What causes a drill string to get stuck in the well?
One of the most common and costly problems in drilling operations is stuck pipe.
Stuck pipe occurs when the drill string becomes immobilized in the wellbore and cannot be moved.
But why does this happen?
There are two major types of stuck pipe:
- Mechanical Sticking
This happens when:
- Cuttings accumulate in the wellbore
- Poor hole cleaning leads to cuttings beds
- The drill string becomes physically trapped
This directly connects to hole cleaning (Day 20).
- Differential Sticking
This occurs when:
- The drill string presses against the wellbore wall
- High pressure difference exists between mud and formation
- The pipe gets “held” against the wall
This is related to: Mud weight
Filter cake
Pressure balance
Drilling fluid plays a major role in preventing stuck pipe by:
- Maintaining proper rheology for hole cleaning
- Controlling fluid loss and filter cake
- Maintaining appropriate mud weight
Stuck pipe incidents can lead to non-productive time (NPT) and significant operational costs.
Professional insight:
Drilling and mud engineers — which type of stuck pipe do you encounter more frequently in the field?
Food for Thought:
How do you think drilling fluid properties influence the risk of differential sticking?
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 1-What Is Drilling
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 2-What Is Drilling Fluid
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 3-How Does Drilling Fluid Control Formation Pressure
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 4-How Do Engineers Determine The Right Mud Weight for a Formation
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 6-Mud Weight
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 7-Why Must Drilling Mud Flow Properly
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 8-What Determines How Drilling Mud Actually Flows Inside The Wellbore
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 9-Plastic Viscosity (PV) and Yield Point (YP)
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 10-Fluid Loss or Filtration
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 11-Retort Test
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 12-How Stable Is The Emulsion
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 13-Water-Based Mud (WBM) and Oil-Based Mud (OBM)
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 14-Shale
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 15-Shale Inhibition
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 16-KCl–Polymer Mud
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 17-What Happens to All the Solids Generated During Drilling
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 18-How Do Mud Engineers Remove Unwanted Solids From Drilling Fluid
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 19-How Do Mud Engineers Maintain The Right Mud Weight During Drilling
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 20-Hole Cleaning
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 21-Stuck Pipe (Very High Engagement Topic)
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 22-Lost Circulation
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 23-Lost Circulation Materials (LCM)
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 24-Barite Sag
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 25-Gas Contamination
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 26-Downhole Temperature Impact On the Drilling Fluids
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 27-What Is The Role Of A Mud Engineer
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 28-How Dynamic The Role of Mud Engineer
30 Days of Mud Engineering-Day 29-What Skills Are Essential For A Mud Engineer