Application of Environmentally Friendly Base Oil for High-Performance Drilling in Challenging High-Temperature Exploratory Wells in Sharjah

Abstract

As deep drilling operations continue to expand into complex and challenging environments, the demand for sustainable and high-performing drilling fluids has become crucial to maintain wellbore stability and enhance operational efficiency. Novel Base Oil (NBO), a high-quality and eco-friendly base oil offers several benefits, including low viscosity, reduced aromatic content, high flash point, excellent thermal stability, and biodegradability, making it an ideal solution for challenging drilling applications. Both the laboratory and field mud test results are analysed to evaluate the performance of NBO at normal & elevated temperatures. The key parameters assessed during the test are plastic viscosity, yield point, gel strength, and overall fluid stability. Additionally, a comparison of NBO with two industry standard synthetic base oils (ISBO), which include ISBO-1 and ISBO-2, are provided based on their physical property and laboratory test data to analyse and compare the performance of NBO. This paper evaluates the environmental significance and rheological performance of NBO with the current industry standard base oils and provides a detailed comparison at HTHP conditions.