SILDRIL System Engineering Guidelines

SILDRIL is an inhibitive system formulated with soluble silicate to achieve maximum

shale inhibition. The primary shale inhibitor in the system is the Silicate, which
precipitates or gels on contact with divalent cations and lower pH in the formation,
providing an effective water barrier, which prevents hydration and dispersion. The
secondary Shale inhibition is achieved by cation exchange of the potassium with
formation clays, reducing the swelling tendency of the clays by direct interference
with the swelling mechanism.

The shale inhibition mechanism of the SILDRIL system is basically a sealing of the
shale surface with a silicate film. This silicate film prevents any further liquid (water)
wetting of the Shale. The low pH and divalent cations like Ca2+ and Mg2+ are present
between the clay layers and when the soluble silicate comes in contact with the low
pH shale surface the divalent cations will precipitate the Silicate to form Silicate
barrier. The SILDRIL system requires the potassium ion for optimum inhibition
performance. Potassium chloride is the inorganic salt normally used in the SILDRIL
system with the concentration normally varying from 3-15 w/w%, depending on
individual fluid requirements.

The system is designed for use with all Xanthan Gum polymers to provide optimum
Low-Shear-Rate Viscosity (LSRV) for superior hole cleaning, Wellbore Stability, and
optimum hydraulics. The inhibitive nature of the fluid results in large cuttings
consequently the Yield Point and Low-Shear-Rate values should be higher than
conventional polymer fluids to ensure proper hole cleaning. High, flat, fragile gel
strengths are maintained to ensure solids suspension. It is important to note that, due
to the highly inhibitive nature of the SILDRIL system, it is likely that incorporated drill
solids will have little effect on rheology. Assuming MBT is within specification fluid
viscosity is obtained almost entirely from polymer addition. Filtration control is readily
maintained with all conventional filtration control polymers.

Notes:
1. The freshly prepared solids-free fluid will exhibit relatively high fluid loss
values, until drill solids have been incorporated.
2. The pH of the system is higher than conventional non-dispersed polymer
fluids, ranging from 11.0 to 12.5. It is important to understand that the high pH
and alkalinity values are attributed to the alkaline silicate anion and not a
hydroxyl anion.
3. A decrease in the pH or alkalinity is normally the result of the depletion of
silicate (via polymerization, precipitation, and adsorption). The pH, alkalinities,
and silicate analysis are used to monitor treatment requirements during the
drilling. The use of caustic is not recommended to control the pH of the
system. Caustic and soda ash, or potassium hydroxide and potassium
carbonate, are used to treat pre-mix water prior to the addition of additives to
remove hardness. Soda ash or potassium carbonate is also used to treat
cement contamination. Silicate mud must be based around drill water or, if
seawater must be used, calcium and magnesium ions must be treated out.
4. Due to the nature of the Silicate and its depletion potential when it comes in
contact with metals (while shipment), it is recommended to check the Silicate
volume % of the spike fluid prior to diluting it with fresh water then adjusting
the Silicate to the planned concentration.
 5. Silicate depletes in the presence of calcium ions. pH from cement is not
detrimental to the system and it is recommended not to use sodium
bicarbonate or citric acid. The carbonate ion will compete with silicate,
removing the calcium ion, and reducing the SILDRIL concentration. Prior to
drilling the next interval it will be necessary to restore the system to the
required SILDRIL concentration correcting for silicate lost during cementing.
6. Cuttings integrity/quality over shakers should be closely watched for system
performance. If tight spots are experienced while tripping or on connections,
raising mud weight should be considered immediately.
7. KCl curve should be plotted based on the KCl field sample. The in and out
silicate concentrations should be monitored on a regular basis while drilling to
determine the rate of depletion and to regulate treatment requirements during
drilling. The silicate and KCl concentrations should be monitored, as well as
the pH and alkalinity, to ensure optimum product concentration and inhibition.
8. Use all available Solids Control Equipment (SCE) as efficiently as possible to
minimize undesirable mud weight increases from drilled solids accumulation
and to reduce dilution requirements. As a general guideline the MBT value
should be maintained less than 17.5 ppb Bentonite equivalent. Dilution with
premix and dumping the sand traps are recommended to reduce the MBT
value.
9. Fresh/Drill water will be used for cleaning the shakers screens during
connections or before tripping out. The Silicate will be precipitated by the
divalent ions in seawater, reducing the concentration of Silicate in the system
and blind off the screens surface (sea water must not be used for cleaning
purposes).
10. The SILDRIL System will provide a gauge hole and, therefore, it is
recommended to utilize wiper trips. The wiper trip is important to ensure the
caliper of the wellbore. It is recommended to perform wiper trips every 300
meters drilled and circulate bottoms up before running back to bottom and
commence drilling. Once the hole has been wiped it will remain in gauge
assuming the correct mud weight is being used.

