Episode 333 | Pipe Freeing Agents

Drilling fluids touch just about everything in the drilling process.

We're here to deconstruct the drilling process and drilling fluid concepts to provide a deeper

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In each episode we'll share information, talk to interesting people, and maybe share a few

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Welcome to the Flow Line, a production of AES Drilling Fluids brought to you by Matt

Offenbacher and Justing Go T.A.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Flow Line, again, episode two high

200.

No, we're way past 300.

Okay.

Episode, way past 300.

We should go look.

We really need to check these things.

I know.

It's really like one of those where we do this every week and we don't, besides, you know,

talking to it, talking about it to people, we don't really look at too much of the numbers

and all the intricate details, but maybe that's part of the secret sauce.

We don't get caught up in the weeds.

We just do.

Yeah.

We haven't gone to Hollywood.

We just grind.

Yeah.

Just grind.

But no, that's so true.

Speaking of grind, Matt, that was the weekend grind, hopefully it wasn't too bad.

No, it wasn't too bad.

I mean, mostly just kid stuff and let's see, a really nice weather.

Yeah.

Once again, no idea when this episode will actually come out, but that weekend that had

really nice weather, got to go on a bike ride with my oldest and spent some time outside

with the kids and then, you know, what else?

It was just, it was a slow-paced weekend without too much crazy, which I appreciated.

Yeah.

No, that's good.

Hopefully your old recharge for the week.

It was a long week for you last week.

You guys had mud school.

Yeah.

So we do mud schools, you know, probably five or six times a year, I don't know, I'd

have to go back and look at the numbers.

Ricky said you're not doing any for the rest of the year.

It sounded like this one just took everything out of you.

So they all do that.

And in fact, I mean, it's so hard.

Like, they wear us out.

I think it's not just the planning and prep, even though we've done so many and the material

doesn't always dramatically change, but every time we try something new, I mean, this

when we tried a couple of new things.

So just in light of the effort that we've put into all that stuff, just trying to bring

the energy, stay engaged, answer questions, all that, it is just hectic.

And then like, then you get to reply to your emails after all day of doing that.

Right.

Then you have to be like day to day job.

Yeah.

So I mean, they really take a lot out of us, but we learn so much from hearing what customers

have, you know, what they want with the, you know, maybe what we aren't explaining very

well.

Sure.

And so it's one of those things as much as it was like, man, I'd love to like pawn this

off or something and, you know, it's like it's so valuable, you can't do it.

And you know, you wouldn't build the relationships and understanding anyways, it's all great because

it's another way where like down the road, you're in a meeting, oh, I remember you, you

came to the mud school.

So yeah, anyways, they're absolutely awesome, but they are absolutely exhausting.

And so we usually come out of those pre wrecked and if somebody walks in, you know, and asks,

like, hey, my customer would like to, you know, do another one.

Normally, there's a little bit of, you know, dirty looks and that sort of thing, but we don't

really say no to our customers.

We just try and find the best time that it works for everybody.

And perhaps it's, you know, we've, everybody offers these.

I think we try and stand out, but perhaps it works because they keep asking.

Yeah.

But yeah, I was, I was gassed, not gonna lie.

Yeah.

Well, yeah, you had, you had a busy last week, obviously, and then it sounded like your

weekend was good.

My weekend was, it was a grind, but just a quick humble break from a family situation.

My son's baseball team is in full spring mode right now after winter program.

They played their first tournament and we won the championship.

So went five and no, crushed it.

The boys just played absolutely phenomenal.

I was so happy to see that.

And what, what position is Ace playing these days?

He plays third base.

Is it starting position?

There's a lot of people who need a third baseman right now, perhaps you've heard, right?

Yeah, geez.

I don't know.

Hopefully someone's watching his little, his little Instagram that we put together for him.

But we don't do nearly as good a job as, as a lot of other kids parents out there.

But anyway, it was fun to see him compete.

