As an effort to upgrade the low sulphur fuel by-product produced by Melaka Group III (MG3) lube base oil plant, a collaborative work between PETRONAS MG3 operation group and R&D team has looked into drilling fluid as one of the potential upgradable products. Based on detailed product analysis, by having a suitable boiling range, this material was able to meet all of the key properties of the drilling fluid, except for the aromatic content, which exceed 0.5 wt%. To achieve low aromatic content, PETRONAS has embarked on 2 fuel de-aromatisation programs i.e. the use of ionic liquid (IL) and evaluating suitable catalytic processes. Several ILs were successfully tested in the laboratory and abled to reduce aromatic content to less than 0.5 wt%. However, to bring forward the IL technology for fuel de-aromatisation is very challenging due to stringent process requirements, hence, it may not be economical feasible to be applied commercially. The pilot plant study on the existing MG3 catalytic system provide validation that the current MG3 process should already producing low aromatic MG3 by-product fuel without the need for the de-aromatisation process. Aromatic mapping exercise was conducted and the source of aromatics in the current MG3 fuel was identified. With minor plant modifications, the MG3 plant was able to produce low aromatic fuel and ultimately the first batch of Melaka Group III Drilling Fluid (MG3DF™) is realized. MG3DF™ was successfully trialed at the shallow water Bujang-7 well in Sarawak and at deep water Lembayung-3 well in Sabah and obtained operational approval. The MD3DF™ has been officially launched and has been utilized in several drilling activities throughout Malaysia and Indonesia. Besides MG3DF™, there are other potential specialty products that can also be derived from the MG3 fuel by-products that can be further explore such as food grade lube and pharmaceutical lube, which can further enhance the values.

Development of PETRONAS own drilling fluid, MG3DF

255th National Meeting (2018)

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