SPE-178267-MS

The Effect Of Wellbore Stability In Naturally Fractured Reservoirs

Paul Fekete, and Lopez A. Bruno, University of Calgary; Adewale Dosunmu, and Samuel Odagme, Shell AretAdams; Adewale Sanusi, University of Calgary; Ediri Bowe, Dalhousie University

Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition held in Lagos, Nigeria, 4 6 August 2015.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Wellbore instability all over the world accounts for a significant in Non-Productive Time (NPT) in well
drilling and completions and incurring high cost of drilling as well as increasing safe risks. Real time
analysis of data and geomechanics (understanding the rock properties and stresses) has continuously
improved the stability of wellbores in the world. Some of the issues cost by this instability are the most
common of these losses are: borehole enlargement, cavings, washouts, stuck pipes, deformation of the
casing and amongst others.
Numerous wellbore instability problems related to drilling through potentially natural fractured
reservoirs/formations have been reported. Most of the this reported formations are been characterized by
number of macro and micro scale bedding planes and/or networks of natural fractures which weakens the
mechanical strength of the rock and the producibility of potential of the rock matrix. This term paper
reviews instabilities issues in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs (NFR), natural fracture reservoir failure
mechanism and highlights the effect of instabilities in NFR as well as proper well placement in the NFRs.
This paper also looked at wellbore solution in permeable and impermeable formations, borehole failure
analyses, drilling strategies to mitigate instabilities in naturally fractured reservoirs and other countermeasures dealing with wellbore instability. The review shows that well design, drilling fluid design,
minimizing lateral vibrations of drill pipe and good drilling practices are critical in solving wellbore
stabilities in naturally fractured reservoirs.

Introduction
Drilling commonly requires the selection of a drilling fluid density that balances the need to provide an
adequate hydrostatic pressure to prevent the influx of formation fluids without exceeding the fracture
initiation pressure of the exposed formations in the open hole. However, natural fractures changes the
wellbore stress and can significantly reduce the fracture resistance of a formation. This creates a very
narrow operating window between pore pressure and fracture pressure. This increases the risk for a well
control issue, often resulting in massive fluid losses while drilling, running casing and cementing due to
induced fracturing.

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Borehole instabilities are the main cause of drilling problems, resulting in an expensive NPT,
sometimes in a loss of part o f or even whole boreholes. Wellbore instabilities make logging very difficult
to perform and also to interpret (Maury and Sauzay. 1987).
Many of the North America fields are prime candidates and recent experiences in drilling such mature
fields make this review expedient. Also the wellbore stability problems in naturally fractured reservoirs
can be classified into the following groups:
y
y
y
y

Shock-wave loading related failures

Deliberate or unintentional stresses failures
Induced stress concentrations Failures
Existing or drilling-induced formation damage failures.

In order to drill successfully in natural fractured reservoir, one must intercept the fractures perpendicular, one must not damage the natural fractures in other not to extend the growth of the natural fractures
and horizontal wells and multistage hydraulic fracturing is required for optimal production. The orientation of the fractures must be known for proper well placement (perpendicular to the fractures).

Figure 1Piece of shale core retrieved from sidetrack hole (Source: Steinar Ottesen, 2010).

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Figure 2Natural fractures (Source: Steinar Ottesen, 2010).

This term paper looks at the effect of wellbore stability in drilling natural fracture reservoirs, review
wellbore solution in permeable and impermeable formations and method to strengthen wellbore by
reducing both rock shear and tensile failures, drilling fluid design, minimizing lateral vibrations of drill
pipe and good drilling practices.
The integrity of the borehole plays an important role in many well operations. During drilling, lost
circulation and borehole collapse cause economic losses, and in production operations, controlled
fracturing and sand control are of utmost importance for the economy of an oil field. Therefore, a better
understanding of the rock mechanics is necessary to improve the economy of the well operations (see
Figure 3).

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Figure 3Wellbore shear failure and slip failure caused by the Weak planes (Source: Md. Shamsuzzoha, 2011).