Hazards Identification
The pH of the SILDRIL system is buffered in the range 11.0 - 12.5 (refer to the
MSDS) and care in handling is necessary to prevent contact with skin and eyes.
Safety goggles must be worn to prevent the occurrence of eye injuries, which can be
serious unless treated without delay. Rubber gloves and suitable protective clothing
must be worn to avoid contact with the skin. It is important to wear suitable chemical
safety goggles when handling the pure Silicate to avoid eye contact with the
material. Contact with the eyes can result in serious eye injury unless treated
immediately by flushing the eye with fresh water for a period of 20 minutes. If contact
with the product does occur, then the contact area should be flushed with large
quantities of fresh water.

Rubber Compatibility
The SILDRIL system is an alkaline fluid and selection criteria for elastomers should
be considered. The most commonly used elastomers for alkaline environment is
highly saturated hydrogenated nitriles (Hydrogenated Nitrile Butadiene Rubbers-
HNBR). HNBR elastomers have a temperature limit of 130C, but are the most
resistant and are preferred for silicate systems.

Silicate rig preparedness only

Contamination
Brine flow from Maintain overbalance
formation or Depletion of Good drilling practices to
Divalent Brine influx
sweater silicate avoid swabbing
or calcium rich
accidentally NPT Ensure adequate silicate Low
formation
added to mud Cost stocks are available
system Monitor Silicate % closely
Logistics
Handling large Silicate is has
HSE issues Ship silicate in tote tanks or
number of silicate been shipped in
NPT in bulk Low
drums 200lt drums
Elastomers
Consultation with drilling
and third party contractors.
BOP sealing
Silicate mud has Regular inspection of
issues
Incompatibility of high pH which is
Tool failures -
elastomers
surface and down not compatible
Loss of log
Replace with suitable
hole elastomers with all material (Nitrile) Med
data - trips
elastomers Wash all the equipments
NPT
with fresh water when its
not in use
Cementing
Conduct spacer / cement /
NPT due to
mud compatibility tests.
Sodium Silicate premature
Chemical can cause thickening or
Run computer simulations
incompatibility cement to flash setting
to identify effective spacer
regime (large volume to Low
set Flash setting
ensure adequate
of cement
separation)
HSE
Ensure crews are aware of
Silicate mud is HSE risks
unusual in
Personnel
Correct PPE

High pH silicate
having a pH in
injury while
MSDS sheets at the AQ

mixing Low
excess of 11.5 base, on work boats and at
rig site

Displacement to KCl/SILDRIL
Use sea water or Pad mud to shallow test the LWD.
Once firm cement is tagged, the hole will be displaced with xxx ppg KCl/SILDRIL.
The displacement will be carried out by pumping xxx bbls fresh water followed by
xxx bbls of high viscosity weighted SILDRIL, the mud weight of the spacer will be
1ppg higher than the planned mud weight.
The returns will be recovered into separate tanks, then will be dumped overboard
after displacement.
Once clean mud is observed at shaker house, divert the flow to fill in the sand
traps.
 Continue to circulate and condition the mud to the planned specs.

Note:
Drilling Fluid Team should submit a displacement plan with full details (Steps, Roles and
Responsibilities, Pit Management, Lessons Learned & Safety Requirements), then the
displacement plan will be reviewed with Drilling Supv and Senior Tool Pusher before
displacement time.

