Methods of mitigating lost circulation while drilling a wellbore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11035195-B2
Application number	US-201816189586-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 13, 2018
Priority date	Dec 20, 2017
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

Methods of mitigating lost circulation while drilling a wellbore. The methods include circulating a drilling mud to a downhole end of the wellbore via a drill string and, during the circulating, drilling the wellbore with a drill bit of the drill string. The methods also include detecting lost circulation within the wellbore while drilling the wellbore and include providing a monomer solution to the wellbore. The methods further include providing a catalyst to the wellbore responsive to detecting the lost circulation event and combining the monomer solution and the catalyst to polymerize a monomer from the monomer solution, within the wellbore, and forming a viscous plug within the wellbore. Subsequent to the combining, the methods include flowing at least a portion of the viscous plug within the wellbore and into a zone of lost circulation that extends within a subsurface region. The methods further include at least partially occluding fluid flow from the wellbore and into the zone of lost circulation with the viscous plug.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of mitigating lost circulation while drilling a wellbore within a subsurface region of a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
circulating a drilling mud to a downhole end of the wellbore via a drill string;
during the circulating the drilling mud, drilling the wellbore with a drill bit of the drill string;
during the drilling the wellbore, detecting lost circulation within the wellbore;
providing a monomer solution to the wellbore;
responsive to the detecting lost circulation, providing a catalyst to the wellbore;
combining the monomer solution and the catalyst to polymerize a monomer from the monomer solution within the wellbore and to form a viscous plug within the wellbore;
subsequent to the combining, flowing at least a portion of the viscous plug, within the wellbore, into a zone of lost circulation that extends within the subsurface region; and
at least partially occluding fluid flow from the wellbore into the zone of lost circulation with the viscous plug; and
wherein the combining includes increasing a viscosity of the monomer solution by a factor of at least 1.1 and at most 1000.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting lost circulation includes at least one of:
(i) detecting a pressure change within the wellbore;
(ii) detecting a pressure drop within the wellbore;
(iii) detecting a change in a flow rate of drilling mud;
(iv) detecting an increase in the flow rate of drilling mud;
(v) detecting a change in a temperature within the wellbore;
(vi) detecting a loss of drilling mud;
(vii) detecting a decrease in a level of drilling mud in a mud tank that provides the drilling mud to the wellbore; and
(viii) detecting a decrease in cuttings being conveyed from the wellbore in the drilling mud.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting the lost circulation includes at least one of:
(i) detecting the lost circulation with a sensor;
(ii) detecting the lost circulation with a sensor that forms a portion of a bottom hole assembly;
(iii) detecting the lost circulation with a sensor that is present in a surface region; and
(iv) visually detecting the lost circulation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the monomer solution includes providing a mixture of the monomer and the drilling mud.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the monomer solution includes providing at least one of dicyclopentadiene, norborene, and a ring-opening metathesis-compatible monomer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in the absence of the catalyst, the monomer solution is at least substantially non-reactive at temperature, pressure, and environmental conditions present within the wellbore.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monomer is at least one of:
(i) miscible in the drilling mud; and
(ii) soluble in the drilling mud at a monomer concentration at which the monomer solution is provided to the wellbore.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst is at least one of:
(i) a transition metal catalyst;
(ii) a transition metal carbene complex catalyst;
(iii) a ruthenium catalyst;
(iv) a ruthenium trichloride-based catalyst;
(v) a ring-opening metathesis-inducing catalyst; and
(vi) a Grubb's catalyst.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the catalyst includes providing a volume of catalyst, wherein the providing the monomer solution includes providing a volume of monomer, and further wherein the volume of catalyst is at least 1 and at most 2 percent of the volume of monomer.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the monomer solution includes circulating a solution of drilling mud and monomer to the downhole end of the wellbore via the drill string at least one of:
(i) during at least a portion of the circulating the drilling mud;
(ii) during an entirety of the circulating the drilling mud; and
(iii) at least partially concurrently with the circulating the drilling mud.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the providing the monomer includes at least one of:
(i) providing the monomer prior to the detecting lost circulation;
(ii) providing the monomer during the drilling;
(iii) providing the monomer during an entirety of the drilling; and
(iv) providing the monomer responsive to the detecting lost circulation.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the catalyst includes releasing the catalyst within the wellbore such that the combining occurs external to the drill string.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the catalyst includes releasing the catalyst from a catalyst reservoir that extends within the drill string.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the catalyst includes releasing the catalyst from a sub of the drill string.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing the catalyst includes releasing the catalyst from a catalyst conduit that extends along the drill string from a surface region.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combining includes combining external to the drill string.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combining includes combining within a surface region, flowing a combination of the monomer solution and the catalyst, via the drill string, to a region of the wellbore that is proximate the zone of lost circulation, and releasing the combination of the monomer solution and the catalyst into the wellbore from the drill string, wherein the catalyst and the monomer solution are selected such that at most 5 weight percent of the monomer is polymerized prior to being released from the drill string and into the wellbore.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the viscous plug is a first portion of the viscous plug, and further wherein the method includes circulating a second portion of the viscous plug from the subterranean formation via an annular space that extends between the drill string and the wellbore.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the viscous plug includes a first portion of the viscous plug within the subsurface region and a second portion of the viscous plug within the wellbore, and further wherein the method includes circulating the second portion of the viscous plug from the wellbore via an annular space that extends between the drill string and the wellbore.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes continuing the circulating the drilling mud during the drilling, the detecting lost circulation, the providing the monomer solution, the providing the catalyst, the combining, the flowing, and the at least partially occluding.

Assignees

• Meeks Bill R
• Nedwed Timothy J
• Mitchell Douglas A
• Jain Rachna
• Kulkarni Kaustubh S
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Meeks Bill R
• Nedwed Timothy J
• Mitchell Douglas A
• Jain Rachna
• Kulkarni Kaustubh S

Classifications

• C09K8/44 Primary

  containing organic binders only · CPC title

• E21B21/003

  Means for stopping loss of drilling fluid (plastering the borehole wall E21B33/138) · CPC title

• E21B33/10

  in the borehole {(sealing the junction between main bore and laterals E21B41/0042)} · CPC title

• E21B33/138

  Plastering the borehole wall; Injecting into the formation · CPC title

• C09K8/426

  for plugging · CPC title