To understand the fields situations better, a complete mathematical model have to be developed that
takes into account all directional properties. Strength properties of bedded rocks have been known for
some time. Jaeger (1960) gives a thorough analysis of the various loading scenario that explain bedding
failure. In particular, Jaeger includes friction in his analysis. A common way to model shear failure using
Jaegers approach is to use the Mohr Coulomb failure model, but vary the cohesive strength and the angle
of friction (internal), depending on the loading relative to bedding plane inclination (Paul F. et al, 2014).
Santarelli et al. (1992) presented a field case of drilling through a fractured shale. They concluded that
density increase had a negative effect on borehole stability, while mud filtrate reduction and mud rheology
enhancements were highly positive.
Interestingly, in the first two attempts to drill this fractured shale, with a water-based mud, the mud
weight was only increased from 10.0 lbm/gal to 10.5 lbm/gal and 10.5lbm/gal to 10.75 lbm/gal,
respectively, after the instability had already manifested itself. On the successful third attempt, the mud
weight was maintained at 11.3-11.1 lbm/gal for the entire hole interval, in addition to adding calcium
carbonate and asphalt to the mud system. In addition, oil-based mud was used in the third successful
attempt. The higher initial mud weight likely contributed to the success in the third attempt (Santarelli et
al. 1992).
McLellan and Cormier (1996) based on field, laboratory, and modeling studies suggested that mud
density alone cannot be relied on to reduce borehole collapse tendencies in fissile shales. They stipulated
that too high mud density, especially in laminated, fractured, or fissile shales, could result in excessive
pore pressure penetration, causing a reduction in the near-wellbore effective stress, leading to more
yielding. They also stated that the effectiveness of oil-based mud could be limited in highly fractured
shales and coals.
Suggestions offered to mitigate the observed instability in fractured rock often focus on a limited
number of wellbore stability mechanisms. Some authors suggest that increasing the mud weight is not
effective, or even detrimental; others suggest the instability can be cured by simply adding blocking solids
or fracture sealing agents to the mud. In this paper, it is suggested that all of these considerations are
important and should be addressed individually, rather than being treated as mutually exclusive. Optimum mud weight for stability must be maintained in addition to adding blocking solids to limit fluid
invasion to less than what can dissipate into the far-field fracture network without build-up of pressure in
the near wellbore fracture network. This approach prove d very effective in eliminating wellbore stability

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related drilling problems, drilling through shale with inter-bedded highly fractured coals, in the Bass
Strait (Zeilinger et al, 2010; Kilroy and Dupriest, 2009).
Edwards et al. (2002) postulated that where preexisting planes of weakness (such as bedding planes
and fractures) dominate the mechanism of instability, mud weight increases do not necessarily lead to a
more stable borehole and can further destabilize the wellbore.
Labenski et al. (2003). Natural fractures been pressurizes with drilling fluid should be avoided, because
wellbore wall becomes equal to the mud density. The resulting increased pressure in the fractures does not
bleed off into the rock matrix. They concluded that wellbore stability in micro-fractured rock will be
greatly improved if the micro-fractures can be sealed before pressure and fluid invasion causes severe
damage and that effective sealing agents must be present in the mud when the fractures are exposed.
Willson et al. (2007). The greatest wellbore stability problems occur when drilling at an angle close to
the angle of bedding planes (0-30 angle of attack). These planes of weakness are not very important to
wellbore stability in vertical wellbores as drilling is usually nearly normal to the bedding planes. They
concluded that drilling wells at a low angle to bedding can give rise to additional mechanisms of instability
that cannot simply be solved by increasing the mud weight. They suggested using an orthotropic wellbore
stability model to assess the impact of strength anisotropy and to determine the allowable attack angle
relative to bedding.