You know what, you go from fall ball and then you, and then you do, you get like, they

call it like winter break, which is like two weeks.

And then they do full winter program, which is just like pure fundamental training.

Like thousands of ground balls, thousands of pop flies, footwork, like just like no gameplay,

all just grind.

And by the end of it, the boys are just like, they're just gassed because it's just like,

there's no game, right?

And they love the game and practice gets boring after a while.

And so finally, they were out there putting all the hard work to play.

And they've, they've definitely made leaps and bounds since last fall.

So it was fun to see.

So, and I hopefully there's more of that to come.

But we were on the, we had to be at the field at 7 a.m., which means we left our house at six.

And the championship game that night was at 715.

And then my daughter had a flag full ball game that started at 8 p.m.

So we were out all day.

And the biggest, you know, person I'd like to commend is our daughter, Remy, who's seven months.

She was there the entire time.

Fought her way through.

Yeah, full grind session.

And then Sunday was a bit of relaxation.

But anyway, with that being said, hopefully everyone had an enjoyable weekend and whatever

weekend you just had, going back to the mud school thing.

A lot of great conversations, obviously, were had of that.

And there was supposedly a good question I got brought up during the session.

And so which kind of brings us to today's episode, which kind of spurred from the conversation

you had during mud school, was it not?

Yeah, you know, it was kind of interesting.

So we actually got a couple of people in the mud school actually listened to the podcast.

And it is cool to get that feedback.

But they said, you know, I've gone back and I've looked and I know you've talked about

stuck pipe.

But one thing I'd love to learn is more about the chemicals, like what they're made of,

how they work.

Yeah.

And I was like, you know, that's an interesting and a good one.

And so I kind of did a little bit of homework and put something together.

So, you know, our esteemed customer and occasional listener, hopefully we've given you, we'll

give you an episode that's worth checking out to help answer your question.

Oh, that's, that sounds great.

Well, for whoever that was that asked the question, really appreciated.

So let's get into it.

So pipe-freeing agents, again, there's definitely sort of a different bag of these things.

But I think conceptually they all kind of work the same, right?

And so I think just kind of getting right into how they're actually applied, I think is

a good place to start.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, we're obviously trying to free the pipe, which implies that it is stuck.

And normally this is, when you're using a pipe-freeing agent, your focus is on being

differentially stuck.

So what you will hear about a lot of this chemistry is the idea of doing something to the filter

cake.

Because when you're differentially stuck, you have a bunch of overbalanced pressure.

The pipe sticks to the formation and sort of becomes part of the filter cake as you form

a seal.

So these agents are, you know, these chemicals, you'll spot them.

There's usually a procedure that comes with them and it'll vary by what you have.

And they'll say, hey, spot this across the area where you're stuck.

Let it soak for a while.

A lot of times you're jarring at the same time and hopefully it helps you get free.

So those are, that's really the nuts and bolts of it.

I would say that there are things like acid we'll talk about, right?

If you're mechanically stuck, perhaps you could dissolve some of the material.

But overwhelmingly, this is for differentially stuck.

Although if there's so many times where there's deliberations, are we really differentially

here mechanically or whatnot, if you're mechanically stuck long enough, if you become

differentially stuck?

So you may be like, I don't care how we're stuck, just get this stuff and pump it.

So yeah.

Okay.

So then getting into the more specific related to the question itself is, is how do they

work?

What is the chemistry?

What is going on at a very, I guess, microscopic level, if you will?

A lot of these because the pipe has sort of become part of the filter cake, you're trying

to destabilize and break down the filter cake.

Which is, okay, and so I'm going to even break it down further.

When you say filter cake, for those who buy it, I don't know, what is the filter cake made

of?

Like what is the components in the filter cake?

The best description I've heard is the mud with the liquid squeezed out.

So if you think about it, you've got some permeable surface and the fluid is able to leak

off some, you're going to start leaving stuff behind.

