Patent ID: 11345842

Abstract:
Hydrocarbon wells including crosslinked polymer granules as lost circulation material and methods of drilling the hydrocarbon wells. The hydrocarbon wells include a wellbore that extends within a subsurface region, a drilling rig, a drilling mud supply system, a lost circulation detection structure, and a lost circulation material supply system that includes a lost circulation material. The lost circulation material includes a plurality of crosslinked polymer granules, and a characteristic dimension of each crosslinked polymer granule is at least 20 micrometers and at most 1 millimeter. Each crosslinked polymer granule contains a highly crosslinked polymeric material that includes a plurality of polyethylene polymer chains. The methods include rotating a drill string to extend a length of a wellbore and, during the rotating, flowing a drilling mud stream. The methods also include detecting a lost circulation event and, responsive to the detecting, providing a lost circulation material to the wellbore.