The horizontal well of Jimsar shale oil with a long openhole wellbore adopts the two-casing-section structure，and the openhole wellbore of the second casing section is 4 000 m long，with a horizontal wellbore over 2 000 m. The used drilling fluids are oil-based，and wellbore collapse tends to occur when drilling the Badaowan and Jiucaiyuanzi Formations and leads to movement resistance，sticking of tools，lost circulation，etc. To overcome the wellbore collapse in complex formations，in accordance with the lithological characteristics of formations，the main factors affecting wellbore stability such as clay mineral composition and micro-fracture development were analyzed，the mechanisms of wellbore instability of such collapse-prone formations were clarified，and the anti-collapse theory of oil-based drilling fluids was developed，which features "multi-element cooperation and broad-spectrum plugging". Based on the proposed theory，the anti-collapse formulation of oil-based drilling fluids was improved by optimizing the materials such as asphalt products，ultra-fine calcium carbonates and nano-plugging agents. The laboratory tests show that the performance parameters of the drilling fluids meet the operation requirements and the plugging performance is excellent. Specifically，the drilling fluid density is 1.52-1.62 g/cm3；funnel viscosity，80-100 s；yield point，8-13 Pa；emulsion-breaking voltage，above 500 V；oil-water ratio，（80：20） to （85：15）；API fluid loss，≤ 1.5 mL；HTHP fluid loss at 120°C，≤ 2 mL. The presented anti-collapse system of oil-based drilling fluids has been successfully applied to Jimsar shale oil horizontal wells with a long openhole wellbore. The average borehole enlargement rate of the openhole wellbore and the rate of downhole complex issues were 3.03% and 0.55% respectively. The anti-collapse system effectively ensured the drilling safety of the build-up and horizontal wellbores.
