nt0004651-final-report-2011.pdf

Gulf Petro Initiative Final Report Reporting Period Start Date: August 06, 2008 Reporting Period Ending Date: February 05, 2011 Principal Author: Fathi Boukadi, Ph.D. Report Issue Date: May 5, 2011 DOE Award No.: DE-NT0004651 Submitted by: University of Louisiana at Lafayette Energy Institute P.O. Box 44690 Lafayette, LA 70504 ABSTRACT In this report, technologies for petroleum production and exploration enhancement in deepwater and mature fields are developed through basic and applied research by: 1. Designing new fluids to efficiently drill deepwater wells that can not be costeffectively drilled with current technologies. The new fluids will be heavy liquid foams that have low-density at shallow dept to avoid formation breakdown and high density at drilling depth to control formation pressure. The goal of this project is to provide industry with formulations of new fluids for reducing casing programs and thus well construction cost in deepwater development