A Wellbore Pressure Calculation Method Considering Gas Suspension in Wellbore Shut-In Condition

Abstract

In the oil industry, the drilling fluid is yield stress fluid. The gas invading the wellbore during the drilling process is distributed in the wellbore in the form of bubbles. When the buoyancy of the bubble is less than the resistance of the yield stress, the bubble will be suspended in the drilling fluid, which will lead to wellbore pressure inaccurately predicting and overflow. In this paper, the prediction model of gas limit suspension concentration under different yield stresses of drilling fluids is obtained by experiments, and the calculation method of wellbore pressure considering the influence of gas suspension under shut-in conditions is established. Based on the calculation of the basic data of a case well, the distribution of gas in different yield stress drilling fluids and the influence of gas suspension on the wellbore pressure are analyzed. The results show that with the increase of yield stress, the volume of suspended single bubbles increases, the gas suspension concentration increases, and the height at which the gas can rise is reduced. When the yield stress of drilling fluid is 2 Pa, the increment of wellhead pressure decreases by 37.1% compared with that without considering gas suspension, and when the yield stress of drilling fluid is 10Pa, the increment of wellhead pressure can decrease by 78.6%, which shows that when the yield stress of drilling fluid is different, the final stable wellhead pressure is quite different. This is of great significance for the optimization design of field overflow and kill parameters, and for the accurate calculation of wellbore pressure by considering the suspension effect of drilling fluid on the invasion gas through the shut in wellhead pressure.