The Effect of Oyster Shell and Nanographene on Lost Circulation in the Asmari Formation of the Maroun Oil Field, Iran

Ahmadi, Amin; Asgari Pirbalouti, Borzu; Abdideh, Mojtaba

doi:10.22050/ijogst.2025.408787.1688

The Effect of Oyster Shell and Nanographene on Lost Circulation in the Asmari Formation of the Maroun Oil Field, Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Amin Ahmadi ¹

Borzu Asgari pirbalouti ²

mojtaba abdideh ³

¹ 1 Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr, Iran

² 2 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Masjed Soleiman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Masjed Soleiman, Iran

³ 3 National Iranian Oilfields Company, Ahwaz, Iran

10.22050/ijogst.2025.408787.1688

Abstract

Lost circulation of drilling mud is one of the most significant challenges during drilling operations, leading to time loss and increased costs. It is influenced by factors such as the lithology and composition of the formation, the pressure difference between the drilling mud hydrostatics and the formation, the type of drilling mud, and hydraulic conditions. In the Asmari Formation of the Maroun Oil Field in Iran, lost circulation commonly occurs due to natural fractures, cavernous structures, and drilling-related factors. Several methods exist to mitigate this problem, including the use of appropriate loss circulation materials (LCMs) and reducing the drilling mud density. In this study, oyster shell and nanographene are proposed as LCM additives for optimized oil-based drilling mud in the Maroun Oil Field, and the necessary experiments were conducted. This paper investigates the simultaneous use of oyster shell as a normal particle-sized material and nanographene as a nanoparticle-sized material to control mud loss. The results indicate that nanographene is unable to seal fractures larger than 0.04 inches, making its use for wider fractures uneconomical. Oyster shell is ineffective as an LCM for fractures wider than 0.08 inches but performs well in sealing fractures smaller than 0.08 inches.

Highlights

· Studying the effects of oyster shell and nanographene on lost circulation.

· Investigating the simultaneous use of oyster shell as a normal particle-sized material and nanographene as a nanoparticle-sized material to control drilling mud loss.

Keywords

Asmari formation, Lost circulation, Mud rheology, Nanographene, Oil base mud, Oyster shell

Subjects

Petroleum Engineering – Drilling

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