And that's going to be particulates, polymers, things that can stick to each other.

And as they start to form a seal, if they form an inefficient seal, they start packing

around the pipe and your pipe sort of becomes part of that seal as well.

And so we think of the mud components that aren't liquid, can I break those up?

Can I break up a polymer?

Can I, you know, some of those things?

And so, breaking the destabilizing, disrupting the filter cake, you know, the other thing

is there is at least one product we'll talk about where the technique is to actually regain

fluid loss control.

So there's two ways to look at this.

One is whenever we get stuck or we have high stuck pipe risk, we want to tighten up

our fluid loss considerably.

And the idea there is that if I have better sealing efficiency, it will be harder for

my pipe to sort of become part of my filter cake.

But the argument we made is, okay, if you're trying to destroy the filter cake, you know,

break it up so the pipe can come free, don't you want to seal something behind it so that

you no longer have that pressure communication?

So one strategy is just tighten up the fluid loss on the mud itself.

Like if you can, you know, if you're differentially stuck, you could probably circulate, you

just can't rotate.

So circulate, get some good mud with really low fluid loss properties, you know, and then

the other aspect of it would be supplement that with even more fluid loss control additives

that will help sort of tighten up wherever you have that pressure communication, such

that it helps it, helps make it easier to pop free.

So that's where some of these SAC products sort of have a place.

Okay.

Well, let's get into the materials of perhaps the different types of pipe free agents.

Yes.

And starting very simple, this regularly, this very special product that we use in the

Delaware basin when we're drove through rubble salt zones, it's water.

If you know you're stuck in a salt, it may be as simple as just pumping water and solubilizing

some of those solids and freeing you.

That's a mechanical sticking scenario, but I would put it as a pipe freeing agent.

So I thought it was worth working in there.

Yeah.

Going a little more sophisticated, we go with bassoil.

And I think there's a couple things.

One, some of these additives will tell you to mix with bassoil.

It's a solvent, so it will sort of thin the filter cake and that sort of thing.

But most of the trick, I think, in differential sticking when people pump hydrocarbon-based

materials, they're like, oh, as soon as we pumped it, we were free.

It may be you just lowered your overall pressure differential and reduced hydrostatic, allowed

the pipe to come loose.

And now we get into a little bit more of what people are probably thinking about.

The first one being acid.

So this can be, some folks will actually pump hydrochloric acid.

We've shared some nightmare scenarios about that.

Make sure everybody knows what they're doing, health and safety on the rig.

If it's oil-based mud, you may want to use a water-wetting agent to water-wet the material

you're trying to dissolve.

But acid breaks things, so maybe we can break up our cake that way.

There also, you've got your regular hydrochloric acid.

There's also what's called a synthetic acid.

Usually, it's urea hydrochloric acid.

So these are the ones that have much lower core acidity ratings.

In essence, the hydrochloric acid is tied up.

So you mix it with water, you pump it.

It's supposed to be safer to handle it surface.

It doesn't mean stick your hand in it and hang out for a while, but downhill temperature

and that sort of thing will actually break the bonds that are tying up the hydrochloric.

And so you're actually exposing hydrochloric acid downhole.

That's used a lot in stimulation work-over-type applications, but same function as raw acid

just safer and easier to use on a rig.

So there are products that will take advantage of that.

And then probably the more common drum-based products that you would see are really nasty

solvents.

And by this, these are the ones that normally has matte transportation, that sort of thing.

Probably a low flammability rating requires maybe safety precautions, blah, blah, blah.

You name it, check your SDS.

But the environmental version that doesn't require that usually is just some sort of glycol,

which we've talked about glycols for all kinds of other things.

And then the nastier ones will be some sort of glycol ether blend, just really strong solvents,

sometimes some surfactants broken in there.

And the whole idea is we are trying to tear up the mud.

So a lot of these would work in oil-based mud, residual filter cake.