Spacers
Pump xxx bbls of drill water followed by +/- xxxx bbls (10% of displaced hole volume)
high viscosity weighted KCl/SILDRIL ahead of the KCl/SILDRIL. The returns will be
recovered into the surface tanks, then will be dumped after displacement.

Containment and Surface Flow Paths
All involved in the job should have a pre-job toolbox talk and positions and duties
assigned.
It is the mud engineers responsibility that any redirection of flow, including
switching pumps between pits, be performed as per plan.
A pump schedule should be produced and used at the tool box meeting.
Contingency shaker screens should be prepared and ready at the shakers in case
down screening is required until the mud is properly sheared.
Have at least one shaker dressed with coarse screens.

Pump Schedule
All volumes should be in barrels and strokes.
Assumed stroke capacity must be noted.
Choke and kill lines should be over displaced by one barrel at start of displacement.

Identification
A sharp contrast should be experienced between the drill water and the WBM pill (use
pH indicator which gives deep red colour with SILDRIL).

Engineering Guidelines and Logistics

An initial xxxx bbls of double concentrated KCl/SILDRIL spike fluid will be prepared at
base and shipped to the rig site. The spike fluid is formulated as follows:
o xx % by weight KCl.
o xx % by volume Silicate.
o xx ppb M-I PAC UL.

A 1,000 bbl volume of neat Silicate (80% by volume) will be prepared and shipped
as a liquid bulk (Will mix more volume if required).
The spike fluid will be diluted with fresh water and the necessary chemicals will be
added to achieve the final planned parameters. (Check fresh water for any hardness
and treat with Soda Ash if necessary to remove) The StressCage materials will be
added at the final stage.
Dilution with fresh water is recommended, however if not available, pre-treat any sea
water to remove hardness with soda ash.
A test of the silicate percentage should be performed when receiving the base fluid
at the rig site, at completion of the mixing of the fluid in the pits, and immediately
after displacing the well.
 Start the displacement with 12 % Silicate, to ensure that there will be at least 10 %
silicate after the displacement and keep it in the range 10 - 12 % while drilling
(minimum 10%).
Run sieve analysis tests on a regular basis. To maintain the programmed PSD in the
active mud, add graphite materials and Safecarb as required per each stand drilled
LGS and MBT should be controlled at programmed levels by utilizing all available
solids control equipment, and diluting the active system with fresh mud.
Use the finest shaker screen size that is compatible with the StressCage application.
Rheology will be measured and reported at 120 deg F. It is essential to maintain Yz
>10 lb/100 ft2 to ensure that the large cuttings obtained with the KCL/SILDRIL mud,
are removed from the wellbore. The YP and LSYP will be the key factors for the hole
cleaning specially with this big hole and large cuttings size.
The rheology might increase sharply while drilling due to the increase of the MBT
content, dumping and diluting the system with fresh mud is required to maintain the
MBT within planned range.
If a PWD measurement indicates high ECD due to poor hole cleaning, first response
is to circulate bottoms up prior to pumping Super Sweep pills (0.5 0.75 ppb). This
will minimize the hole packing off risks due to cuttings load at the top of the Super
Sweep pill.
If losses occur, follow the WBM LCM decision tree (LCM Appendix).
If the losses cannot be cured to sustainable levels, consider converting the system
to KCl polymer mud which is less logistically demanding than SILDRIL.
It is very important to monitor the depletion of the silicate while drilling and to
maintain the required level in the active system. Any sudden changes in silicate
depletion should immediately be reported to the company man. Maintain good
communication with the geologist and mud loggers, to establish whether formation
drilled is calcareous. These will cause a higher depletion rate than non-calcareous
formations. While drilling, monitor the Silicate depletion rate at least every 6 hours,
or every 200m.
Recommended system maintenance every drilling hour (15-20mph) based on offset
wells depletion rate:
o Four drums of neat Sodium Silicate.
o One big bag of KCl.
Care should be taken when adding silicate directly to the active system to avoid
excessive viscosity humps.
Rig crew must be made aware of the high pH of the mud system and instructed in
proper PPE.
Drilling contractor must ensure that for pump-pistons and liners, compatible rubber
fittings are used for the duration of this KCL/SILDRIL section.
All downhole tools used for drilling this section should immediately be cleaned with
drill water when back on surface.
Rig floor tools such as slips must be flushed with drill water, NOT seawater, after
coming in contact with silicate mud.
All spills on deck etc. must be cleaned with drill water (fresh water) NOT seawater.
During trips, it is important to keep shaker screens clean with drill water using high
pressure gun. Do not let the screens at any time get covered with silicate, this will
permanently blind off the screens. Sea water must not be used for cleaning
purposes.
 Ensure all solids control equipment is lined up for handling the overboard dumping of
WBM cuttings.
M-I SWACO Virtual Hydraulics to be daily run to assess mud properties and drilling
parameters effects on hole cleaning. Also it will be used to calculate the maximum
running speed to ensure minimal surge pressures prior to running liner.
At section TD the hole will be swept with 100 bbls of Super Sweep pill (If required)
and circulated clean prior pulling out of hole for running casing.
Reserve mud should be checked every day to ensure KCl and silicate levels
remaining within specifications.
Ensure sufficient shale shaker screens are available for shakers.
Ensure enough chemicals, Barite, Drill Water available prior to drilling this section.
Make sure to flush head suction lines each interval and between trips as per
instructions.
Mud engineer will plot the most important properties on a daily basis, and submit the
chart together with the mud report.


