Shale salinity

14 June 2013 Good people of the community,
I am looking at the scenario of Shale Salinity and the negative effects of osmotic pressure imbalance downhole.
Does anyone have any information on this subject to enlighten me further.
In a particularly problomatic formation I have "wildly guesstimated" the salinity to be 5-10%, and using rough calculations from an old Bariod paper, it seems that the mud chlorides are low enough to cause a salt migration from the formation to the mud (Chlorides also seen rising). The knock-on effect of this being hole instability. In this formation playing with mud weight does not have a consistent result, so I was thinking of proposing the hole instability is perhaps chemical. rather than just water hydration and hydrostatic.

Your comments are (as always) gratefully received.
Many thanks and kind regards.....Hendo.

6 Answer(s)

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