I would compare them to a cement spacer in as much as you don't want this mixing back

in your mud system because of its designed to tear up mud.

Yeah.

That's its job.

So moving on to some, wait, he also fires can also be one as well.

Yes.

I had heard stories of, you know, my old boss out in California, he was in California

for a long time.

He said, you know, when we got stuck with water-based mud, sometimes we would just pump oil-based

mud.

He was like, oh, really?

And that got you free.

And he was like, yeah.

And I never really understood how that worked.

But then I saw there were actual commercial products.

I think most of them are just like overpriced emulsifiers.

They say they're emulsifiers.

But if you think about it, if you're trying to dehydrate a thick filter cake, and we pump

an emulsion that wants to bring water into the internal phase, it will actually

pull some of the water-based residue into the internal phase and diminish that water-based

filter cake.

So and those droplets could lower fluid loss, and, you know, there's some other, you

know, beneficial properties.

But that's not an uncommon way to go either.

There are a few products that you can buy in buckets or whatever.

Gotcha.

So.

Okay.

Another tool in the toolbox.

Yeah.

What about some sack blends, some dry material?

Are there any sort of, there's a pipe-freeing agent set on the dry side?

Yes.

And I'm going to go with the most famous one, but there are others out there.

So I don't, I'm not going to use trade names or anything.

But there is one product that people have asked where for ages.

And oh, you know, I swear by this.

And sure, whatever, I mean, everybody's got their thing they love.

It's really just a mixture of oxidized asphalt and lime.

And so the idea is that the lime facilitates better dispersion of the asphalt.

But this is one of those where the mechanism is an attempt to tighten up your fluid loss

so that you can, you can sort of work its way in that that asphalt can sort of work

its way in where you're having some sort of pressure communication and isolate it enough

so that you can pop free.

Yeah.

And so, you know, the nice thing there, of course, a lot of these are other liquids.

They have elaborate procedures.

This is some backs.

Although you may see some of these procedures for these sac blends include mixing some diesel.

I've seen procedures that use a pipe, a solvent surfactant and this and you know, you

kind of kitchen sink sort of phenomena.

But this is a particular, so it may not be subject to some of the issues from a fluid

loss control perspective that other things might.

So.

Got you.

Assuming you do have one that works where you've tried one and so on, what are some

things to consider, either before or while you're pumping, just things that folks really

need to kind of key in on before applying some of this pipe for you to.

I think being realistic, one of our, I just, some of these, if you look at the technical

data sheets, you almost laugh because they'll tell you to let it soak for 24 to 48 hours

and I don't know anybody who's going to sit and wait that long in the world we live

in.

So a lot of times what happens is you pump this, you might get four hours of soak time and

then you're going to jar and you're going to do whatever else and hopefully you get free.

And then you, the people who sell the freeing agent will, of course, take credit for getting

you free.

But how long are you really going to soak in the midst of all this operation because you

do want to have the opportunity to let this stuff actually work its way into filter cake.

It is an important aspect of it.

Some of them will have you soak and then pump a little bit more fresh and kind of gradually

bring some more on.

So recognizing that, you know, your operational, your overall operational plan, where is

this going to work and how long is it before a drill or says, you know, shut up nerd,

I'm pulling.

And then what kind of formation are you in?

So are you more permeable?

Those kinds of things may drive some of your selection if, you know, if you know you're

stuck on a sand, well, that may alter, you know, you may want to tighten up your fluid

loss right away and then see what you can do on your treatments.

Just kind of thinking through where you're stuck and what kind of, you know, and how you're

stuck.

And then I think from the operational planning perspective to in the middle of all this,

where are you going to divert this stuff when it comes back?

Like I said, a bunch of this is real nasty, it's designed to tear up mud.

It would be like taking all of your spacer and diverting it back into your mud system

and then stirring it around and wondering why you can't get properties.

Yeah.

So like, make sure you have a place for it, make sure you have a plan for it.

