The origin of drilling fluid

Long ago, people were drilling wells for water, not oil. In fact, they were annoyed by chance when they discovered oil because it polluted the water! Initially, drilling was done to obtain freshwater and seawater, the former for drinking, washing and irrigation; the latter for raw salt. Until the early 19th century, drilling oil liquid-gas separators became more and more popular as industrialization increased the demand for petroleum products.

The earliest recorded well dates back to China in the third century BC. They use a technique called rope drilling and drilling, by first dropping a huge metal drill and then collecting the rock fragments in a tubular container. The Chinese are more technologically advanced and China is also recognized as the first country to intentionally use fluids during drilling.

Fluid here refers to water. It softens the rock, making it easier for the drill to penetrate the rock while helping to remove the rock fragments known as drill cuttings. (It is important to remove drill cuttings from the hole because it is only then that the drill bit will continue to drill without hindrance.)

In 1833, a French engineer named Freuler observed a rope drilling operation. Drilling equipment drilled water during operation. At this moment, he realized that it would be very effective to jet the cuttings out of the well. The principle of using flowing liquid to remove drill cuttings from boreholes is thus established. He envisages a device according to which the pump sends water along the inside of the drill pipe into the borehole and when water returns to the earth's surface through the gap between the drill pipe and the borehole wall, And bring out. This operating procedure is still in use.

In 1900, during the drilling of the well in Del Tor, Texas, the drillers drove a herd of cattle across a water-filled pit. Mud puddles are formed in cattle puddles and are a thick, muddy mixture of water and soil that a drilling worker pumps into the hole. Drilling fluids are still referred to as mud today, but engineers no longer rely solely on water and mud as raw materials for drilling fluids. They carefully blend the ingredients of the mixture to meet the specific needs of various drilling conditions. Modern drilling fluids are indeed the lifeblood of wells. Deep wells can not be drilled today without them.

Rotary drilling has largely replaced rope-tied drilling. With this technique, the drill bit is located at the end of the rotating tube. The drilling process is similar to drilling a piece of wood using a handheld electric drill or a screwdriver. Unlike drill wood, which drills only a few inches or a few centimeters, modern wells can reach thousands of feet underground or several kilometers underground. When drilling wood, drill cuttings are taken out of the hole along the helical groove of the hole. This method is effective for drilling shallow holes, but not suitable for drilling deep wells. Drilling cuttings are brought to the surface of the earth with circulating mud as they drill deep into the well. The deeper the well is drilled, the more important the drilling fluid is. It has a wide range of uses and can solve a variety of problems that can vary greatly from place to place