Natural Fracture Reservoir Failure Mechanism

Investigation on problem of natural fractures failure and collapse has been done over the years by many
researchers. Some of the outcomes and causes for the failure are listed below:
y An increase in drilling fluid density/pressure and rheological properties reduced borehole instability
problems. Santarelli, F.J. et, al, 1992, also saw that increase in fluid pressure opens radial fractures
and closes tangential fractures
y Last, N., et. al, (1995) saw that fluid pressure catalysis pore hole condition with increase in fluid
invasion into the cracked rock which reduces the rock strength. They also found out that the
samples from the zone of instability to be chemically unreactive
y Wellbore instability problems occurred in Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) wells in Alaska, and
were associated with drilling mud losses and gains in tuffs and shales above the reservoir Dowson,
S., et. al, (1999). They also listed causes of instabilities:
1. Pre-existing faults and fractures
2. Drilling-induced radial fractures
3. ECD-induced circumferential tensile fractures.
y The greatest wellbore stability problems occur when drilling at an angle close to the angle of
bedding planes (0-30 angle of attack). These planes of weakness are not very important to wellbore
stability in vertical wellbores as drilling is usually nearly normal to the bedding planes
y Vinh, N., et. al. (2009). Naturally-fractured shales can have fractured widths as low as 10-6 m, and
their networks can extend throughout a shale sample. The difficulty of handling and testing the
strength and chemical reactivity of these shales has been described, with accompanying photos that
make the complexity of the problem easier to understand. The authors then showed early work on
the failure of these rocks using poromechanical modeling.

Key Factors to Consider:

Understanding instabilities in natural fractures is a key in drilling through these reservoirs. Some of the
keys to note are:

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y Naturally fractured reservoirs dont show relatively low interaction with water and not plastic.
These reservoirs are not chemically reactive and show low smectite and water content.
y Transmission of drilling fluid pressure requires the presence of fracture or microfracture network
in the shale zone
y Destabilize the shale in naturally fractured reservoirs also requires pressure fluctuations which
comes from several sources:
1. Equivalent circulating density reverting to Equivalent static density on in and out of the hole
2. Pressure mud pumps on/off
3. Hydraulics been excess for hole cleaning
4. Surge and Swab
5. Speed of drill pipe rotation (especially in narrow annulus) (Terry H. 2012).

Wellbore Solution in Permeable and Impermeable Formations

A good amount of oil and gas reservoirs are located in natural fractures or unconsolidated formations,
these formations do have highly over pressured pressures and abnormal in-situ stresses, with a very low
fracture gradient which causes an extreme narrow safe drilling window (the difference between pore
pressure and fracture gradient of the formation), see Figure 4.

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Figure 4 Wellbore stability analyzed by Drill works Geo-stress software showing the pore pressure gradient (PP), shear failure
gradient (SFG), mud weight gradient (MW), fracture gradient (FG), and overburden stress gradient (OBG) (Source: J. Zhang & W.B.
Standifird, 2007)

Different methods for wellbore strengthening have been proposed over the years to increase formation
fracture gradient. For instance, Alberty & Mclean (2004) tried to increase formation fracture gradient by
proposing a concept called stress cages.
This wellbore strengthening method has been implemented by adding specifically designed proppant
material to the mud before raising its pressure above the fracture gradient. The aim is to induce short
tensile fractures in the vicinity of the wellbore wall which are prevented from propagating, thus to create
a stress cage (Gil & Roegiers 2006, Aston et al. 2004).
In order to drill efficiently in NFRs, the borehole stimulation is required using a dual porosity and dual
permeability model which was proposed by Zhang and Roegiers (2005) should be applied to check and
examine the impermeable drilling mud effect on wellbore instability.

Double Porosity Poroelastic Formulations

The porosity and permeability of the fracture and rock matrix systems in natural the fractured porous rock
are different, in the dual-porosity and dual-permeability model, the fractured rock-mass is seen as a
number of porous blocks been separated by a randomly distributed fractured system (Figure 5).

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Figure 5Naturally fractured and ideally dual-porosity dual-permeability reservoirs (Source: J. Zhang & W.B. Standifird, 2007)

The matrix blocks contain the majority of the reservoir storage volume and act as the local source or
sink terms to the fracture system. The fractures are interconnected and provide the main fluid flow path
to the wells. The naturally fractured reservoir is assumed as an ideal dual-porosity, dual-permeability
model in this method (J. Zhang & W.B. Standifird, 2007). Figure 6.

