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Concept
Drill cuttings
Summary
Drill cuttings are broken bits of solid material removed from a borehole drilled by rotary, percussion, or auger methods and brought to the surface in the drilling mud. Boreholes drilled in this way include oil or gas wells, water wells, and holes drilled for geotechnical investigations or mineral exploration.
The drill cuttings are commonly examined to make a record (a well log) of the subsurface materials penetrated at various depths. In the oil industry, this is often called a mud log.
Drill cuttings are produced as the rock is broken by the drill bit advancing through the rock or soil; the cuttings are usually carried to the surface by drilling fluid circulating up from the drill bit. Drill cuttings can be separated from liquid drilling fluid by shale shakers, by centrifuges, or by cyclone separators, the latter also being effective for air drilling. In cable-tool drilling, the drill cuttings are periodically bailed out of the bottom of the hole. In auger drilling, cuttings are carried to the surface on the auger flights.
One drilling method that does not produce drill cuttings is core drilling, which instead produces solid cylinders of rock or soil.
Drill cuttings carried by mud (drilling fluid) are usually retrieved at the surface of the platform where they go through shakers or vibrating machines to separate the cuttings from the drilling fluid, this process allows the circulating fluid to re-enter the drilling process.
Samples from the cuttings are then studied by mud loggers and wellsite geologist. In the oil and gas industry the operator will likely require a set of samples for further analysis in their labs. Many national regulations stipulate that for any well drilled, a set of samples must be archived with a national body. For example, in the case of the UK with the British Geological Survey (BGS).
The bulk of the cuttings require disposal. The methodology for disposal is dependent on the type of drilling fluid used. For water based drilling fluid (WBM) with no particular dangerous additives, the cuttings can be dumped overboard (in offshore scenario).
Official source
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