Lecture 2:

Drilling Fluids
Lecture Outcomes
• Functions
• Classification of drilling fluids
• Drilling fluid properties and testing procedures
• Drilling fluid formulation, additives and treatment
• Drilling fluid calculations
• Drilling fluid discharge
How drilling fluids look like?

3
Introduction
• Drilling fluid or drilling mud is a critical component in the rotary
drilling process.
• Its primary functions are to remove the drilled cuttings from the
borehole whilst drilling and to prevent fluids from flowing from the
formations being drilled, into the borehole.
• The cost of the mud can be as high as 10-15% of the total cost of the
well.
• Operating company will usually hire a service company to provide a
drilling fluid specialist (mud engineer) on the rig to formulate,
continuously monitor and, if necessary, treat the mud.
 Drill Mud Functions
• The primary functions of a drilling fluid are:
• Remove cuttings from the Wellbore
• Prevent Formation Fluids Flowing into the Wellbore - Walls the hole with an
impermeable filter cake
• Maintain Wellbore Stability - Minimizes sloughing & caving of the formation.
• Cool and Lubricate the Bit
• Transmit Hydraulic Horsepower to Bit
• The drilling fluid must be designed so that the physical and chemical
properties of the fluid allow these functions to be fulfilled. Some
considerations also to be given to:
• the environmental impact of using the fluid
• the cost of the fluid
• the impact of the fluid on production from the pay zone
 Function Physical/Chemical Property

Transport cuttings from the Wellbore Yield Point, Apparent Viscosity,

Velocity, Gel Strength
Prevent Formation Fluids Flowing into Density
the Wellbore
Maintain Wellbore Stability Density, Reactivity with Clay
Table 1 Function and
Cool and Lubricate the Bit Density, velocity,
Physical Properties of
Transmit Hydraulic Horsepower to Bit Velocity, Density, Viscosity
Drilling Fluid

a. Remove cuttings from the Wellbore

The primary function of drilling fluid is to ensure that the rock cuttings generated by
the drilllbit are continuously removed from the wellbore. If these cuttings are not
removed from the bit face the drilling efficiency will decrease. It these cuttings are
not transported up the annulus between the drillstring and wellbore efficiently the
drillstring will become stuck in the wellbore. The mud must be designed such that
Prevent Formation Fluids Flowing into the
Drilling Fluids
9
Wellbore
• The hydrostatic pressure exerted by the mud must be high enough to
prevent
the an influx
loss of expensive mudofintoformation
the formation.fluids
The flowinto theintowellbore
of mud and must not
the formation
whilst drilling is known as lost circulation. This is because a certain proportion of
bemud
the toois high or it may
not returning cause
to surface the formation
but flowing to fracture (lost circulation).
into the formation.

The pressure in the wellbore will be equal to:

P = 0.052 x MW x TVD

where,
P = hydrostatic pressure (psi)
MW = mud density of the mud or mud weight (ppg)
TVD= true vertical depth of point of interest = vertical height of mud column (ft)

The density of the mud may be expressed in either of the following units:
• The mud weight must be selected so that it exceeds the pore
pressures but does not exceed the fracture pressures of the
formations being penetrated.
• When drilling through permeable formations (e.g. sand) the mud will
seep into the formation. This is not the same as the large losses of
fluid which occurs in fractured formations. As the fluid seeps into the
formation a filter cake will be deposited on the wall of the borehole.
Some fluid will however continue to filter through the filter cake into
the formation.
• The loss of mud can result in the deposition of solid particles or
hydration of clays in the pore space. The loss of filtrate can also result
in the hydration of clays. This will result in a reduction in the
permeability of the formation.
Maintain Wellbore Stability
• Shale instability is one of the most common problems in drilling
operations. This instability may be caused by either one or both of the
following two mechanisms:
• the pressure differential between the bottomhole pressure in the borehole and the
pore pressures in the shales and/or,
• hydration of the clay within the shale by mud filtrate containing water.
• The instability caused by the pressure differential between the borehole
and the pore pressure can be overcome by increasing the mudweight.
• The hydration of the clays can only be overcome by using non water-based
muds, or partially addressed by treating the mud with chemicals.
Transmit Hydraulic Horsepower to Bit
• As fluid is circulated through the drillstring, across the bit and up the
annulus of the wellbore the power of the mud pumps will be
expended in frictional pressure losses.
• The efficiency of the drilling process can be significantly enhanced if
approximately 65% of this power is expended at the bit.
• The pressure losses in the system are a function of the geometry of
the system and the mud properties such as viscosity, yield point and
mud weight.
• The distribution of these pressure losses can be controlled by altering
the size of the nozzles in the bit and the flowrate through the system.
 Summary of mud functions