Figure 6 Superposition of mud weight pressure at the borehole wall (Source: J. Zhang & W.B. Standifird, 2007)

Fluid Mud Weight Considerations at the Wellbore Wall

The borehole boundary condition approach in finite element analysis is to simply subtract pore pressure
and the far-field stresses which are constant from the field quantities, then the boundary conditions are

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modified. This is simply outer boundary surfaces of the pore pressure, all the traction and finite domain
vanish and at the wellbore walls. The final solution can be obtained by adding back the constant
background stresses and pressures.

Borehole Failure Analyses

It is generally known that borehole failure is controlled by effective stresses called Terzaghis (ij)
1
where ij is total stress

ma is matrix stress
There are two kinds of failures;
y Borehole spalling or outburst is caused by a tensile effective radial stress
y Collapse or shear failure, it is most dominating or most occurring in shaly formations
The effective spalling stresses defined as:
2
where r is radial stress
pma is matrix pressure
When the effective spalling stress is less than the tensile strength, usually assumed to be zero, the
borehole is unstable. Another kind of failure is collapse (Jincai Zhang, & J. C. Roegiers, 2000).
Fracturing Failure: Radial tensile failure will occur when the effective circumferential stress equals
the formation tensile strength, given by Jincai Zhang, Jean-Claude Roegiers, (2002) that is:
3
Where 3 is the minimum effective principal stress.
The effective fracturing stress can be defined as:
4
Time Effect: the effect of time in wellbore stability in naturally fractured reservoirs is an important
characteristic of the poroelastic effect. Whenever the time exceed 17 minutes (1000 secs), in the crown
section of the wellbore the value of the spalling stress has much larger and the spalled region occurs
rapidly after excavation and therefore there is no further spalling risk. (Jincai Zhang, & J. C. Roegiers,
2000).
The time increases as the collapse failure of the area decrease for the collapsing mode, however the
collapse failure will not stop as time increases gradually (see Figure 7 & 8).

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Figure 7Temporal spalling stresses for a borehole drilled along the maximum horizontal stress direction (Source: Jincai Zhang, &
J. C. Roegiers, 2000)

Figure 8 Temporal collapse stresses for a borehole drilled along the maximum horizontal stress direction (Source: Jincai Zhang, &
J. C. Roegiers, 2000)

Brittle formation collapse may generate and the borehole will enlarge; for plastic formation, plastic
deformation be will generated and borehole shrinkage will be encountered.

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Mud Pressure Effect: By selecting the proper or optimum mud weights instabilities due to spalling and
collapse can be avoided. The optimum weight account for not just the fluid properties of the formation
but also for rock properties of formation, taking into account the rock strength (geomechanics). The mud
pressure must not exceed the rock strength of the formation in order not to damage the formation,
differential sticking, underground blowout and low Rate of Penetration (ROP). Insufficient mud pressure
may lead to hole collapse, stuck pipe and complete hole enlargement and lost.

Drilling Strategies to Mitigate Instabilities in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs

It is known that natural fractures are in-situ failures of rocks caused by tectonic activities before drilling
a well, which cannot be avoided while drilling. To mitigate instabilities in natural fractures, drilling
strategies need to be put in place.
Well design
Proper well design is a key to overcoming instabilities. If the pore throat size and orientations of the
fractures are known, then it helps in designing and placing the well (angle of attack: intersecting the
fractures close to perpendicular is most stable) to avoid instabilities in this formations. The problematic
section of the formation should be cased off as to limit the time exposed to the drilling operations.
Drilling Fluid Design
One of the main keys to avoiding instabilities in naturally fractured reservoirs. Reduction of mud weight
or pressure works very well when the instability is caused by high stresses, weak formation and high pore
pressures because when the mud weight is increased the large hydraulic gradient can drive the drilling
fluid or pressure into the fractures causing the pore pressure to increase at the same time (Horacio
Fontana, et. al, 2007).
Reducing the mud pressure with special mud type having high marsh viscosity and zero API filtrate
has controlled fluid loss and eliminated pack-off problems potentially arising from sloughing or creeping
of the natured formations (Santarelli, F.J., et. al. 1992). Reducing or eliminating fluid loss/invasion
requires drilling fluids (reactive anion) that chemically react to cement fractures and restore structural
strength to formation in question and the use of Lost Preventive Material LPM additives (micas, fibers,
sized solids, dual composition carbon-based material, etc.) that stops fluid invasion or seal the natural
fractures. An internal cake formed at the wellbore depending on the type of additives used can alter the
rock mechanical properties of the wellbore.
Minimizing Lateral Vibrations of Drill Pipe
Lateral vibrations can render the hole walls in natural fractured interval to be mechanically unstable. To
minimize this effect, Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) design and drilling operations must be optimized.
Figure 9 below show a comparison of old and new BHA to minimize drill pipe lateral vibrations
downhole. The new BHA which consist of new Downhole Motor (DHM) and three additional stabilizers
give better result by reducing Revolutions Per Minute RPM and weight on bit (WOB), the lateral vibration
map shows the BHA vibration is at its minimum (see Figure 10).

