Tag Archives: Basic Drilling Fomulas

You have learn how to weight up with Barite andCalcium Carbonate from previous posts. Sometimes, you may need to weight up to extremely high weight therefore you may consider using Hematite , its average specific gravity +/- 4.8, to weight up your mud system. If you are interested in Hematite information, please take a look at Wiki.

The concept of weighting up calculation with Hematite is as same as the concept of weighting up with Barite and Calcium Carbonate. The only one thing change is weight factor used in the equation. Please follow the equation below for calculating how many sacks required to weight up per 100 bbl of original mud.
Sacks of Hematite per 100 bbl of mud = 1680 x (W2 – W1) ÷ (40 – W2)

Where; W1 = current mud weight in ppg

W2 = new mud weight in ppg

Example: Determine the number of sacks of Hematite per l00 bbl required to increase the density from 10.0 ppg (W1) to 13.0 ppg (W2):

Sacks of hematite per 100 bbl of mud = 1680 x (13.0 – 10.0) ÷ (40 – 13.0)

Sacks of hematite per 100 bbl of mud = 186.7 sacks

If you have total volume of 500 bbl of mud, hematite required to increase mud weight from 10.0 ppg to 13.0 ppg is 933.3 sacks (186.7×500/100).

Please find the Excel used for calculating how many sacks required in case of weighting up with Hematite.

Ref book: Formulas and Calculations for Drilling, Production and Workover, Second Edition

You know how much volume will be increased due to adding calcium carbonate into the system; however, you sometimes are limited to total volume due to limit pit volume on the rig so you need to calculate starting volume to achieve the predetermined final volume of desired mud weight.
This formula below is used to determine the staring volume of mud (for calcium carbonate system).

Starting volume in bbl  = VF x (22.5 – W2) ÷ (22.5 – W1)

Note: 22.5 is density of calcium carbonate in ppg.

Where; W1 = current mud weight in ppg

W2 = new mud weight in ppg

VF = final volume of mud needed in bbl

Example: Determine the barrel of starting volume of 10.0 ppg (W1) mud required to achieve final volume of 100 bbl (VF) of 13.0 ppg (W2) mud with calcium carbonate:

Starting volume in bbl = VF x (22.5 – W2) ÷ (22.5 – W1)

Starting volume in bbl = 100 x (22.5 – 13.0) ÷ (22.5 – 10.0)

Starting volume = 76 bbl

In order to achieve  final mud volume of 100 bbl of 13.0 ppg mud weight up with calcium carbonate, you must have 76.0 bbl starting volume of 10.0 ppg mud.

Please find the Excel sheet for calculating Barrel of starting volume of original mud weight required to give a predetermined final volume of desired mud weight with CALCIUM CARBONATE.

Ref book: Formulas and Calculations for Drilling, Production and Workover, Second Edition

Carbonate is weighing agent mostly used in horizontal well because it does not plug up formation. We can use the same weight up concept with barite to calculate how to weight up with carbonate. Follow a topic below to learn how to weight up with calcium carbonate.

NOTE: The maximum practical mud weight attainable with calcium carbonate is 14.0 ppg.

This formula below is used for calculating how many sacks of calcium carbonate required per 100 bbl of drilling fluid (Mud weight increase with calcium carbonate (SG – 2.7))

Sacks of calcium carbonate per 100 bbl of mud = 945 x (W2 – W1) ÷ (22.5 – W2)

Where; W1 = current mud weight in ppg

W2 = new mud weight in ppg

Example: Determine the number of sacks of calcium carbonate per l00 bbl required to increase the density from 10.0 ppg (W1) to 13.0 ppg (W2):
Sacks of calcium carbonate per 100 bbl of mud = 945 x(13.0 – 10.0) ÷ (22.5 – 13.0)

Sacks of calcium carbonate per 100 bbl of mud = 298.4 sacks
If you have total volume of 500 bbl of mud, calcium carbonate required to increase mud weight from 10.0 ppg to 13.0 ppg is 1,492 sacks (298.4×500/100).

Please find the Excel sheet for calculating how many sacks of calcium carbonate required per 100 bbl of drilling fluid.

Ref book: Formulas and Calculations for Drilling, Production and Workover, Second Edition

You know how much volume will be increased due to adding barite into the system; however, you sometimes are limited to total volume due to limit pit volume on the rig so you need to calculate starting volume to achieve the predetermined final volume of desired mud weight. This formula below is used to determine the star volume of mud in case of weighting up with Barite.

Starting volume in bbl = VF x (35 – W2) ÷ (35 – W1)

Where; W1 = current mud weigth in ppg

W2 = new mud weight in ppg

VF = final volume in bbl

Example: Determine the starting volume (bbl) of 10.0 ppg (W1) mud required to achieve 100 bbl (VF) of 13.0 ppg (W2) mud with barite:

Starting volume in bbl = 100 x (35 – 13.0) ÷ (35 – 10.0)

Starting volume in bbl= 88.0 bbl

In order to achieve 100 bbl of 13.0 ppg mud weight up with barite, you must have 88.0 bbl starting volume of 10.0 ppg mud.

Please find the Excel sheet for calculating Barrel of starting volume of original mud weight required to give a predetermined final volume of desired mud weight with barite.

Ref book: Formulas and Calculations for Drilling, Production and Workover, Second Edition