Maintain
borehole stability
Minimise
loss of fluid Suspend barite
to the formation under static and
dynamic conditions
Control
formation Remove
pressure drilling cuttings
from the hole

Lubricate Provide hydraulic

the drill string horse power
to the bit
11
To achieve these functions, the following side effects must be
minimized (mud should not):
• Reduce the penetration rate
• Loss of circulation
• Erode of the borehole
• Corrode the drill string
• Wear on the pump parts
• Swell the borehole creating tight spots
• Damage the subsurface formation, especially the potential pay section
• Stuck the drill pipe against the walls of the hole
• Hamper evaluation of the productive zone
• Require excessive pump pressure at the desired circulation rate
• Allow suspension & continual circulation of undesirable solids and/or abrasive
solids such as cuttings, encountered clay & fine sand
12
Advantages of having a good mud cake on
permeable formation
• Minimizes formation damage (affecting both
formation evaluation & production)
• Improves hole stability (avoiding wall stuck pipe,
swabbing & pressure surges)
• Reduces fluid loss
• Reduced contamination of formation
• Reduced sloughing & caving

13
 Common Mud additives
• Weighting material
• Viscosifier (thickener)
• Viscosity reducer chemicals
• Fluid loss reducer
• Emulsifier
• Lost circulating materials
• special additives: flocculants, corrosion control, defoamer,
pH control, Mud lubricant, anti-differential
sticking material

14
14
 Weighting Material
1. Barite
2. Hematite
Barite Powder
Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) 3. Galena
4. Calcium Carbonate
5. Dissolved Salts (KCl, NaCl, etc)

Hematite Powder
 Viscosifiers (Thickners)

• Bentonite
• Attapulgite
Bentonite • CMC – carboxyl methyl-
PAC
cellulose
• HEC – hydroxy-ethyl-
cellulose
• PAC – Polyanionic Cellulose
CMC
• Synthetic polymers (nylon,
polyethylene, poly ester, etc)
• Guar gums
• Resin
Attapulgite
• Silicates

HEC
 Viscosity- Reducing
Chemicals
• Phosphates
• Tannates
Lignite
• Lignites
• Lignosulfonates
• Sodium Polyacrylate
Sodium Polyacrylate

Lignosulfonates
 Emulsifier
• Oil in Water (O/W)
• Water in Oil (W/O)

Hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB) for emulsifier

 Fluid Loss Reducer
• Starches
Bentonite
• CMC
• PAC-Acrylates
Drilling starch
• Bentonite
• Dispersants
CMC

Dispersants
 Weighting material additives
Material Principal Specific Hardness % Acid
Component Gravity (Moh’s Scale) Soluble
Galena PbS 7.4 – 7.7 2.5 – 2.7 0
Hematite Fe2O3 4.9 – 5.3 5.5 – 6.5 50+
Magnetite Fe3O4 5.0 – 5.2 5.5 – 6.5 0
Iron Oxide Fe2O3 4.7 –
(manufactured)
Illmenite FeO.TiO2 4.5 – 5.1 5.0 – 6.0 20
Barite BaSO4 4.2 – 4.5 2.5 – 3.5 0
Siderite FeCO3 3.7 – 3.9 3.5 – 4.0 95+
Celesite SrSO4 3.7 – 3.9 3.5 – 4.0 0
Dolomite CaCO3.MgC 2.8 – 2.9 3.0 – 3.5 99
O3
Calcite CaCO3 2.6 – 2.8 3.0 99
20
Clay in water

21
 Types of Mud
Water Based Muds (WBM) or
Water Based Drilling Fluids (WBDF)

Mud
types

Gases Fluids
Oil Based Muds (OBM) or
(air, gas, mist, foam,
Non-aqueous Drilling Fluids (NADF)
aerated muds)

