May 29, 2017

Calcium Carbonate for Oilfield Applications Dr. Jarrod Massam Innovation & Technical Marketing Manager, Water & Energy.

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

2

Oilfield Market for Calcium Carbonate

• Drilling fluids

• Reservoir drilling fluids

• Drill-In fluids

• Completion fluids

• Workover fluids

• Cementing fluids

RDF

Completion Drilling

Global market estimation

~ 400 – 800 k MT/yr

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

3

Requirements of Calcium Carbonate

Marble

Median particle

size min max

Omyadrill 6 6 9

Omyadrill 20 20 30

Omyadrill 45 40 60

Omyadrill 125 125 175

Omyadrill 200 200 300

Omyadrill 350 350 450

Omyadrill 450 450 550

Omyadrill 650 600 700

Omyadrill 750 750 800

Omyadrill 900 800 1000

Omyadrill 1100 1100 1200

Omyadrill 1500 1400 1650

Omyadrill 1800 1700 2400

Omyadrill 2400 2300 2500

• Marble or limestone

• Selected particle sizes

• High acid solubility

• High CaCO3 content

• Consistent quality

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

4

Applications of Calcium Carbonate

• Drilling fluids

• Reservoir drilling fluids

• Drill-In fluids

• Completion fluids

• Workover fluids

• Cementing fluids

• Bridging agent

• Weighting agent

• Loss circulation

material

• Wellbore

strengthening

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

5

Calcium Carbonate as Bridging Agent

Purpose - to provide a bridge of solids over the pore throat or

the fractures of the rock formation exposed during the drilling

operation.

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

6

Calcium Carbonate as Bridging Agent

• Bridging based on the ‘ideal

packing theory’

• Different particle sizes used

to bridge the pore throats.

• Software to optimise design

of the bridging package.

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

7

Preventing Formation Damage

Filter cake

containing

CaCO3

Fluid

flow

Rock Formation

Fluid invasion

Poor Filter cake

Fluid flow Rock

Formation

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

8

Calcium Carbonate as a Bridging Agent

• Optimisation of filter cake around the well-bore during

the drilling process.

• Acidization used to remove the filter cake from the

wellbore during the completion phase.

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

9

Evaluation of Bridging

Fluid

Filter Cake

Ceramic disk

Filtrate

Spurt loss

Heating

jacket

Pressure

(Δ500 psi N2)

• Fluid formulated with CaCO3

bridging package.

• Test done under down-hole

conditions.

• Disk selected on pore size and

permeability data of formation.

• Filtrate volume, quality and

spurt loss recorded.

• Filter cake thickness recorded.

• Return permeability*

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

10

Good vs. Bad Bridging

Thin filter cake

Low spurt loss

Low filtrate volume

Clear filtrate

Thick filter cake

High spurt loss

High filtrate volume

Poor filtrate quality

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

11

Optimise fluid loss and filter cake

High thickness of filter

cake due to high fluid loss

can lead to stuck pipe

Fluid loss control and bridging

are engineered throughout well

operations to prevent non-

productive time.

mud

Drill pipe

Filter cake

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

12

Other Applications of Calcium Carbonate

Wellbore Strengthening

• Formation strengthening in

unstable wellbores.

• Induced fractures in

depleted zones.

• Calcium carbonate and other

particles applied

continuously during drilling.

• Prevention of non-productive

time.

Weighting agent

• Provide density to the fluid

Loss Circulation Material

• Prevent total fluid losses

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

13

Alternative and complimentary materials

Bridging agent • Barite, mica, gilsonite and other

solids (top hole)

Weighting agent • Barite, heamatite, salts

Wellbore strengthening • Fibers, graphite

• Engineered solutions

Loss circulation material • Fiberous and granular materials

• Engineered solutions

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

14

Summary

• Calcium carbonate is used in

abundance worldwide for oilfield

applications.

• Large range of particle sizes to

fit applications.

• A key additive of drilling &

completions fluids to minimize

risk and prevent formation

damage, wellbore instability and

non-productive time.

This document contains proprietary information which shall not be

used and disclosed without Omya explicit written authorization.

15

END

Thank You

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