And then, you know, the last thing I wrote down here was how committed are you to a brand?

And by this, I mean, we have customers that can be quite insistent that I swear by this.

It's never done me wrong.

I have to have it.

These chemistries aren't that exotic and, but, you know, is it I have to have brand X?

Or hey, this is the same thing.

Would you like it?

It's cheaper and more available.

Or are we just wasting our time by suggesting it because you've, you've got to have brand

X.

Yeah.

And because a lot of, you know, a lot of times this isn't sitting out on location.

Sometimes these, some of these particular materials are, I wouldn't say a harder to get.

It's just, it's, it's hard to keep inventory.

And by that, I mean, you always want to have enough to help somebody.

But when this stuff goes out and back and out and back and doesn't actually get used,

the, because of some of their properties, it's something that you don't want to keep

sitting in a drum forever.

Yeah.

It's got to go somewhere.

Yeah.

So, you know, that's one of the reasons we, we just developed a, a pipe freeing agent.

I think it's called free point.

I should know this.

And in essence, it does one version of what, what these things do and it was more about

making sure we had the product available for customers.

Yeah.

Then, you know, hey, it's, it's pretty similar to brand X, but, you know, brand X is not

exactly the easy thing to get in particular in it with containers that are in good shape.

And I don't want to send you something that's nasty as I've described that is not easy

to store.

Yeah.

So.

No, that's good.

From the quality control standpoint, obviously, that's important.

What, when, when you're getting, when you're, I guess, what stuck pipe incident is more

favorable for using a pipe freeing agent?

I mean, most any differentially stuck scenario, I mean, it goes back to, for how expensive

a VHA is, even if, even if you're 90% sure it's mechanically stuck, people will want something

anyways.

Yeah.

So, you know, I think unless it's just like a really obvious pack off, and then you have

to look at, is there anything else we can do to mobilize the formation or, or do something?

Yeah.

You might, you're, you're likely to pump it just because I think a lot of people just want

to feel like they're doing something.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I've, I've, I want to say I've been on more, in more situations where we've pumped

it and it didn't work than pumped it and it did.

But to your point, it's like, you know, if there's any, there's any chance you think you

might be differentially stuck than most people will want to go ahead and pump something.

But yeah, it's, it's an interesting question and again, this stuff has been around forever.

But in the case that it does work, then it's worth its weight and goal because it's better

than, in a lot cheaper than plan of VHA and so, but a good question.

I mean, I don't think a lot of people understand the really the true mechanics behind it.

It's just, oh, we're stuck, pump this and hopefully it pops free and, but understanding

what's going on down there, hopefully it helps you decide maybe which, not necessarily

which, again, brand, but, you know, because again, there's different materials and different

types.

But anyway, good question, Matt, anything else before we wrap it up?

No, I mean, we always appreciate these ideas, right?

This is probably some territory we haven't covered.

We've covered the topic.

We've not covered the chemistry.

Yeah.

So it was actually fun for me to do some homework and be challenged by that.

So, awesome.

We're always grateful to listeners who would ask for such a thing because we don't know

it all, but we get a chance to learn it all when you ask.

Yeah, no, that's great.

And again, appreciate the, appreciate the question.

If anyone out there has any questions or thoughts or even a story around getting stuck

and using a pride-freeing agent or maybe you've got the silver bullet, if you do.

Let us know, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, we'd be interested in here and more.

But with that said, folks, check us out on LinkedIn.

If you want to reach out to Matt or I, we're always on there.

You can reach us at the Flowline podcast at aeslues.com, check out the YouTube channel, the LinkedIn

page of AES and of course the website.

All has ton of great information.

With that being said, enjoy the beautiful weather for wherever you're at.

Be safe until next time.

Cheers.

Take care.

Thanks for listening.

Please tune in next week for another exciting episode of the Flowline.

And remember, may your returns always be full and your trips always smooth.

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