22
 Classification of Drilling Fluids
(after IMCO Petroleum Services)
Drilling
fluids

Oil base Water base Pneumatic

Invert Non- Mist or

Inhibitive Air Gas
True (emulsion, inhibitive foam
(90 – 95% Oil) 5% emulsified water)

Minimum
Lightly solids Ionic Encapsulation
Native
treated inhibition (KCl-PHPA Mud)

Organic Inorganic Ca++ Na+ K+ NH4+

 0.2 (Fresh or salt water)

0.0

Typical Mud Composition

1.0 Clays + 5% sand, etc. + 3%
Clays, 1.0
Clays, sand, etc. + 3%
s) (Active solids)
0.8 Salt + 4% 0.8 Salt + 4%
Sand, limestone etc. + 5%
one etc. + 5% (Inactive low density solids) Barite + 9%
density
0.6solids) Barite + 9% 0.6
Barite 5-10 % Water + 30%
0.4 Waterhigh
(Inactive + 30%
density solids) 0.4
% Oil 50-80%
density solids) Water + 80%
0.2 Oil 50-80%
(Fresh or salt water)
0.2
Figure 2
Composition of typical
0.0 water0.0
-based mud
water) Figure 2 Figure 3
Composition of typical Composition of typical
The main disadvantage of using water based muds is that the water in these muds
water -based mud causes instability inoil-based
shales. Shalemud
is composed primarily of clays and instability is
largely caused by hydration of the clays by mud containing water. Shales are the most
common rock types encountered while drilling for oil and gas and give rise to more
1.0
 Why use Oil-based Muds (OBM)?
Advantages:
• Good rheological properties at
temperatures as high as 500 oF
(especially deeper well)
• More inhibitive than inhibitive WBMs
• Effective against all types of corrosion
• Superior lubricating characteristics
• Increase bit life & improve penetration
rate
• Permits rm as low as 7.5 ppg
• Reduce formation damage
Disadvantages:
• High initial cost
• Requires more stringent pollution-
control procedures
• Reduced effectiveness of some
logging tools
• Remedial treatment for lost
circulation is more difficult
• Detection of gas kicks is more
difficult because gas solubility in
diesel oil
25
 Why use Ester based mud (EBM)?

• Advantages:
• Environmental friendly
• Biodegradable
• Local product-derived from palm oil
• Limitations:
• Suitability/properties
• High cost

26
Rheological models

27
 Mud properties
• Density (mud weight) • Emulsion stability
• Viscosity • Resistivity
• Gel strength • pH
• Filtration • Lubricity
• Mud cake • Etc.

Standard drilling fluids testing:

- API RP 13B-1 (Recommended Practice for Field Testing Water-Based Drilling
Fluids
- API RP 13B-2 (Recommended Practice for Field Testing Oil-Based Drilling Fluids
28
Field Test on Drilling Fluids
 Density or mud weight
m
r =Unit: ppg, lb/cuft, S.G., ppb, psi/1000ft
v
• Mud balance ® calibrated at 8.33 ppg (water) or
62.4 lb/cuft or 1.0 g/cc

Mud balance
30
Mud balance
31
 Densities of various muds
1.2

1.0

2.0

0.5

0.4

0.002 Types of drilling fluids and their relative densities

2.3
32
 Viscosity
u A

F u
l

u=0
ML/T2
shearing stress F/A L 2 M
μ= = = = Unit: Poise / cp
rate of shearing strain u/l L/T LT
L
33
• Water, oil, etc: Newtonian fluids (constant µ)

• Drilling fluids: Plastic or non-Newtonian fluids

(µ is not constant)
® certain value of stress
(true yield point) must be
exceeded in order to initiate movement

34
Flow behavior of plastic and Newtonian fluids

id s
f lu
a stic
Pl
Shearing stress or pressure
ids
flu
Yb, Bingham yield
nian
w to
Ne

Transition from plug to laminar flow

Plug flow

Yt, True yield

Rate of shear or velocity

35
(a) Marsh funnel
• The funnel is filled to the upper mark (1500 cc) with
freshly collected, well agitated mud
• Measures the time for 1 quart (946 cc)
® comparative
• Calibration: 26 ± 0.5 sec. (water)

