Compositions and methods of stabilizing subterranean formations containing reactive shales

A method of stabilizing a subterranean formation that comprises a shale comprising:

• contacting the subterranean formation that comprises the shale with a fluid comprising:
• a base fluid;
• and
• a water soluble hydrophobically modified polymer formed from a reaction comprising a hydrophilic polymer and a hydrophobic compound, wherein the hydrophobically modified polymer formed from the reaction has a molecular weight in the range of about 100,000 to about 10,000,000 and comprises a polymer backbone and an amino pendant group quaternized to include a hydrophobic branch, wherein the hydrophobic branch comprises an alkyl chain of about 4 to about 22 carbons without any intervening heteroatoms, and wherein the hydrophobic compound comprises an alkyl halide, a sulfonate, a sulfate, or an organic acid derivative.

A method of stabilizing a subterranean formation that comprises a shale comprising:

• contacting the subterranean formation that comprises the shale with a fluid comprising:
• a base fluid;
• and
• a water soluble hydrophobically modified polymer formed from a polymerization reaction comprising a hydrophilic monomer and a hydrophobically modified hydrophilic monomer, wherein the hydrophobically modified polymer formed from the reaction has a molecular weight in the range of about 100,000 to about 10,000,000, and comprises a polymer backbone and a hydrophobic branch comprising an alkyl chain of about 4 to about 22 carbons without any intervening heteroatoms, wherein the hydrophobically modified hydrophilic monomer comprises an alkyl halide, a sulfonate, a sulfate, or an organic acid derivative, and wherein the hydrophobically modified polymer contains reactive amino groups as pendant groups or in the polymer backbone.