Abstract
The rate of penetration (ROP) plays a major role in reducing drilling costs, making it an important area of investigation. There are various controllable and uncontrollable factors that affect the ROP, and the variation in these variables affecting the ROP made it a very pivotal drilling parameter that has a significant effect on non-productive time. In this work, sensitivity and statistical analysis were carried out using data from over 1000 wells in Basra oil fields, Iraq. The scope of this work is to determine the effect of rheological properties on ROP, to provide a method for estimating the recommended range for drilling fluid properties based on data mining techniques.
In this work, huge real field data from over 1000 wells drilled in Basra oil fields, Iraq were gathered and analyzed to better understand the characteristics of a drilling fluid that enhance ROP and quantify the impact of each drilling fluid rheological properties on ROP. The data used in this study were collected from mud logging data, daily drilling reports (DDR), and geological information. Statistical and sensitivity analyses were performed in order to identify the relationship between ROP and drilling fluid rheological properties. The correlation coefficient (CC) was utilized to understand the effect of solid content (SC), yield point (Yp), and plastic viscosity (PV) on ROP. The results showed that SC is the most influential rheological property on ROP, then PV and finally Yp. In addition, this work demonstrates how bit hydraulics can be improved by means of modifying the rheological properties rather than adjusting the flow rate or nozzle size.
Large-scale collection and interpretation of field data or in other words "data mining" can be considered as a strong tool in understanding the impact of different parameters on the ROP in order to estimate the recommended range of rheological properties, which will result in improving the ROP.