Marsh funnel
36
 (b) Rheometer
• Determine: µa , µp , Yb , gel or shear strength
(Degrees at 600rpm) (Degrees at 300rpm)

Plastic viscosity (PV) µp = F600 - F300 cp

µa = ½ F600 cp
Yield Point Yb = F300 - µp lb/100 ft2

• From these relationships:

Yb = 2(µa - µp) or
µa = µp + ½ Yb

37
 • True yield point (from previous graph) is normally
defined by the following equation:
Yt = 3/4 Yb

F600
Slope proportional to µp
Dial deflection, F

F300

Slope proportional to µa
Plug flow
Yb Yt, True yield

300 600
Setting, rpm
38
 40

40

30
Yield Point (lb/100 sq. ft.) 30
Yield Point (lb/100 sq. ft.)

20
20

10 10

0
08 10 12 14 16 18 20 Figure 9
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Figure 9
Mudweight (ppg) Acceptable range of YP for
Mudweight (ppg) Acceptable ran
a given Mudweight
a given Mudwe

2.4 Filtration
Gel strength
• A measure of the shearing stress necessary to
initiate a finite rate of shear
• Measured at 3 rpm using rheometer
• Reported as initial gel strength (10 sec.) & final gel
strength (10 min.)
• Unit: lb/100 ft2

40
Filtration properties
• Filter press: measure the filtration, water loss &
mud cake thickness
• API standard test is at room temperature and 100
psi pressure
• Using 100 psig, filter paper
• Filtrate volume: cc(cm3)/30 min.
• Mud cake thickness: 1/32 in.
• In field testing, it is common practice to double
the 7 ½ min. filtration loss & report this as the 30
min. figure
41
2.4 Filtration
The filter cake building properties of mud can be measured by means of a filter press
(Figure 10). The following are measured during this test:

Top cap T screw The following are measured during this test:

Pressure inlet
Rubber gasket 1. The rate at which fluid from a mud sample is
Mud cup forced through a filter under specified
Cell temperature and pressure.
2. The thickness of the solid residue deposited
Rubber gasket Support rod
on the filter paper caused by the loss of fluids
Filter paper Graduated cylinder

Screen
Thumb screw
Rubber gasket

Support
Base cap with
filtrate tube

Figure 10
Filtrate tube
Filter press apparatus

• the rate at which fluid from a mud sample is forced through a filter under specified
LPLT Filter Press LPLT Filter Press HPHT Filter Press
(CO2 Pressurized) (Nitrogen Pressurized)

43
• This procedure is based on the observation that:

• This procedure does not account for the initial spurt

(high filter loss) period which occurs before the mud
solid bridge on the filter paper

44
For some muds the spurt loss may be considerable
volume and should be corrected as follows:
Apparent water loss
Corrected water loss
Filtrate volume, cc
d ata
ss
i te r lo
n t fl
ri me u rve
x p e ss c
E rl o
f il te
te d
o rrec
C

0 1 2 3 4 5 30 6
Time

0 1 4 9 16 25 30 36
Time, min. 45
• Filtration loss may be corrected for T changes by:

46
 Other mud tests
TEST APPARATUS PURPOSE
pH pH paper or pH meter Guide to chemical treatment (to measure pH of
whole mud, filtrate, and filter cake)
Filtrate Standard chemicals Determination of contaminant to select
analysis such as acid, chemical treatment
indicators, etc.
Sand content Screens, measuring Determination of sand content in the mud to
tube, centrifuge prevent abrasion of pump & drill pipe
Oil, water, Distillation kit Guide to control the desired properties (to
solids content determine oil, water & solid content)
Clay content Methylene blue test To determine the amount of clay materials in
WBM
Emulsion Electrical stability To indicate the relative strength of emulsions
stability tester having a continuous oil phase
Lubricity Lubricity tester To measure the lubricity of the muds
Resistivity Resistivity meter To measure resistivity of muds, filtrates, filter
cakes, and slurries 47
 48

