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US 5,341,882 AGranted
Well drilling cuttings disposal
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorArthur H. Hale
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Well cuttings are disposed of by solidification by combining the cuttings with water and blast furnace slag, and injection of the cuttings, water and slag into an annulus surrounding a wellbore casing and solidifying the cuttings, water and slag. Solidification in blast furnace slag cement is inexpensive, and the blast furnace slag is compatible with both oil and water based drilling muds. Drilling fluids therefore do not have to be removed from the drilling cuttings prior to solidification in the wellbore annulus.
Claims16
A method for disposing of drilling cuttings comprising:
- decanting drilling fluids used during well drilling from cuttings attained during well drilling to concentrate said cuttings;
- then combining the cuttings with granulated water-quenched blast furnace slag to form a slurry;
- injecting the slurry into an annulus;
- and
- allowing the slurry to harden to form a solidified wellbore cement surrounding a well casing.
2 more elements
A method of disposing of drilling cuttings comprising:
- extracting cuttings attained during well drilling from drilling fluid used during well drilling;
- grinding said cuttings to reduce the average particle size of said cuttings;
- combining drilling fluid used during well drilling, ground cuttings, and granulated water-quenched blast furnace slag to form a cementitious slurry;
- injecting said cementitious slurry into an annulus;
- allowing the cementitious slurry to harden to form a solidified wellbore cement surrounding a well casing.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.