Resilient carbon-based materials as lost circulation materials and related methods

Abstract

Highly resilient carbon-based materials having a resiliency greater than about 120% at 10,000 psi may be useful as lost circulation materials (LCMs) for wellbore strengthening and lost circulation mitigation in downhole operations in subterranean formations with depleted zones. For example, a downhole method may include drilling at least a portion of a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation with at least one depleted zone having a plurality of fractures extending from the wellbore into the at least one depleted zone; circulating a treatment fluid through the wellbore, the treatment fluid comprising a base fluid and a resilient carbon-based material having a resiliency greater than about 120% at 10,000 psi; contacting the at least one depleted zone with the resilient carbon-based material; and plugging at least some of the plurality of fractures in the at least one depleted zone with the resilient carbon-based material.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.