The pH of Common Mud Treating Agents

Chemical Name pH
Barium carbonate, BaCO3 10.0
Sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3, baking soda 8.3
Calcium sulfate, CaSO4.1/2H2O, gypsum-plaster 6.0
Chrome lignosulfonates 3.4 – 4.0
Sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, soda ash 11.0
Calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, slaked lime 12.0
Sodium hydroxide, NaOH, caustic soda 13.0
Calcium lignosulfonate 7.0
Lignite 5.0
Quebracho 3.8
Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Na2H2P2O7 4.8
Sodium hexametaphosphate, (NaPO3)6 6.0
Sodium tetraphosphate, Na6P4O13 7.5
Tetrasodium pyrophosphate, Na4P2O7 9.9
 Sand Content Kit Filtrate Analysis Kit

Chloride, Alkalinity & Water Oil, Water & Solid Retort Kit
Hardness Test Kit 49
 Resistivity meter pH paper/pH meter

Electrical stability tester Lubricity tester

50
Why monitor drilling fluids ?
• To identify potential hole problems
• To identify their causes
• could be poor hole cleaning
• hole erosion
• formation damage
• sensitive formations
• pressure control problems

51
 Mud Properties
Properties The Importance
Density Ø Pressure control à Dp = ± 200 psi (overbalance)
rm
pm = X 0.433 D = 0.052rm D
8.33
Mud Filtrate Ø Mud ability to form a thinner mud cake with low permeability on the
wall of porous medium.
Ø Thicker mud cake means more solid materials settled at formation wall
and more filtration lost to the formation.
Ø Thicker mud cake easier to collapse and cause other problem during
drilling activity such as the hole becomes smaller.
Gel Strength Ø The ability of mud to suspend solids (especially weighting materials,
drilled cuttings).
Ø Very important in suspended drilling operation.
Yield Point Ø The amount of pressure (shearing stress) needed to be applied to flow
the mud.
Ø Very important in determining pump capacity and the amount of
pressure needed to be applied to flow the mud from static positions.
Gel strength Ø Carrying capacity of the mud.
+ Yield Point
Thinner Ø The reduce mud viscosity (Yb, µa, gel strength) without reducing the
mud density.
Weighting Materials Ø The increase mud density without causing any reaction in the mud
(inert materials). 52
52
 Mud Selection Criteria
Criteria Comments
Wildcat Geological information is primary consideration.
Well type
Development Generally allow full use of optimized techniques.
Sloughing shale Formulate fluid to control sloughing.
Formation Anhydrite If minor, treat out calcium; massive anhydrite requires specialized mud
Salt If salt contamination exceeds 10,000 ppm, a salt-based mud is required

High temperatures Static BHT above 225°F reduces effectiveness of additive, problem
magnified by high clay-solids content

Lost circulation Batch treatment successful for minor or intermediate losses; special
technique required for major losses

Composition Test and treat makeup water to remove calcium and magnesium; use
flocculants to remove clay solids
Makeup water
Availability Quantity and type are important in fluid selection

Rig selection Rigs should have proper solids-removal equipment and adequate
circulating horsepower.
Nature of producing formations Type of fluid selected is dependent on rock characteristic of reservoir.
Casing program Drilling fluid(s) used may be determined by casing string depths.

Availability of products In remote, international areas, drilling fluid type may depend on
product availability.
53
53
 Drilling Fluids Mistakes
• Not testing the quality of the make-up water & treating it properly
• Mixing the additives too rapidly or in an incorrect order
• Not matching the correct drilling fluid with soil type
• Mixing too low of a concentration of additives to allow them to perform
properly
• Failure to maintain slurry flow throughout the bore
• Failure to calculate the volumes of water & additives that are required
• Failure to calculate the drilling/reaming speeds so as not to outrun fluid
flow
• Poor bore planning
• Not calculating pullback rates vs. pump volume output
• Thinking that loss of fluid returns will not lead to problems
• Ignoring the importance of mud reclaiming systems and maintenance

