“Serving others is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy, a whole heart and a free mind. Keep doing the amazing work that you always do. Your roles are very important in this world.” Amr Heikal
Winner Name: Amr Heikal
Winner Title: Technical Support Manager
Winning Organization: Kuwait Drilling Fluids (KDF) of Kuwait City, together with M-I SWACO (A Schlumberger Company)
Nomination Category: Technology Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Award for the Innovation in Technology Development – All Other Industries
Nomination Title: High-Performance Water-Base Fluid Performs As An Environmentally Friendly Alternative To Oil-Base for Drilling Challenging Wells in Kuwait.
Brief Biography about the Winner:
Amr Heikal is A Fellow at the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). FRSC and Full Member – Sigma Xi, The International Scientific Research Honor Society (USA). 27 years of experience in Oil and Gas with many achievements and awards. I am always focused to promote New Technology that would be better for the environment and would reduce pollution. I am also IChemE’s Associate Fellow. AFIChemE and member in The Institute of Science and Technology (UK). Promoting Science and Technology through my career is always one of my top priorities.
Stevie Award Winning Case Study:
New High-Performance Water-Base Fluid, an environmentally friendly alternative to oil-based Non-Aqueous Fluids (NAFs) for drilling challenging wells.
Water-based drilling fluids deliver cost-effective, efficient performance with minimized environmental impact. Onshore, the system can be customized to provide shale inhibition without the use of salts, making cuttings ideally suited for land farming. The system is equally fitted for offshore operations, displaying a low marine toxicity and employing fast biodegradation rates.
As part of a major operator’s environmental improvement strategy, the KDF Operator and Fluids Provider Team identified ‘potentially fit for purpose High Performance Water Base Mud’ (HPWBM) as the most suitable, environmentally acceptable alternative to NAF’s. The field trial was a great success and the operator decided to use the system in several fields to replace their oil based systems.
More about the case:
A major Operator in Kuwait have used historically Non-Aqueous Fluid (NAF) to drill the buildup section through the challenging shale formations, mainly due to wellbore stability issues and lubricity requirements. As part of the operator’s environmental improvement strategy, the operator and fluids provider team identified potentially fit for purpose High Performance Water Base Mud (HPWBM) as the most suitable, environmentally acceptable alternative to NAF’s.
A HPWBM system was designed and proposed based on extensive laboratory testing to overcome drilling challenges. Inhibition characteristics and formation sealing capabilities of conventional KCL polymer mud with sulphonated asphalt were enhanced by using a liquid poly-amine based clay hydration suppressant and a co-polymeric nano-sized shale-sealing additive. A customized bridging package based on the pore size distribution was also introduced, using calcium carbonate and resilient graphite particles. The combination of effective bridging and sealing polymer helped in sustaining high overbalance to avoid differential sticking tendency, designed in laboratory conditions during the planning stage.
The field trial was a great success compared to the use of conventional fluid systems and methodologies. Using High Performance Water Base Mud, the operator successfully drilled and cased 12.25″ and 8.5″ sections as per plan with stable well bore indicated by the smooth trips and no string stalling or sticking tendency.
After this successful trial operator decided to use the system in several fields to replace Oil Base System.