Startec Mud Chiller

The Startec Mud Chiller is essential equipment for temperature sensitive drilling locations where excess heat often spells disaster, and jeopardizes multimillion dollar well investments.

The Most Effective Solution

This revolutionary, patent pending invention is the most effective solution on the market for cooling drilling mud, whether the assignment is to moderate extreme temperatures or keep mud temperature at the freezing point to avoid a subsurface thaw in the far north.

Essential Equipment

The Startec Mud Chiller is an ideal solution to drilling challenges in:

• The Arctic where a permafrost thaw threatens borehole stability, rig safety and the environment
• Oil sands formations where subsurface heat often results in costly delays and the sloughing in of the borehole
• Hotter climates where extreme drilling mud temperatures pose a significant health and safety risk

The Startec Mud Chiller is a portable, high capacity ammonia refrigeration plant equipped with a glycol spiral heat exchanger. The unit has been successfully engineered to:

• Provide a consistent high volume mud flow through the cooling chamber allowing for higher ROP
• Maximize contact between overheated mud and the heat exchanger to quickly reduce mud temperature
• Maintain the desired mud temperature automatically, allowing rig crews to focus on actual drilling activities
• In Arctic applications, provide sufficient cooling capacity to prevent a permafrost thaw both in the borehole and throughout the surface of the drill site to maintain solid rig footing and protect the environment

Arctic Case Study

The impressive advantages of Startec Mud Chiller have been consistently demonstrated in field performance, including in a Mackenzie Delta drilling program in the Canadian Arctic, which was documented in an IADC/SPE Technical Paper.*

The Technical Paper compares the performance of the Startec Mud Chiller with an ambient heat exchange system and an alternate refrigerated ammonia product.

The Technical Paper reports the limitations of the ambient heat exchange system "introduced significant wellbore stability issues." The alternate refrigerated ammonia product lacked "effective heat exchange" making it difficult to obtain the appropriate mud temperature.

The Startec Mud Chiller proved to be "significantly more reliable for cooling the drilling fluid ... and could readily maintain mud temperature" in the surface, intermediate and main hole sections... The unit capacity was more than adequate for the demands from this well."

* IADC/SPE 111806 - Successful Application of Casing-While-Drilling Technology in a Canadian - Arctic Permafrost Application. Technical paper authors H. Vrielink, SPE, BP; J.S. Bradford, Chevron; L. Basarab, Tesco Corporation; C.C. Ubaru, SPE, HughesChristensen, a Baker Hughes Company

Contact Startec

The Startec Mud Chiller is the most effective drilling fluid cooling device on the market. To utilize a Startec Mud Chiller on your next drilling project contact a Startec Oil & Gas Customer Representative at 403.295-5855 or toll free at 1-800-555-9439.