Caution:
Silicate fluids tend to precipitate (due to water evaporation and reaction with divalent
ions) and become attached to elastomers and metal parts. The crystals that form are
very hard and cement-like and can cause abrasive wear of rubber parts when in contact
with each other. Pre/post flushing with drill water (not seawater) is recommended for any
moving parts in contact with silicate & elastomers and should be included in the
preventative maintenance program.


Lesson Learned from Offset Wells

Lesson Learned
Was drilled out at xx ppg as per pore pressure prediction and took losses below xx Shoe.
The mud weight was then reduced to xx and drilled ahead with slight dynamic losses until
casing 1point where the mud weight ended the hole section xx ppg. Key learning is that
Silicate Mud seals and inhibits the wellbore allowing a highly reactive shale to be drilled
and cased off in 12 days.
Flush all the rig pumps with fresh water when not in use (e.g. on trips) to avoid the
formation of a glassy silicate film around the piston.
It has been note that if the silicate level drops below 6% the mud rapidly deteriorates and
becomes unmanageable in terms of MBT and rheology control. This was particularly
evident on Well ZZ when bad weather prevented silicate getting to the rig and drilling was
continued with ever decreasing silicate content.

Additional lessons:
1. Rig did not have sufficient mud pump spares for the silicate section - had to
mobilize more from other Drilling Co.
2. Check the rubbers in mixing system (Pumps, Agitators, etc...) and change to
the NHBR seal on hopper, butter fly rubbers, seals of mixing pumps to ensure
compatibility with silicate.
3. When using silicate mud and low volume is in the TT, it starts to foam showing
an increasing slow gain when its actually foaming, its recommended to use
one TT on one pump at a time.
 4. Be careful while pulling big OD items through casing shoe. In more than one
occasion, Under-reamer was reported not to be fully collapsed and could not
be pulled inside previous shoe. Had to work it up to 2 hours until successfully
getting it through.
5. Silicate Mud back flow over the top of casing potentially had caused RMS
getting stuck on the casing. 1.5 hrs. were spent with the casing stationary
inside the RMS while switching from casing running to HDLS.
6. Lost ~9 hrs. while trying to free casing and had to cut the RMS with gas torch
at the end.
7. Try to minimize the time with the RMS stationary around casing.
8. Hang the casing on the elevators rather than slips if the operations had to stop
for whatever reason
9. Options include installing manuals whilst picking up hanger or alternatively
keep the auto slips in and prepare the equipment prior to picking up to ensure
the time in slips is minimized