Use of surface-active alpha-sulfo-fatty acid di-salts in water and oil based drilling fluids and other drill-hole treatment agents

Abstract

Described is the use of surface-active alpha-sulfofatty acid di-salts as ecologically compatible emulsifiers of the W/O type and O/W type, respectively, in fluid and pumpable drilling fluids and other fluid drilling-hole treatment agents which comprise a continuous or a dispersed oil phase together with an aqueous phase and which are suitable for an environmentally acceptable exploitation of geological resources, for example oil or natural gas deposits. The invention further relates to inverted drilling fluids based on a continuous oil phase and, present therein, a dispersed aqueous phase which, in addition to the emulsifiers, contain further conventional auxiliary agents such as thickeners, fluid-loss additives, weighting agents, water-soluble salts and/or alkali reserves. The inverted drilling fluids according to the invention are characterized in that they contain surface-active di-salts of the type indicated as emulsifier or as an emulsifier component together with an ecologically compatible continuous oil phase.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.