54
 P = 0.052 x MW x TVD
Converting field unit to laboratory unit (ppb to
g/cc) where,
P = hydrostatic pressure (psi)
MW = mud density of the mud or mud weight (ppg)
g TVD= true vertical depth of point of interest = vertical height of mud c
454
lb lb g
lb
1 =1 ´ =
bbl bbl 42 gal ´ 3785 cc 350 ccThe density of the mud may be expressed in either of the following units:
bbl gal
To obtain the following Units of density multiply the Units in the first c

lb g S.G. psi/ft ppg

\ =
bbl 350 cc Table 2 S.G. 1.0 0.433 8.33
Conversion of Commonly psi/ft 2.31 1.0 19.23
used Units of Density ppg 0.12 0.052 1.0
e.g. 12 ppb = 12 g / 350 cc

Example:
A mudweight of 12 ppg is equivalent to a mudweight of 1255x 0.052 = 0.6
Mud Calculations
Ø The units have to be in consistent set.
Ø If the r in lb/gal (ppg), the V will be in gal, and so does gm/cc
à cc
Ø Since the net volume of a powdered solid is not readily
measurable (usually measured by weight), by multiplying the
rs to Equation (3), the Vs can be calculated.
 Example 1

A 9.5 lb/gal mud contains clay (SG = 2.5)

and fresh water. Compute (a) the volume %
and (b) the weight % clay in this mud.
Exercise
A 10.0 lbm/gal mud contains clay of specific gravity of 2.5 and fresh
water. Compute volume percentage and weight percentage of clay in
this mud.
 Example 2
For laboratory purposes, it is desired to mix one liter of
bentonite-fresh water mud having a viscosity of 30 cp:

(a) What will be the resulting mud density?

(b) How much of each material should be used?
 Example 3
a) How much weighting material (BaSO4, barite, SG = 4.3) should be
added to the mud of Example 2 to increase its density to 10 ppg?
(b) What will the resulting volume be?

Density of barium sulfate = 4.5 g/cc = 35.8 ppg

Mud Weight Design
• In general drilling mud is composed of four major components – i)
water or brine phase, ii) an oil phase, iii) low density solids, and iv)
high density solids.
• These four components are immiscible and form an ideal mixture.
• Mathematically, the sum of the four components volumes equals the
total volume of the final mixture
• In terms of weight and density;

• In terms of volume fraction, f;

Example
• A total volume of mud is 1,000 bbls that has a mud weight of 9.1 ppg.
Calculate the volume fractions of water, Bentonite, and the weight of
Bentonite used. Density of powder Bentonite is 156 lbm/ft3 (SG = 2.5)
Barite Sack
Cycle Time
 Drilling fluid discharge (drilling waste)
• Why should properly discharge the mud?
• To protect the human health
• To minimize the risk of toxicity
• To control the impact to an acceptance level
• To overcome an environmental issue
• To comply with the country rules and regulation

83
Parameter for Evaluating Disposal Option
ECONOMIC OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
ü Immediate costs ü Safety ü Removal of HC , heavy
ü $/m3 for disposal ü Processing rate metals and salts from solids
ü Operating cost ü Mechanical reliability and water
ü Energy ü Size and portability of ü Reduction in volume of
ü Maintenance unit(s) waste
ü Labour ü Condition of end products ü Compliance with
ü Disposal of end ü Number of additional regulations
products personnel required ü Marine species potentially
ü Future cleanup ü Method of disposal after at risk
processing ü Potential environmental
ü Weather conditions stressors
ü Human health
issues/chemical exposure

84
 Safety, Health and Environment

Human (exposure of the chemicals)

Toxicity to marine
Biodegradability of mud
Organic enrichment and sediment
anoxia of seabed sediments

Anoxia: An absence of oxygen. An absence or deficiency of oxygen reaching the

tissues; severe hypoxia.

85
 NADF drilling waste disposal
• Offshore discharge
• NADF need to follow local regulatory requirement and guidelines
• Discharged overboard from drilling vessel or platform after
undergoing treatment by solid equipment.
• Cutting injections
• Injection on the permeable subterranean formation after the
cuttings are ground to fine particle sizes and disposed along
with residual NADFs
• Onshore disposal
• Cuttings and associated NADF are collected and transported via
barge/drilling vessel to the onshore for re-treatment and
recycle.