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Figure 9 Comparison of original and modified bottom-hole assembly used to minimize lateral vibrations (Source: Horacio Fontana,
et. al, 2007)

Figure 10 Comparison of the lateral vibration tendency for old and new BHA. New BHA shows minimal lateral vibrations (Source:
Horacio Fontana, et. al, 2007)

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Drilling Practices
Good drilling practice is also a key in eliminating or minimizing wellbore instabilities in naturally
fractured reservoirs, no matter how good the well and fluid design is, implementation of well good drilling
practices must be adhere to. Some of the practices required are listed below:
y Hole Cleaning
y Tripping
y Drilling Hardware (BHA design, WOB)
Good drilling practices, combined with good well planning, good data and an effective drilling mud
will help solve wellbore instability in fractured formations. The result will not always be a problem-free
wellbore, the instability must be managed because it cannot be cured completely.

Other Counter-Measures Dealing With Wellbore Instability

In order to prevent the wellbore instability of Natural Fractured Reservoir (NFR), the following drilling
technology countermeasures and suggestions are recommended:
y Depending only on the drilling fluid density, the wellbore stability of the natural fractured
formation which is fully fractured cannot be solved. If the mud pressure is too high, the pore
pressure would increase and effect stress around the wellbore will increase causing large damage.
Reducing the mud pressure optimally and improving the rheological properties of the drilling fluid
will benefit the wellbore stability
y Higher inclination will likely cause more instability around the wellbore, but for laminar fracture
formation, decreasing the angle of the wellbore axial line with the bedding normal direction is of
benefit for the wellbore stability
y Swabbing and surging pressures should also be taken into consideration when increasing the
inclination of the wellbore, the simplified bottom hole assembly (BHA) could prevent large
swabbing pressure and surge pressure and then prevent sticking
y An optimum hydraulic parameter (cutting carrying capacity) is a key to ensuring stable wellbore.
In some situations, hole collapse can be prevented if the cuttings are carried out in a timely way
that could decrease downhole complications. Increasing the drilling rate could decrease the exposed
time of the natural fractured formation
y Avoiding the intense change of the dogleg or the well track so as to prevent big drill string acting
force to the wellbore wall (Baohua Yu, et. al 2013)
y The formation water has an extremely high ionic concentration, keep a high ionic concentration for
the drilling fluid to balance it (Baohua Yu, et. al 2013).

Conclusions
y key to reducing the risk is managing effectively wellbore pressure associated with drilling in
fractured reservoirs
y A geomechanical model constructed to determine the minimum mud weight required for safe
drilling in naturally fractured reservoirs is key
y Horizontal borehole stability depends strongly upon the far-field stress state, the borehole longitudinal axis has a significant effect on borehole stability
y Borehole spalling and collapse have very strong time effects. The spalling failure takes place only
for short periods of time following drilling
y The collapse failure area decreases as the excavated time increases
y Predictive methods have been developed during the past 4 decades for dealing with these various
causes of hole instability

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y There are disadvantages in additives currently used in drilling fluids to try to block/plug fractures
y Better in-situ earth stress determinations and physical rock-properties measurements can aid greatly
in providing improved wellbore stability control
y The wellbore fluid pressure must not exceed the fracturing pressure and must be greater than the
blowout pressure

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