Feasibility study of palm oil esters as based fluid in drilling operation

Abstract

Drilling oil and gas wells requires special drilling fluid, which are usually called mud. For normal drilling operation, the based fluids such as seawater or treated water are usually used for drilling job. However, special oil based fluid such as mineral oil, diesel or synthetic oil are required to avoid drilling problems such as shale swelling, high temperature wells, highly deviated or horizontal wells, etc. Unfortunately, the oil based drilling fluids are usually expensive, highly toxic and will cause pollution to the environment. This paper will discuss the feasibility study using Malaysian palm oil esters as based fluid since it is environmental friendly and have huge supply of rwa material. Esters such as isopropyl laureate and methyl laureate are selected for this study. The performance and characteristics of these esters will be evaluated and compared to see their suitability as compared to the oil and water based fluids. The preliminary results showed that Malaysian palm oil ester has a potential to be used as based drilling fluid