What is RHELIANT?
RHELIANT – A new synthetic-base mud designed to provide better drilling performance with flat rheological properties for deepwater and/or cold environment.

Features:
The flat rheological profile over a wide temperature lead to sag potential reduction, dilution/maintenance reduction and provided improvements in hole cleaning and reduction in pressure spikes

Benefits:
-Reduced fluid and well-construction costs
-Improved ECD management
-Minimized formation fractures
-Reduced environmental costs, greater safety
-Optimized drilling efficiency
-Significantly reduced whole-mud losses

The practical side of a flat rheological profile:
ECD Problem A: In deepwater, the surface rheology must be reduced when encountering cold temperatures to offset negative ECD effects
ECD Problem B: Adjusting the rheology upwards to compensate for higher downhole temperatures and pressure can lead to excessive ECD values and gel strengths.

The Rheliant Solutions: With its flat rheology, this new-generation system maintains consistent fluid properties that are independent of temperature and pressure. It maintains constant 150° F (65.5° C) properties even when confronting temperatures as low as 40° F (4.4° C). You can drill with ECDs lower than, or equal to, conventional invert systems while encountering fewer drilling problems and successfully avoiding the loss of whole mud.
Now, manage ECD without sacrificing hole cleaning or promoting barite sag

The RHELIANT system’s superior cuttings transportation properties translate into smoother ECD profiles, reduced incidents of barite sag and dramatically improved hole cleaning. And, since the rate of removal keeps pace with the cuttings generated, the drill solids will not accumulate in the annulus and increase the ECD values. The system’s constant yield point ensures efficient hole cleaning and fewer pickoffs. Not only is the RHELIANT system ideal for the challenging deepwater environment, it has also yielded tremendous benefits in any application where superior ECD management is needed to reduce the risk of lost circulation.

The RHELIANT system also has demonstrated its capacity to eliminate pressure spikes on connections. During the static period, the gel strengths that develop in conventional systems can build up pressure that breaks down the formation when the pumps are restarted. The RHELIANT system’s low clay content keeps gels within a degree of consistency that effectively eliminates the pressure spikes seen with other invert drilling fluids.
An entire system engineered to reduce dilution and costs

The RHELIANT system’s lower clay content, fit-for-purpose viscosities, newly developed emulsifiers, rheology modifiers and adaptability to different base fluids yield a high-performance system that is cost-effective yet easy to maintain.
Field results that deliver on the promise of the laboratory

In the field, the RHELIANT system has shown performance characteristics far superior to those of any conventional synthetic-base and other invert drilling fluids in deep-water applications.
• ROP as much as 20 ft/hr (6.1 m/hr) faster than typical synthetic-base systems
• On-bottom drilling time reduced by as much as 24 hrs per interval
• Reduced mud losses, less dilution and improved displacement characteristics
• Balanced yield point delivers higher penetration rates, vastly improved cuttings-transport and considerable savings in hole-conditioning time

New success stories with RHELIANT system in Egypt – Mediterranean Sea

BP -Case History
The RHELIANT mud system proved to be up to the challenge as was exceptional throughout the well until TD at 6350 meter (20,834 ft). No issues with this mud system became evident even when the BHT increased to 166 deg C (330 deg F). The mud remained stable at all temperatures even with wire line logs remain continually for 13 days without any condition trip.

The RHELIANT mud system utilized in core job in BP provided the best results while coring shown good recover core; a three core cut were made and recovered average 97%, without invasion and good quality of cake and thickness as shown in recovered core barrels this with good selection of bridging material and with applying of M-I SWACO Software (OPTI-Bridge). 

Statoil-Case History
The RHELIANT mud system proved to be up to the challenge (8,900 ft water depth – the deepest water depth in the Mediterranean so far) as was exceptional throughout the well until TD at 21,357 ft. No issues with this mud system became evident even when we used as milling fluid to mill 2 casing strings without any problems. The RHELIANT mud system managed the lower ECD without any help of MPD while drilling very narrow fracture gradient.

Double-team critical situations with the RHELIANT system and our PRESSPRO RT service
If your application has a very narrow operating window, you may want to consider the added assurance of combining the RHELIANT system with the
M-I SWACO PRESSPRO* RT well bore pressure- management service.
• Proprietary software uses surface measurements to calculate down hole pressure and corresponding fluid properties during both drilling and tripping — in real-time
• Provides in-time equivalent static and equivalent circulating densities at any point in the wellbore during drilling
• Delivers surge and swab pressure measurements while setting casing or tripping pipe
• Service includes a critical-well analyst who has completed an extensive training curriculum developed specifically for this unique well site engineering service