition of an emulsified drilling fluid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10435967-B2
Application number	US-201916385433-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2019
Priority date	Feb 2, 2016
Publication date	Oct 8, 2019
Grant date	Oct 8, 2019

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses that measure thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity of a emulsified drilling fluid may be used to indirectly measure the salinity and the average specific gravity of the solids in the emulsified drilling fluid. For example, a drilling assembly may comprise a drill string extending into a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation; a pump configured to circulate a drilling fluid through the drilling assembly; a first flow line fluidly coupling the wellbore to a retention pit; a second flow line fluidly coupling the retention pit to the pump; a third flow line fluidly coupling the pump to the drill string; and an in-line analysis system fluidly coupled to the retention pit, fluidly coupled to the second flow line, or fluidly coupled to the third flow line, the in-line analysis system comprising a thermal conductivity meter and/or an electrical conductivity meter to a sample container.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
drilling a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation while circulating an emulsified drilling fluid through the wellbore to surface treatment systems and back to the wellbore, the emulsified drilling fluid comprising an oil phase, a water phase, and solids;
measuring a thermal conductivity of the emulsified drilling fluid at or after the retention pit and before circulating back into the wellbore;
calculating a salinity of the water phase of the emulsified drilling fluid based on the thermal conductivity of the emulsified drilling fluid and an oil-to-water ratio of the emulsified drilling fluid; and
changing at least one selected from the group consisting of a drilling parameter, a composition of the emulsified drilling fluid, and a combination thereof based on the salinity of the water phase of the emulsified drilling fluid.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
preparing a plurality of samples of the emulsified drilling fluid with different water phase salinities;
measuring a thermal conductivity of the plurality of samples;
correlating the water phase salinities to the thermal conductivity of the plurality of samples, thereby producing a salinity/thermal conductivity relationship;
wherein calculating the salinity of the water phase of the emulsified drilling fluid is further based on the salinity/thermal conductivity relationship.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emulsified drilling fluid is at an elevated temperature relative to ambient temperature when measuring the thermal conductivity of the emulsified drilling fluid.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emulsified drilling fluid is at a reduced temperature relative to ambient temperature when measuring the thermal conductivity of the emulsified drilling fluid.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emulsified drilling fluid comprising solids and the further comprises:
measuring the thermal conductivity of the emulsified drilling fluid at or after the retention pit and before circulating back into the wellbore;
calculating an oil phase volume and a water phase volume for the emulsified drilling fluid based on the thermal conductivity and the oil-to-water ratio of the emulsified drilling fluid;
calculating an average specific gravity of the solids based on the oil phase volume, water phase volume, and a density of the emulsified drilling fluid; and
changing at least one selected from the group consisting of a drilling parameter, a composition of the emulsified drilling fluid, and a combination thereof based on the salinity of the water phase of the emulsified drilling fluid and the average specific gravity of the solids.

6. A method comprising:
drilling a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation while circulating an emulsified drilling fluid through the wellbore to surface treatment systems and back to the wellbore, the emulsified drilling fluid comprising an oil phase, a water phase, and solids;
collecting a sample of the drilling fluid with an in-line analysis system at or after the retention pit and before circulating back into the wellbore;
breaking the emulsified drilling fluid in the in-line analysis system to yield a broken emulsified drilling fluid;
measuring an electrical conductivity of the broken emulsified drilling fluid;
calculating a salinity of the water phase of the emulsified drilling fluid based on the electrical conductivity of the broken emulsified drilling fluid; and
changing at least one selected from the group consisting of a drilling parameter, a composition of the emulsified drilling fluid, and a combination thereof based on the salinity of the water phase of the emulsified drilling fluid.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein measuring an electrical conductivity of the broken emulsified drilling fluid is performed at a plurality of fluid pressures.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the broken emulsified drilling fluid is at an elevated temperature relative to ambient temperature when measuring the electrical conductivity.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the broken emulsified drilling fluid is at a reduced temperature relative to ambient temperature when measuring the electrical conductivity.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein breaking the emulsified drilling fluid involves diluting the emulsified drilling fluid with known quantities of water and homogenizing the emulsified drilling fluid.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Kleinguetl Kevin Gregory
• Jamison Dale E
• Fowler Drew A
• Jackson Brice Aaron

Classifications

• E21B49/082

  Wire-line fluid samplers (E21B49/083 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N27/06

  of a liquid (involving electrolysis G01N27/26) · CPC title

• G01N29/222

  Constructional or flow details for analysing fluids (optoacoustic fluid cells G01N29/2425) · CPC title

• E21B44/00

  Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions · CPC title

• C09K8/02 Primary

  Well-drilling compositions · CPC title