86
Worldwide Application - Waste Discharge
• Indonesia crustaceae
• 96 hr LC50 Test: Testing animal that is used for this test is tiger prawn and
small crustaceae.
• TCLP test (Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure): Determination of
heavy metal content on cutting on arsenic, barium, boron, cadmium,
chromium, copper, lead, mercury, selenium, silver, and zinc.
• Water Analysis: pH (6-9), TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) (≤ 10,000 ppm), TSS
(Total suspended solids) (≤ 2,000 ppm), COD (chemical oxygen demand) (≤
400), oil content (≤ 50 mg/L)
• United Kingdom
• Prohibited any toxic chemicals, certain types of metals from discharge.
• Where other metals are limited to concentrations of < 100 ppm
• Products that were planned for discharges must be reported to the
government.
• OBM testing were done using the brown shrimp using the 96 hr LC50 test.

87
 • USA
Limitations or Monitoring
Alaska Region
Required
Oil-Based Mud Discharge prohibited
Authorized subject to limitations on
additives. Combined generic
Generic Muds
formulas into 6 rather than 8 mud
systems.
Approved additives list provided.
Minimum 96hrLC50 of 30,000 ppm
Additives
based on toxicity of Generic Mud
#1.
Bioassay required prior to drilling
Bioassays with unauthorized additives. End of
well bioassay required.
California Region Gulf of Mexico Region Federal Region
Discharge prohibited Discharge prohibited Discharge prohibited
Requirements based on
Authorized based on toxicity of Requirements based on toxicity of
toxicity of generic muds.
generic muds. Maximum toxicity generic muds. Maximum toxicity of
Maximum toxicity of
of 30,000 ppm. 30,000 ppm.
30,000 ppm.
Approved additives list provided.
Additives with LC50 > 100,000
approved. LC50 between 30,000-
100,000 conditionally approved
if when used with other
additives, the total does not No approved additives
No approved additives list.
exceeded 30,000 ppm. Reference list.
mud for testing is Generic Mud
#7. Nonapproved additives must
not increase toxicity of muds 2-8
by a factor of 7 based on a
formukla given in the permit.
Toxicity of mud plus
Bioassay requried for each mud
additives required for a
system used plus end of well Toxicity of discharged mud and cuttings
monthly and end of
bioassay. Bioassay on Northern must not exceed 30,000 ppm.
well. Toxicity limit is
Anchovy also required.
30,000 ppm.
88
89
Standard regulations practiced in Malaysia

• The principal legislation that is relevant to the offshore and onshore petroleum
developments in Malaysia:-
– Environmental Quality Act, 1974 (EQA)
– Exclusive Economic Zone Act, 1984 (EEZ)
• Adopted regulations from China and Japan
• Requires all aqueous effluent to be treated prior to discharge to marine (100
ppm oil limit)
• Drill cuttings are discharge overboard while drill mud are recovered and
recycle

90
PETRONAS E&P – Minimum Environmental Specifications (MES) issued
by Petroleum Management, Petronas , April 2011
Effective April 2011, every Production Sharing (PS) Contractor of PETRONAS shall endeavour to
comply with the PETRONAS E&P MES in conducting its Petroleum Operations, onshore or offshore
Malaysia.

Clause 2.13 Drilling Mud/Fluids and Cuttings:

a. Only water-based-mud/fluids and low toxicity/synthetic oil based mud/fluids is permitted for
drilling use. Spent water based mud can be disposed into marine environment.
b. Low Toxicity Oil Based Mud (LTOBM) or Synthetic Oil Based Mud (SOBM) shall be minimized and
used only when necessary (based on geological formation/drilling requirements). Spent SOBM is
prohibited to be disposed into marine environment.
c. Cuttings drilled with LTOBM or SOBM shall be washed and treated to oil content of 6.9% wet
basis or less before disposed into marine environment.
d. Drill cuttings and mud are prohibited to be discharge into environmentally sensitive areas.
e. Management and disposal of spent oil based mud and cuttings shall be as per Environmental
Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulation 2005.
f. PSCs shall identify opportunities to re-use, reduce and re-cycle mud as part of Drilling Waste
Minimization program.
g. Drilling rig shall be equipped with pollution control units such as centrifuge, cutting dryers, shale
shakers etc.

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The End of Lecture 2