Water based drilling fluid additive and methods of using fluids containing additives

A method of maintaining the rotation of a tubular within a wellbore during contact with a mud cake on the surface of the wellbore, comprising:

• rotating a tubular within a wellbore;
• providing a drilling mud into the wellbore, the drilling mud containing an additive, wherein the additive comprises a well dispersed aqueous particulate phase comprised substantially of particles;
• conditioning the mud with an effective amount of additive;
• forming a mud cake on the surface of the wellbore, the mud cake having an outer wellbore surface facing the rotating tubular and an inner surface that contacts the formation, the outer surface of the mud cake having pores of a particular pore size distribution;
• incorporation into the mud cake of the particles, the particles having a size range substantially completely within the size range of the pore throat size distribution of a mud cake, the size range being between 5 and 500 nm, thereby facilitating uptake by the mud cake of an effective amount of particles, providing a conditioned mud cake with a resistance to shear stress of an amount less than a mud cake not containing the additive;
• contacting the rotating tubular with the conditioned mud cake, the tubular camming against the outer surface of the conditioned mud cake;
• deforming the conditioned mud cake by the force of the rotating tubular, thereby substantially avoiding tubular sticking and facilitating uninterrupted rotation of the tubular within the wellbore.