Experiences of Drilling Fluids in Shale Gas Fields

Gao C.H.
2023 Slovnaft VURUP a.s

Petroleum and Coal
2023 #65 Issue 3 647 - 656 pp.

Shale gas is the fastest-growing energy source in the world. In USA, shale gas now contributes to more than 60% of natural gas supply. In China, annual shale gas production climbed to 800 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in 2021. However, since the dawn of petroleum industry, drilling in shale has been a challenge due to the reactive clay minerals. This paper surveys the field experiences of widely used drilling fluids in major shale plays. OBM (oil based mud) is usually made of diesel and low fraction of water phase. The oil phase in OBM provides effective shale stability, high rate of penetration (ROP), and excellent lubricity. Therefore, more than 70% of shale gas wells have been drilled with OBM, and very few wells reported wellbore instability. WBM (water-based mud) is made of water and necessary chemical additives. WBM is less costly and more environment-friendly than OBM, but some shale wells drilled with WBM reported severe instability issues. Nevertheless, recent innovations in WBM lead to successes in drilling major shale plays. WBM has great potential in shale drilling and deserves more research and improvements.

Drilling fluid , Oil-based mud , Shale gas , Shale stability , Water-based mud

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

School of Mining and Geoscience, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

School of Mining and Geoscience

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026